Women say workplace violence and harassment have become endemic, call for reform and accountability.

Tehran, Iran – Hundreds of women working in Iranian cinema have denounced “systematic” violence against women in the film industry and called for mechanisms that would hold perpetrators and facilitators accountable.

In a strong statement on Friday, more than 200 women – including some of Iran’s best-known locally and internationally – condemned the sexual violence and harassment, which they say has become endemic in Iranian cinema.

“Not only is there no mechanism to prevent powerful individuals from committing violence, there is also an unwritten agreement that inflicting violence on women in the workplace has been normalized, without serious ramifications threatening the aggressor,” they wrote.

Among the signatories are Taraneh Alidoosti – who played a starring role in Asghar Farhadi’s 2016 Oscar-winning The Salesman – Hedieh Tehrani, Niki Karimi and Pouran Derakhshandeh, all household names in Iranian cinema.

The women also denounced financial inequality and disparity in decision-making power with their male peers, and demanded “that most fundamental human right, which is to work in a safe space free from intimidation, violence and sexual extortion”.

They urged industry figures to mobilize through entities such as the Iranian Film Guilds Alliance to form a female-dominated committee of people trained in combating sexual violence who would receive and review assault allegations safely and privately.

They also proposed adding mechanisms in movie contracts to protect women and hold abusers accountable through financial penalties and suspensions from future work in the industry.

Industry, judicial response

In response, the guild alliance said in a statement on Sunday that it already had a committee in place, made up of a board of directors, industry insiders, a representative from the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance and a legal adviser, who is ready to investigate any complaints.

He also said “we must not allow a minute number of potential undesirable behaviors of certain filmmakers to be generalized to the majority of talents working in Iran’s proud cinema”, a sentiment which was echoed by veteran actor Reza Kianian. in a statement posted to his Instagram account.

The women’s statement came days after several women took to Twitter and other social media to openly and anonymously share their experiences of sexual violence on film sets.

After a woman working as a second assistant director openly accused a renowned male actor of verbal and physical abuse, and also said the director knowingly ignored the issue and blamed her, the Tehran Assistant Directors Association ( TAFAD) issued a statement supporting it.

The association confirmed that it was aware of widespread similar cases of abuse – even against men – and said it had previously sought accountability through various means, without giving further details.

He pledged his support to his members and urged them to report any cases without “feeling worried and allowing abuse of position and power with your silence”.

Kazem Gharibabadi, who heads the country’s High Council for Human Rights, which reports to the judiciary, said on Sunday that women in film should be protected. He called on the Ministry of Culture and guild associations to come up with mechanisms that would support women, and said the judiciary was also ready to consider grievances.

Legal protection

Additionally, Gharibabadi expressed hope that a long-standing bill to protect women from violence would soon be ratified by parliament.

The legislation in question, titled Protection, Dignity and Safety of Women from Violence, has been in the works for more than a decade and was approved by the government in January 2021, when former President Hassan Rouhani was in power and President outgoing Ebrahim Raisi was the leader. Justice.

It was, however, shelved by the Conservative parliament and has not been on the agenda since, despite promising to announce positive changes to the rules protecting women.

Iranian cinema is well known around the world, having produced many actors and talents behind the camera who have presented their work at international film festivals and won awards.

But this is the first major public manifestation of sexual harassment in the industry. Iran’s first big #MeToo moment came in September 2020, when many Iranians, including celebrities, took to social media to recount their experiences of sexual abuse.