Screenwriter And Satirist Nicole Najafi Breaks Down The History & Truth Of The Situation In Iran, Urgently Calls For Support — Guest Column

07.11.2022 - 23:47 / deadline.com

Editor’s Note: For months now, Iranian screenwriter and satirist Nicole Najafi has been determinedly raising awareness on social media from her home in New York, posting reportage coming to her direct from Iran as the people push back against the regime, and using her growing platform to explain the situation to the world in simple terms, with the footage to back it up. While women remove their head coverings with heroic defiance and ‘dissenters’ are imprisoned and burned, beaten and murdered, Najafi has, unflinching, covered it all.

In July, Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi was sentenced to six years in jail for criticizing the government. That same week, Iranian filmmakers Mohammad Rasoulof and Mostafa Aleahmad were also detained. Panahi has been banned from leaving Iran and making films for the past 12 years for his previous criticism of the regime.

Here, Najafi’s guest column for Deadline breaks down the power struggle and the shocking reality of the current situation, so that the underrepresented might be given voice and the twisted truth be dragged into the light. 

What follows is a history so extreme and convoluted that Najafi likens it to an unbelievable movie plot, one which stands in sharp and shocking contrast to the freedom of our U.S. democracy as we prepare to vote on Tuesday.  

The world’s on fire (sometimes literally) and none of us have any cortisol to spare on another tragedy. I’m not asking you to feel sad or scared. I’m asking you to hear one of the most inspiring stories of our time. 

What is unfolding in Iran is the kind of story that, if it were to be made into a film, would be some combination of Rocky, Mulan, and Mad Max: Fury Road. 

I promise if you stick with me until the end of this column,