‘It’s a protest movement behind windows’: tribute to the Iranians risking their lives to film dissent

Inspired by the Woman, Life, Freedom uprising that gripped Iran in 2022, two film students created a documentary, Memories of a Window, about onlookers who anonymously record footage as proof of state violence Footage that went viral from Iran in late 2022 showed a woman being shot by security forces while capturing a bloody crackdown on anti-government protests on her phone. The victim’s last words were: “Film it!” Mehraneh Salimian graduated from art school the same day, and that final wish guided her and her partner, Amin Pakparvar, to make their documentary short premiering at the Berlin film festival on Tuesday. Memories of a Window is dedicated to the slain woman, Shirin Alizadeh, and the role of amateur videos in recording and emboldening dissent in Iran. Continue reading...

By Deborah Cole