Fajr Film Festival: A Festival Or An Official Showcase? The Story Of A Boycott In Tehran

Why Would A Festival Like Fajr Be Boycotted? How Do Middle East Festivals Operate: Independent Or Government-Representing?

A boycott of a film festival usually becomes meaningful when that festival plays a “representative” role. It is not only an arts event, but a stage that is expected to speak on behalf of culture and society, or at least is seen that way. This representative power is shaped through three channels: the money behind the festival, the institution that runs it, and the narrative it builds about the country, even if the films themselves are diverse.

In the Middle East, the idea of an “independent” festival is often defined by distance from the state, because government involvement in culture is usually more direct and decisive. That is why financial or structural links to the state quickly turn into questions of representation and legitimacy, not just management or support. For many artists, a boycott is therefore more than protest. It is a way of saying: “this stage, this institution, and this image” cannot represent “us” and “independent artists” at this moment.

Fajr Film Festival: A Festival Or An Official Showcase? The Story Of A Boycott In Tehran

The Boycott Of The 44th Fajr Film Festival

After the protests in early January 2026 and reports of a very high number of deaths on January 8 and 9 in Iran., a new wave of boycott talk rose among some artists and audiences. During the same period, reports circulated about the absence of some winners at the closing ceremony. In particular, it was said that key acting award winners were not in the hall to receive their prizes, and that the awards were collected by representatives. At the same time, some film teams reportedly asked for their works to be removed from the festival, or publicly distanced themselves from it.

Among the most discussed cases, Saeed Zamanian, the writer and director of Arambakhsh (in the main competition), said that “out of respect” for those who lost their lives in the protests, he would not take part in the festival. Soon after, Saleh Alavizadeh, one of the screenwriters of “Billboard”, also released a short statement calling the festival a “major blood-washing ceremony” and said he was personally withdrawing his screenplay from the judging process.

Why The Weight Of Boycotts Changes From Country To Country

A festival is a professional, official moment for filmmakers, but it cannot be accepted only because it is a festival. Film festivals have their own “character” and reflect the beliefs, priorities, and goals defined by their organizers. The key question is how much artists and filmmakers can align with that character and cooperate with it. Festivals gain legitimacy through artists, and artists also gain part of their professional status through festivals.

In Europe and the United States, boycotts of festivals and cultural ceremonies also happen, but these events are often not directly fused with the state. Their identity is closer to a cultural institution than an official showcase. Funding is usually more mixed, processes are seen as more transparent, freer media can investigate and criticize, and artists have clearer public ways to express dissent.

Because of this, boycotts in the West often fall into three patterns: objections to institutional policies and pressure on political expression, protests against image-making and cultural legitimacy (artwashing), and disputes over identity and representation, meaning who has the right to define the story of an artwork or a society in public. The result is that attending a Western festival is less likely to be read as approval of an official narrative.

But in a festival like Fajr, where the link to the official structure is strong and, for part of the public, it carries a representative role, absence or withdrawal more quickly takes on a political and moral meaning. In such spaces, a boycott is not just “saying no”. It is an attempt to cut the connection between cultural prestige and institutional legitimacy.

I suggest reading my friend Ghazaleh Soltani’s article, State Cinema Represents Power: Independent Cinema Represents Truth, published in Le Monde.