From Red Line to Red Carpet

Zahra (Zar) Amir Ebrahimi, Golshifteh Farahani, and Taraneh Alidoosti are three female Iranian actresses of the same generation. The films in which they've appeared this year have all entered the competition at Cannes Film Festival 2022. Each of these rebellious stars has had to cross different red lines to reach this point. "From Red Line to Red Carpet" is about their journey from the point that they made a choice to leave the red lines of the Iranian government and society behind them to reach the red carpet in Cannes. "This isn't an ordinary carpet for me, it's a flying carpet headed towards freedom", said Zar tearfully after winning the prestigious Best Actress Palme d'Or Award for the movie Holy Spider during the 75th annual Cannes film festival. The contentious movie which is due for screening on July 13 2022 in France under the title Holy Spider is based on the true story of Saeed Hanalei, a man who motivated by religion, murdered sixteen street women in Mashhad and was subsequently arrested and executed in the early 2000s. Golshifteh and Taraneh are among the most revered Iranian actors. Taraneh Alidoosti appeared as Leila in Leila's Brothers which was awarded the International Critics' Prize (Fipresci) for the best film in Cannes main competition. Leila's Brothers failed to receive a screening license and were banned by the government in Iran for entering the Cannes festival. Golshifteh Farahani who left her native Iran into self-imposed exile appeared in Cannes main competition 2022 with Brother and Sister.