Artists' Reaction to Being Banned from Work; Katayoun Riahi: My Honor Prevents Me from Working in Today's Cinema

While the chairman of the Cinema House board has described the banning of several artists in Iran as 'illegal' and stemming from decisions made 'in the lower layers by the minister or director general,' two of the banned artists have stated that working in today's Iranian cinema contradicts their 'honor' and that being banned is 'a matter of pride.' Mohammad Mehdi Asgarpour, chairman of the Cinema House board, asked in an interview with the newspaper Etemad published on Thursday, November 4, 'On what legal basis are those who wish to work prevented from their jobs?' He stated that the failure to prevent this behavior by government officials has led to its 'spread' and chaos in the country. Asgarpour accused cinema managers, particularly officials from the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, of not adhering to the law, saying they should first 'be banned from work themselves for not adhering to certain laws.' He also criticized the 'mismanagement' prevailing in the cinema sector and reported the unemployment of many artists. According to this cinema manager, Iran is the only country with a cinema that imposes such bans on its filmmakers. The banning of artists has also elicited reactions from some of them. Katayoun Riahi wrote in an Instagram story: 'My honor prevents me from working in today's cinema... Who are you?' Donya Madani also wrote on the social media platform 'X': 'It is a matter of pride and dignity for me that I am not under the supervision of any regime or government.' Recently, Habib Ilbeigi, the deputy for supervision and evaluation of the Cinema Organization, announced the banning of female actors opposing mandatory hijab and stated that these actresses will no longer act in 'any new films.' Following these statements, the Minister of Culture of the Islamic Republic also referred to mandatory hijab as law and said: 'It is not possible to work for those who do not implement the law.' The website 'Cinema Daily,' an online media outlet for cinema and television, listed the names of the banned actors as 'Baran Kosari, Vishka Asayesh, Taraneh Alidoosti, Katayoun Riahi, Pantea Bahram, Hengameh Qaziani, Pegah Ahangarani, Maryam Bobani, Golab Adineh, Fatemeh Motamed-Arya, Shaghayegh Dehghan, and Afsaneh Bayegan.' According to this cinema media, among this group, Afsaneh Bayegan and Hengameh Qaziani have retired from acting, and Pegah Ahangarani and Vishka Asayesh are currently outside Iran. Following the onset of nationwide protests in September 2022, several Iranian artists and actresses criticized mandatory hijab and called for the repeal of this law. Fariborz Arabnia, a well-known cinema actor, described the Islamic Republic's rule as causing the 'institutionalization and intensification' of the 'circle of lies, corruption, and the slaughter of thought.'