Farhadi and Tehrani; Nationwide Protests and Questions and Answers

Hediyeh Tehrani, a prominent Iranian actress, reacted to a note by Asghar Farhadi, the famous director, who attributed the recent protests in Iran to the "unanswered questions of the people." Tehrani wrote that people did not take to the streets to seek answers to their questions, but rather to "scream" their "pain." Following street protests in dozens of small and large cities in Iran, Farhadi wrote an article titled "Questions, Humiliation, Anger," stating that the cause of the protests in recent years is the "unanswered questions" or "unrealistic answers" to their inquiries. He added that "what has driven part of the people to protest in various forms over the years are the unanswered questions that have been ignored or responded to with unrealistic and delusional answers due to concealment and expediency." Farhadi reminded that "ignoring the whys and accumulated questions in society, contrary to the belief of those whose highest duty is to respond, results not in forgetfulness and tranquility but in social humiliation." The internationally renowned director pointed out that "the inflamed wound of humiliation is the most important and powerful factor of anger," adding that "no anger is as lasting and deep as the anger of humiliation." He warned that "silencing, arresting, and threatening questioners does not mean the questions disappear. The questions remain and are multiplying in the corners of minds." In response to Farhadi's note, Tehrani, who has previously worked with him, wrote, "No, Mr. Farhadi, I think the issue is not the courage to ask questions. The issue is not answering the questions." Tehrani stated in a post on her Instagram page that "people know the reasons for these pains and anomalies and do not scream for answers to their questions... People scream their pain and only want life, goodness, peace, tranquility, and freedom." She added that the people of Iran "want the right to breathe without pain, without blood, without anger; they know the reasons for the grief of Iranian mothers and recognize our mourning motherland..." The actress addressed Farhadi, saying, "...we are struggling under the pressure of the world's influences and our own losses, and due to the constraints of our place and time, the loss of water, air, bread, work, culture, healthy thought, honesty, correctness, peace, security, and tranquility." She pointed out the lack of what she called "the minimums of existence that every human deserves, not just the elite and the better among us" in Iran, adding that finally, after a long period of "enduring within ourselves or putting ourselves to sleep and hoping for tomorrow," the "inner screams were drawn out to the streets." Tehrani, in a jab at Farhadi, added, "The question is why it was drawn to the streets, not that we forget this important matter and reach the analysis for our own peace that people came to the streets to ask questions to receive answers." In her post, the actress referred to issues such as "poverty, unemployment, illness, treatment, medicine, social security and insurance, lack of facilities for the disabled, veterans, the pain of child laborers, orphans, homeless people, organ trafficking, various pollution, addiction, corruption, and prostitution" as the people's predicaments in Iran. Problems such as "the fate of children, despair and suffering of men, discrimination against women, the confusion of unknown elites, the redness of the faces of most artists from their own slaps, male and female prisoners behind bars due to poverty, the destruction of forests, lakes, wetlands, dust storms, the death of nature, and the extinction of living beings and humans" were also mentioned as other issues the people are grappling with. The letter from these two Iranian filmmakers has received widespread attention on social media, with many users reacting to it. Before them, artists inside and outside Iran had reacted to the protests in various cities and called for peaceful handling of the protesters. Among them are Shirin Neshat, Alireza Asar, Taraneh Alidoosti, Mahnaz Afshar, Tahmineh Milani, Hamid Farrokhnejad, Mehdi Kermpour, Faramarz Aslani, Googoosh, Abi, Hatef, Mansour, and Reza Daghati.