Zürcher Nachrichten - At Iranian film's Berlin premiere, calls not to forget Iranian people

Director Mahnaz Mohammadi, 51, likened the "existence of the Iranian people today" to the unbearable life endured by the film's imprisoned protagonist, Roya.

Mohammadi, in an interview with AFP on Wednesday at the screening at a Berlin cinema, said Iranian prisoners are being put to death every four to six hours in the country "without justice".

She said she had been forced to witness several hangings while imprisoned in Iran herself.

The film, which opens with a lengthy sequence of physical and psychological torture inflicted on Roya, was already presented at the prestigious Berlinale film festival in February.

It is set to be released in German theatres on May 7.

Most of "Roya" was shot primarily in Georgia, although some scenes were clandestinely filmed inside Iran.

It is based primarily on Mohammadi's own experience. The filmmaker and human rights activist was imprisoned "six or seven times" over the past two decades, including in Tehran's infamous Evin prison.

The film "is just a glimpse of what is happening in Iran at the moment", insisted the film's Iranian producer, Farzad Pak, at the premiere.

Iranian authorities executed at least 1,639 people in 2025 -- the highest figure since 1989 -- according to recent reports from the NGOs Iran Human Rights (IHR) and Together Against the Death Penalty (ECPM), who warn that the trend could worsen if the Islamic Republic "survives the current crisis".

"Thousands of people are in prison, and they are in line for execution," Pak said. "Please do not forget about Iran."

"Just watching this film, especially now, is so important because so many people just going through this war and forgetting about what is happening there in the prisons," actress Maryam Palizban told AFP.

A total of 21 people have been executed and more than 4,000 arrested in Iran for political or what authorities describe as national security reasons since the start of the conflict, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said on Wednesday.

Mohammadi told AFP that the people still in Iran that she has heard from are "tired" but "the people are still hoping for the day after the Islamic Republic".

For them, Mohammadi said, the hope of one day seeing the end of the regime means "we can bear it, we can stand it".

L.Zimmermann--NZN