Overview
- Juliette Binoche, Marion Cotillard, Yorgos Lanthimos, Zar Amir Ebrahimi, Golshifteh Farahani and Shirin Neshat are among roughly 800 film professionals backing the statement.
- The text accuses the Islamic Republic of using live ammunition, mass killings, widespread arrests, torture and enforced disappearances, alongside a nationwide internet shutdown since Jan. 8.
- The coalition urges international institutions, film festivals and cultural bodies to publicly condemn the abuses and to reconsider relationships with official Iranian entities.
- Rights groups and independent reports describe thousands of deaths, with some estimates near 16,000, tens of thousands detained and leaked images indicating torture, though verification is constrained by the blackout.
- Protests began in late December after a currency crash, are described as the largest since 2022 and the statement expresses solidarity from Tehran to Kurdistan, Baluchestan and Azerbaijan.