Mohsen Amiryousefi dedicates "The Curse of the Ban" to those killed in the Dey uprising

Mohsen Amiryousefi, a director of independent Iranian cinema, has dedicated his new film "The Curse of the Ban", made underground and without a licence, to those killed in the Dey uprising (December 2025–January 2026) and to all the banned films of Iranian cinema. The film had its world premiere on Saturday, 17 October 2026, at the 70th London Film Festival, but its director was unable to attend the event.

In an Instagram message before the screening, Amiryousefi said he was happy that the film was being shown at a long-established festival to eager audiences, but that he had no hope of it being released in Iran. He described the central question facing Iranian cinema as "the battle over whether independent cinema is to be or not to be" and wrote that, like his earlier work, this film faces censorship: "Censorship and bans neither allow this film to be released in Iran" nor tolerate the making of an unlicensed film.

He dedicated the film to "all the banned films of Iranian cinema and the spirits of the innocent people who have been killed in these years", asked the audience to observe a minute of silence in memory of those who lost their lives, and thanked the crew who stayed with him despite the difficulties.

Summoned to the Culture and Media Prosecutor's Office

Amiryousefi had been summoned on 29 September, after a call from the Ministry of Intelligence, to the protection office of the Tehran Culture and Media Prosecutor's Office. As of publication, no details have been released about the outcome of the summons, any possible case, or the charges against him. The summons is part of the Islamic Republic's continuing judicial and security pressure on artists, which includes the arrest, without clear charges, of Zhina Ahmadi, an artist from Marivan.

A film about four decades of censorship

"The Curse of the Ban" is a bitter, satirical comedy that tells the filmmaker's career and life through a conversation between him and a figure resembling the Angel of Death. The film's structure recalls One Thousand and One Nights: the filmmaker tells stories in order to stay alive. The narrative begins with the 1979 revolution and runs up to the events of the Dey 2025–2026 uprising and the killing of protesters.

Amiryousefi's record is itself a document of censorship in the Islamic Republic. His first feature, "Bitter Dream", was shown in the Directors' Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival in 2004 but remained banned for 12 years. "Atashkar" was banned for four years, and "Lovable Trash", made about the events after the 2009 election, was refused permission to be shown for six years.

Mohsen Amiryousefi dedicated a film that is not allowed to be shown in Iran to those killed in the Dey uprising.