KVIFF 2025: the director of “Bidad” Soheil Beiraghi on the set of infiltration, amplifying the voices of Iranian women Gen-Z | Festivals and awards

Among the films in competition for the Crystal Globe at the 59th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, only one – “Bidad” by Sheil Beiraghi, whose title is reflected in “Tollé” – was kept secret until the start of the festival.

Indeed, the fourth feature film produced by Beiraghi, on a budding singer who defies a government prohibition prohibiting women from performing in public, would never have been adopted by Iranian repressive censors. Once “Bidad” was selected for the competition, the festival organizers and the filmmaker agreed to hold back his official announcement until Beiraghi and members of his crew left Iran safely to attend his world premiere on Wednesday evening.

In Karlovy Vary, the “Bidad” team received the reception of a hero; Hosted in the Grand Hall, a great theater which serves as a central scene of the festival, the first of the film was a highest point in the middle of the festival, which Beiraghi presented the makeup artist, Roxana Nikpour.

Located in the center of Tehran, “Bidad” follows Seti (Sarvin Zabetian, previously better known to have appeared in Ali Asgari and Alireza Khatami “Terrestrial verses”), a young woman who dreams of singing in the streets and sharing her voice with the others. But women’s rights in Iran have been limited since the creation of the Islamic Republic in 1979. Not only forced to veil but also forbidden to sing and dance by themselves in public, the young generations of Iranian women and girls have fought against such restrictions and prohibitions. Seti belongs to generation Z which is increasingly directed in the street to protest against discrimination and oppression based on sex.

While the form of resistance chosen by Seti is to sing, it is a product of its generation in other respects, denouncing compulsory hijab Laws and bearing the scarf as little as possible. Once one of its performances has become viral, it becomes a symbol of force for the youth of Tehran and is welcomed in its counter-culture, where Punk Secrets concerts are organized in illegal places and the risk of government raids is constant. But even if his song finds a grateful audience, he draws the attention of government’s censors, whose efforts to silence it develop to encompass arrests and prison terms.

Beiraghi wrote, produced, produced and co-edited “Bidad”, also managing artistic direction, the design of sets and costumes. With a courageous heroine in her center, her film recognizes the real context of the women’s movement, life, freedom – inflammmed after Mahsa Amini, 22, died in 2022 in the police of the morality police, who had arrested him not to have hijab– while making a powerful call for action that will resonate widely. Even beyond Iranian society, the film is a full expression of challenge, courage and solidarity with all the rising tides of fascism around the world.

Despite the shooting of “Bidad” in secret, Beiraghi was the subject of an investigation by the authorities during its production, according to the organizers of the festival; A current electrifying lessons through his film, not only in the uninterrupted mind and not at the bottom of the seti but also in the slow atmosphere of the film and its subversive exploration of an Iranian background where songs of resistance are amplified by a receptive and irrepressible youth movement.

Already, reports have emerged that the Iranian authorities have announced suspended prison sentences for Beiraghi, Zabetian, and her other actress Leili Rashidi. However, the filmmaker is standing “Bidad” and believes that these restrictions will not prevent the film from finding his audience, inside and outside Iran, and they will not prevent other filmmakers from exercising their own freedom of self -expression.

The day after the emotional world first of “Bidad”, Beiraghi and its translator were seated for an interview with the thermal hotel in Karlovy Vary, on the courage and the conviction necessary to make its last functionality.

This interview was carried out with the help of a translator.

“Bidad” represents a young generation in Iranian society, as well as their underground counter-culture. The character of Seti belongs to the youth of generation Z, which has grown and more informed by and linked to the rest of the world than any previous generation. What was important for you by showing this side of Iranian society?

What is important is that they are a different generation. They are not engaged in ideologies. They are engaged in life. This is what makes them different. And it was important to show. It is very important that they are so connected, [through modern technology.] The new generation is now growing with global standards, and they grow alongside people around the world, other continents.

This commitment was once very different. It was something that was to be transferred to generation by generation, and it took much more time. In Farsi, we have an expression: “chest to the chest”. It means “it takes a long time”, but now it’s very fast. They can connect to the internet, and they grow with that around them.

The writing, filming and modification of “Bidad” independently in Iran had to present many challenges. What can you say about the experience of having this film made?

To start, I had to be very intelligent on this subject, and I had to do a lot of things to always stay ahead. I was lucky to stay ahead of what could have happened, so I could often predict the difficulties before meeting them. With all kinds of things, I was able to get around the difficulties you might think when you shoot a film like this in Iran, to create a film that was the antithesis of what was going on there.

By creating a film like this, you must consider two different sides. One is an artistic approach, which is obvious, but another is that you have to be a filou, a politician in a way, and you must think of different aspects of what is happening around you to do tricks. I was able to do things I didn’t know if I could do.

By creating a film like this, you have to make a certain aspect and a certain feeling, which is the first in the script, and that is linked to the social aspect of the film, but that the other aspect of making the film is that I had the impression of being in a real thriller – almost a chase in which I was engaged, in my mind. It is also the nature of making a film like this.

The main action takes place on rue Enghelab in Tehran, which is one of the most watched streets in the whole country. Most of the uprisings that occurred in Iran, by university students, started there. When these elite people in the upper classes of society in Iran wanted to have an uprising, it all started there. In the history of this street, blood cannot be erased.

Eight years ago, Vida Movahed was a young woman who got up in a public service box on rue Enghelab, withdrew her scarf, attached him to the end of a stick and held there for hours. At the time, no one dared to remove their hijabs. She was seen and arrested, and things became ugly.

I filmed scenes for “Bidad” next to this utility box. Since its actions, the government has installed triangular metal roofs to prevent other people from standing on the box. When I saw this, I said to myself: “It’s not the way.” They could make us physically impossible to stand there in the same way, but they cannot control our minds, they cannot control our thoughts, and they cannot stop us in this way.

Similarly, the mayor of Tehran places these concrete “New Jersey” blocks when they want to block the areas of the city, and it was therefore important to show them in the film. They could make certain actions physically impossible, but they cannot control our minds.

Tell me about the manufacture of “bidad” with your crew. How many people have worked on the film?

About 70 people worked on “Bidad”, although many people who were in the crew asked that their names be deleted from credits, because they did not want to risk their professional life, because they still live and work in Tehran. However, many of them have also supported their work, and other names still appear in credits. Of course, I also worked on this film in six or seven different capacities: production, assembly, design of sets, costume design … and a little public relations.

Some of the most striking scenes of “Bidad”, starring the main actress Sarvin Zabetiyan, finds her song live while Setti also finds these small moments for herself – social pressures and constant monitoring of Tehran – to express themselves.

This young generation – of generation Z – did not need anything other than a safe space, a corner where we can relax. [Editor’s note: At this point, the translator—who belongs to Generation Z—speaks in first-person plural, referring to herself as well as others in her age group.] That’s all we asked for.

When the regime does not give us this, we must create these moments for ourselves. As a generation, generation Z must find these little and motionless. Of these moments can emerge the uprisings; In these moments, we can really flourish, and this is what provides the way to much greater things, which can cause many problems to the government.

To this end, “Bidad” presents a multitude of musical styles. Seti is inspired by Amy Winehouse’s jazz music, but she finds herself in a subculture of punks, and pop music plays a central role, in particular “Antre Love” by Tom Odell “. How was music selected and has a particular song inspired this film?

There is no particular song that inspired me to make “Bidad”, but the important aspect is that the collection of songs used in the film is very diverse. We have folk songs, we have traditional Kurdish songs – or Gilan songs, which are from northern Iran. They all have different dialects. Everything is so different everywhere.

And then we have pop songs. We have songs from Amy Winehouse, which are jazz, and many different songs in other styles. So there was a challenge to bring together all these things and find a place for each play in the film. But all these songs show that Seti does not stick to a sound or a kind of self -expression; Each song shows its mood right now. It is an emotion that comes out of it, which returns to the surface. In total, this collection of songs represents something on the character of Setti, on his mood and his identity.

Bringing “Bidad” to Karlovy varies, as was discussed, was a complicated trip, but projecting the film last night in the big hall of Hotel Thermal had to be a fairly cathartic experience, seeing the international public react in the same way. What can you say about the screening of the film in this context?

The last two years have been really difficult for me, making “Bidad”. Bringing this film to Karlovy varies has been an incredible experience, because this festival has really been concerned since the start of the artistic aspects of the film.

Even if there was a lot of things in the media, concerning prison terms and everything that happened following the realization of the film, it was incredible to see that there is still a scene for a film like this, in a festival like this. In Karlovy varies, they do not care what is going on in the media; They care about artistic integrity. It was pleasant to have this experience, to go through it and to be appreciated for my artistic realization too.