After a long absence from cinemas and from watching films in public, and burdened by a guilty conscience about going to the pictures at a moment in our history when several actors remain in prison, I buy a ticket from a deserted box office. There is no queue - only me and the man behind the counter.
The film is Tehran: Another View. A few years ago, I had seen another film by the same director, Tasvir (Image). I had read on Instagram that this new film had been banned from screening for three years.
While sipping the weakest Americano available in the Chahar Su Mobile Shopping Mall beneath Hafez Bridge - named after the fourteenth-century Persian lyric poet - I cannot help brooding over the suicide of the journalist and activist Kianush Sanjari on November 13, 2024, when he jumped from the terrace of the mall. At that time, the terrace was still accessible to smokers, and therefore accessible to someone intent on ending their life.
I have hardly finished my coffee and stood up to head to Hall 5 when a blackout forces me back into my seat. With my ticket still in my pocket, I ask the security guard:
“What happened? Do you have any idea where the enemy has struck?”
