Even the smallest choice in Iran today becomes a "political act," with cinema a powerful tool of resistance, Iranian director Ali Asgari said at the Venice Film Festival Friday.
The director of "Divine Comedy", part of last year's secondary competition, is back at Venice this season competing for the Golden Lion with "A Bit of Light," about a doctor in Tehran scarred by the violence inflicted on anti-regime protesters who decides to give up and end his own life.
"We live in a country where whatever we do becomes a kind of political act. So you can consider that sometimes simply having internet access becomes a political act," Asgari told a press conference ahead of the film's premiere.
"Cinema is the same; it is, in my opinion, a very powerful means of resistance," he said.
For years, in the face of heavy censorship and prosecutions, Iranian directors like Jafar Panahi, Asghar Farhadi and Mohammad Rasoulof have been winning Oscars and European awards with films about life in the Islamic republic.
