Through five portraits of relatives and mentors, five expressions of resistance, Pegah Ahangarani sketches her life story and, at the same time, the history of her country. Drawing from personal archives, home videos, street protests footage, newspapers, and recorded voices, she retraces more than 40 years of Iran’s history. From the early days of 1979, until the war that began in 2026, she pieces together intimate and collective memories, forming the portrait of a country shaped by political repression and in constant hope for a revolution that never quite materialises.
Pegah Ahangarani
Born in Iran in 1984 and currently based in London, she is an award-winning Iranian filmmaker and actress. She began her acting career at the age of seven in the film ‘The Singer Cat’ by Kambuzia Partovi (1991). Following her first leading role in ‘The Girl in the Sneakers’ by Rasoul Sadrameli (1999), she has appeared in more than 40 films to date. She expanded her work into documentary filmmaking alongside her acting. Her short documentaries ‘I Am Trying To Remember’ (2021), ‘My Father’ (2023), and ‘As I Lay Dying’ (2025) have been selected in major international festivals including Hot Docs, Busan, the IDA Documentary Awards, or Melbourne, among others, and won awards at festivals such as Dokufest, Busan, IDFA, Short Focus London Film Festival. She also directed two TV documentaries: ‘Child Soldier’ (BBC World, 2024) and ‘Taraneh’ (BBC World, 2025). ‘Rehearsals For A Revolution’ (2026), her first feature documentary, won the Golden Eye Award for Best Documentary at the Cannes Film Festival.
