Juliette Binoche, Pedro Almodovar and Mohammad Rasoulof are among those who have signed a petition in support of My Favourite Cake filmmakers Maryam Moghaddam and Behtash Sanaeeha, whose trial begins in Iran tomorrow (March 1).
The filmmakers face allegations concerning their feature My Favourite Cake, which premiered at Berlin in 2024 and won the Fipresci and Ecumenical jury prizes.
Moghaddam and Sanaeeha are accused of “propaganda against the regime”, “production, distribution and duplication of a film with obscene content”, “offending public decency and morality” and “screening the film without obtaining a screening/distribution license”.
The International Coalition for Filmmakers at Risk (ICFR) has now launched a petition calling on the Iranian government to “immediately and unconditionally” drop all charges against the filmmaking duo and “restore their freedom” (see full letter below).
It has secured more than 3,200 signatures at the time of writing, with further notable names including Céline Sciamma, Agnieszka Holland, Hiam Abbass, Isabel Coixet and Rebecca Zlotowski.
Top festival heads including Venice’s Alberto Barbera, Berlin’s Tricia Tuttle, European Film Academy’s Mike Downey and Rotterdam’s Vanja Kaludjercic have also signed the petition.
My Favourite Cake is a tragicomedy following a 70-year-old woman who breaks out of her solitary routine by trying to invigorate her love life. The film was critically acclaimed and topped Screen’s Berlin jury grid last year but faced backlash in Iran due to its scenes of a woman not wearing a hijab and people drinking alcohol and dancing.
The Iranian government have imposed travel bans on Moghaddam and Sanaeeha over the past two years, including one that prevented them from attending the film’s Berlin premiere, where their film played in Competition. Their trial begins tomorrow at Iran’s Revolutionary Court.
France’s Totem Films has sold My Favourite Cake to more than 40 territories. It is produced by Iran’s Filmsazan Javan, France’s Caractères Productions, Sweden’s Hobab, and Germany’s Watchmen Productions. Curzon released the film in the UK and Ireland last September.
ICFR letter
We, the undersigned, call upon the Islamic Republic of Iran’s authorities to immediately and unconditionally clear all the charges levelled at filmmakers Maryam Moghadam & Behtash Sanaeeha.
After months of interrogation, and after continuous travel bans for the past two years, they are now due to appear in Iran’s Revolutionary Court on March 1st, 2025 because of their Berlinale-awarded film My Favourite Cake, which has been labelled as “obscene”, as “offending public morality”, as “propaganda against the regime”, and as “unlawfully” screened without the authorities’ permits for distribution.
In the light of these persecutions, we stand uniformly by Maryam & Behtash and their freedom and right to create and to express themselves, just like any filmmaker and artist should be able to.
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