Zar Amir-Ebrahimi's life is a whirlwind. Born 43 years ago in Tehran, she became a renowned actress, both in the movies and on television, where she played one of the leading roles in the ultra-popular series Nargess. In 2006, a sex tape showing her with her partner abruptly ended her Iranian career. Two years later, on the morning of her sentencing, she fled to Dubai, before quickly moving to France. There, between odd jobs, she courageously resumed her career with Iranian directors from the European diaspora.
In 2022, her perseverance led her to win the Best Actress Award at Cannes for Holy Spider, by Iranian-born Danish director Ali Abbasi. That same year, in the wake of the student Mahsa Amini's death following her arrest for "wearing inappropriate clothing," she publicly took up the cause of the Iranian youth uprising. And now she's back in the spotlight, directing the film Tatami with the Israeli Guy Nattiv and playing the role of Maryam, the trainer of an Iranian judoka who is ordered to resign rather than face her Israeli counterpart.
It all started with a casting request. It was before my acting award at Cannes. I sent in a video. Then I met later with Guy Nattiv in Los Angeles, where I was promoting Holy Spider. In the meantime, I had read the script, and I had some comments to make about my character, who I felt lacked socio-political depth. Guy being an open-minded guy, we reworked it with his co-writer, Elham Erfani. Then, since I'd done the casting for Holy Spider, Guy asked me to do the same for his film. I got so involved in the project that Guy, who didn't feel completely legitimate on the subject, ended up asking me to co-direct with him.
Of course. The Iranian digital army had already targeted us. I took some time to think before accepting. I wondered about Guy's intentions. About the political significance of the film. About the people who might be endangered. And then I realized that these scruples were exactly the same as those of the character I was playing, who let herself be dictated to and who regrets it, and I accepted Guy's proposal. Our film obviously fights against all forms of extremism, whether that of Iran or today in Israel. In any case, in Iran, Zionism, or any link with Israel, is an accusation that essentially serves to justify repression and to find a reason to be convinced of the guilt of the regime's victims, who obviously have nothing to do with it. So I did it, and like that, it's done! I've done everything I shouldn't have done.
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