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Rehearsals for a Revolution, head Pegah Ahangarani‘s movie astir decades of governmental repression successful Iran, won nan L’Oeil d’or Prize today, nan Cannes Film Festival’s apical prize for documentary. Accepting nan grant successful nan beingness of Cannes Film Festival leader Thierry Frémaux, Ahangarani dedicted nan grant to nan group of Iran.
The jury, presided complete by Oscar victor Mstyslav Chernov, chose Rehearsals for a Revolution from among 21 films screening successful nan show and its sidebars.
“The assemblage is honored to grant L’œil d’or – nan Documentary Prize — to Rehearsals for a Revolution,” noted Chernov and chap jurors Tabitha Jackson, Géraldine Pailhas, Lina Soualem, and Victor Chastanet. “This movie allows america to participate nan intricate and analyzable reality of modern Iran done a braiding of personal, historical, and poetic cinema. In its hunt to find nan connection to definitive nan truths of nan moment, Rehearsals for a Revolution is not acrophobic to mobility its ain gestures — to uncertainty itself and to beryllium vulnerable. The assemblage was struck by nan masterful book and vivid, urgent storytelling, and by a filmmaker who carried america done convulsive waves of history while ne'er losing show of nan worth of each individual quality life.”
The assemblage awarded a Special Mention to Tin Castle, directed by Alexander Murphy, a movie astir nan O’Reillys, a family of Irish “Travelers” who unrecorded successful a caravan.
“This movie captivates america from nan very first images and continues to impressment america pinch cinematic trade astatine its highest level,” nan assemblage wrote. “The filmmakers regard directed astatine his heroes and heroines expresses their intimacy without invading it. Through its precisely calibrated position Tin Castle invites america to bespeak connected nan position and domiciled of nan documentary camera and deploys emotion arsenic a cinematic and governmental force.”
The L’Oeil d’or prize, which comes pinch a €5,000 grant for nan winner, was recreated by nan Cannes Film Festival and LaScam (French-speaking nine for non-fiction authors). This is nan 11th twelvemonth for nan prize.
The assemblage considered 13 films from nan Official Selection, 1 documentary from Critics’ Week, 3 others from nan Directors’ Fortnight, and 4 much films from nan ACID sidebar.
Deadline’s Damon Wise interviewed Rehearsals for a Revolution director Ahangarani conscionable earlier nan show started, noting her inheritance arsenic an actress.
“Rehearsals for a Revolution is made up of six chapters from Ahangarani’s life, ranging from her memories of her filmmaker parents, and nan tragic decease of her uncle Rashid, to nan commencement of her daughter,” Wise wrote. The filmmaker told Wise she was still “getting utilized to” nan title she chose for her film.
“What convinced me, I think, is that nan connection ‘rehearsal’ often refers to creation and cinema, which reflects nan truth that I myself travel from an acting career,” Ahangarani told Wise. “But it besides refers to nan sound of Rashid, successful nan 3rd chapter, erstwhile he says that Iran is simply a state of grounded revolutions. This is thing that mightiness sound sad and a spot desperate, but astatine nan aforesaid time, it’s true. There’s been rather a batch of grounded revolutions, but location is besides hope. Rehearsal intends there’s still clip for 1 last revolution.”
The Critics’ Week sidebar is connected a roll. As my workfellow Melanie Goodfellow notes, caller Cannes Critics’ Week documentary selections The Brink Of Dreams and Imago went connected to triumph Cannes’ Golden Eye successful 2024 and 2025 respectively.
More to come…
