To the cookie settings To the main content To the footer

Reading Lolita in Tehran

Eran Riklis
festival
Sat 3 May 25 - Sun 4 May 25
  • Caution with children up to 16 years of age

This film is based on the bestselling book of the same name by Azar Nafisi, in which she recounts her time in Iran as a literature professor and the book club she formed with a few female students, where they read forbidden Western classics together. 

Professor Azar Nafisi forms a book club with a few female students, where they read forbidden Western classics. Over a span of more than twenty years, during which the restrictions on women become increasingly strict, we hear them openly discuss topics like emotions, relationships, and sex. 

Like the book, the film is divided into chapters named after books or writers. Fortunately, you don’t need to have read the book to understand the film. It is a film about literature and the position of women. Many films have been made about both topics, but this one offers a unique perspective: women discover how literature helps them understand their own situation and find strength through reading together and discussing emotions, relationships and sex. 

direction
Eran Riklis
cast
Golshifteh Farahani, Zar Amir Ebrahimi, Mina Kavani
duration
108 min
year
2024
country
Italy
language
Persian, English
Subtitles
English, Dutch
  • Caution with children up to 16 years of age

festival

part of

Regisseur

Eran Riklis

director

"Intimate adaption of Azar Nafisi’s memoir is inherently feminine and political." – Tomris Laffly, Variety