VENICE 2024 Orizzonti Extra
Nader Saeivar • Director of The Witness

by Susanne Gottlieb, Cineuropa
September 7, 2024

“The new generation wants to win using forgiveness and beauty”

VENICE 2024: The Iranian director explains how he intended to commemorate the women’s movement and its non-violent forms of protest

How to bring justice to a murdered woman in Iran, where women barely have any rights, is at the centre of Nader Saeivar’s feature The Witness, which has premiered at Venice, in the Orizzonti Extra section.

Cineuropa: In the film’s credit sequence, you show women who dance in order to rebel and who have also lost their lives. Is the film a memorial to them?

Nader Saeivar: The film is inspired by the “Woman, Life, Freedom” movement in Iran. I was influenced by things I saw on social media and that I experienced myself. I never took to the streets myself and felt bad that I wasn't fighting. I then decided to make a little film that would reflect at least some of that guilt.


Nader Saeivar • Director of The Witness
(© Fabrizio de Gennaro/Cineuropa)

You mentioned that you weren't on the streets, but there are male characters in the film who suggest that they agree with the women, but they don't do anything about it. The men are actually very scared.

The truth is that this revolution is a women's revolt. I have the feeling that we men have stayed safe in the second row, sometimes shooting, but the deadly counter-shots have killed the women on the front line. The women sacrificed a lot after the revolution and are now living in a fascist situation. Unfortunately, we also have to acknowledge that many women have become accustomed to this life. The women we see on social media are a minority.

The ones on social media are from a very young generation. But you have chosen an older protagonist who is also fighting a much more bitter battle than the daughter.

The women's revolt was born with the revolution. So, this woman was already there back then. If the current generation of young girls is courageous and takes to the streets, it is the result of their courageous mothers, who never gave up. They were born brave. The methods have just changed. It is now a non-violent struggle that may lead to accomplishing the goal.

This also raises the question of whether violence can and should be met with violence.

Violence has never achieved anything in Iran's history. The former violent groups, such as the Kurdish Democratic Party, are not popular amongst the people. What’s so special about the new generation is that they want to win using forgiveness and beauty.

You wrote the screenplay with Jafar Panahi, who also edited the film. Panahi has repeatedly clashed with the government and was not allowed to leave the country for several years. What was this collaboration like?

He is practically the godfather of Iranian underground films. Panahi was an inspiration for me and many other filmmakers, as he gave us the courage to tell our stories. Before him, we thought we couldn't make certain films. When movies are now shot in the underground movement, everyone consults Panahi for tips and tricks. His house has become a centre of culture.

Were you worried about being able to present the film personally here in Venice?
In Iran, we don't think about tomorrow. Even as a bystander, every morning, the government may decide something new and your life could be completely destroyed. So little of our fate is in our hands that it is pointless to think about such things.