The actor Zar Amir Ebrahimi plays the main role in Ali Abbasi's film "Holy spider", is the chairman of the jury at the Gothenburg film festival and held a demonstration at the festival on Tuesday.
For Kulturnyheterna, she talks about how she views her many years in exile from her native Iran.
- It is a sad story.
You are forced to leave your history, your country, your family, your loved ones, your career.
It's so hard to start from scratch.
But even though I was traumatized, I can say that now, after 15 years.
15 years ago I was not in touch with my feelings, says Zar Amir Ebrahimi and continues:
- I did not understand that I was traumatized.
I was just trying to find my place in exile.
Calls for protest
Zar Amir Ebrahimi fled the Iranian dictatorship in 2008. She tells Kulturnyheterna that her own attitude to the exile has been decisive:
- I accepted it as a chance.
When you see exile as an opportunity, you appreciate it.
Today, Amir Ebrahimi is one of the strongest international voices of the "Women, Life, Freedom" protest movement.
During her demonstration at the Gothenburg Film Festival, she urged the audience to sign a petition created by the Art Culture Action Association – a group of artists, writers and cultural workers.
The appeal supports the Iranian people and criticizes the violence and oppression of the Iranian regime.
Read 173 names
The group Art Culture Action Association has compiled a list of artists, filmmakers and art students who have been imprisoned, tortured or released on bail since the ongoing revolution started.
There are 173 names on the list, which Zar Amir Ebrahimi read out at the end of the demonstration.
In addition to Amir Ebrahimi, actors Sofie Gråbøl and Gizem Erdogan, director Nahid Persson and Gothenburg Film Festival's artistic director Jonas Holmberg also took part on stage.