Roya

Panorama 2026

Roya, an Iranian teacher imprisoned in Tehran’s Evin Prison for her political beliefs, is faced with a choice: make a forced televised confession or remain confined to her three-square-metre cell. As past and present slip out of sequence and exchange places, she moves between inner landscapes and lived experience. The film reveals how solitary confinement reshapes both perception and identity and makes the possibility of resistance increasingly fragile.

by Mahnaz Mohammadi (Director, Screenplay)
with Melisa Sözen, Maryam Palizban, Hamidreza Djavdan, Mohammad Ali Hosseinalipour, Bacho Meburishvili, Gholamhassan Taseiri Germany / Czechia / Luxembourg / Iran 2026 Farsi 92' Colour World premiere

With

Melisa Sözen (Roya)
Maryam Palizban (Samira)
Hamidreza Djavdan (Father)
Mohammad Ali Hosseinalipour (Interrogator)
Bacho Meburishvili (Doctor)
Gholamhassan Taseiri (Haji)

Crew

Director	Mahnaz Mohammadi
Screenplay	Mahnaz Mohammadi
Cinematography	Ashkan Ashkani
Editing	Esmaeel Monsef
Music	Andrius Arutiunian
Sound Design	Ensieh Leyla Maleki
Production Design	Alborz Malekpour
Costumes	Alborz Malekpour
Make-Up	Mahsan Khodakarami
Casting	Mahnaz Mohammadi
Producers	Farzad Pak, Kaveh Farnam, Bady Minck, Alexander Dumreicher-Ivanceanu
Executive Producers	Melisa Sözen, Farzad Pak

Produced by

PakFilm

Hamburg, Germany

Media Nest

Prag, Czechia

Co-produced by

Amour Fou Luxembourg

Luxemburg, Luxembourg

Filminiran

Teheran, Iran

World Sales

Totem Films

Paris, France

Photos

Mahnaz Mohammadi

The Iranian filmmaker and women’s rights activist has spent years documenting the struggles and resilience of women in Iran. She has faced repeated persecution for her films and activism, including multiple arrests and a seven-year prison sentence on charges of “endangering national security” and “propaganda against the regime”. She spent several months in Evin prison. Although the sentence was later overturned, she continues to live under surveillance and severe restrictions. Her passport was confiscated for ten years and, following her debut fiction feature, Son-Mother, she has not been permitted to make films. Made underground without official permission, Roya is her second fiction feature.

Filmography (selection)

2003 Zanan Bedoone Sayeh (Women Without Shadow); documentary 2008 Koochnameh (Travelogue); documentary 2016 Agha Vali (Mr. Vali); documentary 2019 Pesar-Madar (Son-Mother) 2025 Faratar Az Dorough (Beyound the lies); documentary 2026 Roya; Berlinale 2026

Bio- & filmography as of Berlinale 2026