Iranian director Mahnaz Mohammadi will attend on Friday the screening of her film 'Roya' at the Romanian Peasant Cinema, presented as part of the Bucharest International Film Festival (BIFF).

''Roya' is scheduled at 18:15 and follows the story of an Iranian teacher imprisoned for her political convictions, who is faced with an agonizing choice: make a coerced televised confession or remain indefinitely isolated in her three-square-meter cell,' according to the film's synopsis.

The film is deeply rooted in Mahnaz Mohammadi's own experience of detention, including time spent in Evin Prison in Tehran. 'Roya' was filmed clandestinely at a time when Mahnaz Mohammadi did not have official permission to make films.

The film was selected for the Panorama section of the 2026 Berlin International Film Festival and will compete in the BIFF 2026 Official Competition in Bucharest.

* Mahnaz Mohammadi has been making films for more than two decades. She began her career in documentary filmmaking and continued to work despite arrests, detention and restrictions imposed on her filmmaking activities. She was denied a passport for ten years. After her first fiction feature fiction, Son-Mother, she was no longer officially allowed to make films, the release says.

Mahnaz Mohammadi's presence in Bucharest gives the BIFF audiences the opportunity to meet directly with a filmmaker for whom film and personal experience have become inseparable and to discover a film made under exceptional circumstances, according to the release.

Mahnaz Mohammadi is an Iranian filmmaker, documentary filmmaker and women's rights activist. Her artistic career has been marked by arrests, detention and restrictions on her professional activities in Iran.

Mahnaz Mohammadi's films include 'Women Without Shadow' (2003), 'Travelogue' (2008), 'Mr. Vali' (2016) and 'Beyond the Lies' (2025).

In 2019, she directed her first fiction feature called 'Son-Mother' which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival. The screenplay was written by Iranian filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof, who was also one of the film's producers.

The 22nd edition of the Bucharest International Film Festival runs until 27 September at Apollo111, the Romanian Peasant Cinema and DeGalben - the cultural hub of District 1. The festival presents audiences with auteur films, national premieres, Romanian and international productions, meetings with filmmakers and special programmes, creating a space for dialogue between contemporary international cinema, its creators and audiences in Bucharest.

The BIFF 2026 is organised by the CHARTA Foundation and the 'Grigore Vasiliu Birlic' International Cultural Association, under the High Patronage of His Royal Highness Prince Radu of Romania. AGERPRES (RO - editing by: Florin Marin; EN - writing by: Rodica State)

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