Talkies Community Cinema: My Favourite Cake

My Favourite Cake had its world premiere on 16 February 2024, as part of the 74th Berlin International Film Festival. The Iranian Government would not permit the directors to attend, so they issued a statement to be read out at the screening by actress Lily Farhadpour, including these words:

“We have come to believe that it is no longer possible to tell the story of an Iranian woman while obeying strict laws such as the mandatory hijab. Women for whom the red lines prevent the depiction of their true lives, as full human beings. This time, we decided to cross all of the restrictive red lines, and accept the consequences of our choice to paint a real picture of Iranian women – images that have been banned in Iranian cinema ever since the Islamic Revolution…

“My Favourite Cake is a film made in praise of life. This is a story based on the reality of the everyday lives of middle-class women in Iran, a close look at a woman’s solitude as she enters her golden years. A vision of the reality of women’s lives that has not often been told. It is a story that is contrary to the common image of Iranian women, and similar to the life stories of many lonely people on this planet, about savouring the short, sweet moments in life…

“Ladies and gentlemen, we proudly dedicate our premiere screening to the honourable and brave women of our country who have moved to the front lines of the fight for social change, who are attempting to tear down the walls of outdated and fossilised beliefs, and who sacrifice their lives to achieve freedom.”

In December 2024, the directors, forbidden from making movies, working and travelling abroad, were put on trial in Iran for propaganda against the regime, breaking Islamic rules by making a vulgar movie and spreading prostitution and libertinism.

“Quietly magnificent.”  Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian

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