Iran’s war and political pressure take center stage at Venice Film Festival

Two Iranian films at the 2026 Venice Film Festival bring the pressures of war and politics into focus through stories of people who feel trapped. Ali Asgari's A Bit of Light enters the main competition, while Mohsen Gharaei's Falling House screens in the Horizons section.

A Bit of Light stars Misagh Zareh as a doctor who loses hope for the future after Iranian authorities arrest him and forcibly shut down his medical practice in Tehran. Falling House follows a modest family on the outskirts of Tehran whose home is threatened by a large-scale construction project.

The two films arrive at Venice while war is still raging in Iran, six months after the country was attacked by U.S. and Israeli forces. Producer Odessa Rae said the films share a central concern: how people behave and make personal choices when neither domestic power nor proposed outside solutions offers a clear escape.

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The form of both films speaks to the feeling of being trapped and what you do when you are inside a system that truly has no way out.

“The regime is part of the problem, and then Western solutions become another part of the problem,” Rae said. “And when you are faced with a situation with no way out, how do you behave and what is the impact on your family? How does it affect your personal choices?”

Both films were shot secretly in Iran before the war. To obtain permission to film Falling House in Tehran, lead producer Milad Khosravi manipulated the script submitted to the government. After roughly 70 days of filming, the team moved all the footage out of Iran just before the war began. Post-production took place in Germany, including additional scenes. Khosravi also produced A Bit of Light, whose production moved outside Iran after the United States first attacked Iran in February.

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The regime is part of the problem, and then Western solutions become another part of the problem.