Sony Pictures Classics Acquires Cannes Iran Doc Rehearsals for a Revolution

Sony Pictures Classics (SPC) said Friday that it has acquired all rights in North and Latin America, Asia (except for Japan), New Zealand, Turkey, Portugal and worldwide airlines to the Cannes Film Festival documentary Rehearsals for a Revolution, the debut feature from actress-turned- director Pegah Ahangarani.

Premiering in the Special Screenings section of the festival, “the deeply personal [film] has been praised by audiences and critics alike,” SPC said. It also won the L’Oeil d’Or, or Golden Eye, honor on Friday, a prize awarded to the best doc at the fest.

A film synopsis explains: “Through five portraits of relatives and mentors, five expressions of resistance, Ahangarani sketches her life story. Drawing from personal archives, home videos, street protests footage, newspapers, and recorded voices, she retraces more than 40 years of Iran’s history. From the early days of 1979, until the war that began in 2026, she pieces together intimate and collective memories, forming the portrait of a country shaped by political repression and in constant hope for a revolution.”

Rehearsals for a Revolution was written and directed by Ahangarani and edited by Arash Ashtiani, with co-writers Ehsan Abdipour, Amir Ahmadi Arian, Arash Ashtiani and Majed Neisi. The film was made in association with the Czech Republic’s Media Nest and Spain’s Fasten Films.

The deal was negotiated between Sony Pictures Classics and The Party Film Sales on behalf of the filmmakers.

THR‘s review called the film “a powerful documentary self-portrait [that] spans decades of resistance and repression in Iran.” Noted the review: “Ahangarani’s dark historical self-portrait also looks forward to a time, perhaps not too far in the future, when all the rehearsed revolutions she experienced will finally lead to a real one, and things in Iran change for the better.”

And it highlighted: “Rehearsals for a Revolutionis a cautionary tale about speaking up in a place where rebellion can cost you your livelihood, and quite possibly your life. It’s also a despairing tale of a family that lost several loved ones to a regime they initially supported, and even fought for in a long and brutal war, only to find their affinities betrayed by despotism.”