Akhtar Deadend

Russia, China, Iran: The Axis of Revenge

May 2024 •French

Russia, China and Iran: three former empires are determined to take their revenge and reassert their power after centuries of humiliation. Since the start of the war in Ukraine, they have never been so aligned on the international stage. Their common goal: to put an end to Western hegemony, restore their zone of influence and propose a new model of society. To achieve this, they are waging a hybrid war against the democracies: military, technological, economic, informational and ideological. Are they on the verge of joining forces to create a new world order?

Rug

June 2006 •Persian

In this guided tour of a unique Persian carpet, a close-up of the delicate "spine" of a tree branches out into the discovery of a fantastical world.

Bitter Rivals: Iran and Saudi Arabia

February 2018 •English

Bitter Rivals illuminates the essential history - and profound ripple effect - of Iran and Saudi Arabia's power struggle. It draws on scores of interviews with political, religious and military leaders, militia commanders, diplomats, and policy experts, painting American television's most comprehensive picture of a feud that has reshaped the Middle East.

My Enemy, My Brother

April 2017 •English

The eight-year Iran-Iraq War was one of the most brutal conflicts to devastate the region in the 20th century. Zahed was 13 years old when he enrolled in the Iranian army. Najah was 18 when he was conscripted into the Iraqi army, and he fought against Zahed in the Battle of Khorramshahr. Fast forward 25 years, a chance encounter in Vancouver between these two former enemies turns into a deep and mutually supportive friendship. Expanded from the 2015 short film by the same name.

The Other Side of Burka

November 2004 •Persian

The Other Side of Burka is a 2004 Iranian documentary directed by Mehrdad Oskouei. In the southern island of Qeshm, Iran, which is a very strict region in point of tradition and African-Arabic rules, all women are under the pressure of patriarch society. Their sufferance is manifested by different mental (Zar, Possession) and physical diseases which must be only treated by Zar Ceremony. For the first time, despite the danger these women face, this film tells us the sad story of their life and shows their confection in front of the camera. It tries to be an honest mirror which reflects their sufferance and unveils their Burka to reveal their real characters.

12 September: Coup Diary

November 1998 •Turkish

Turkish democracy got over May 27 and March 12 and set off again, but the storm did not subside, and the mutual reckoning was not over. On the contrary, new fronts were opened in the country and blood began to flow like a gutter. Finally, on September 12, there was a knock on the door again. Those who came that day changed everything, everything. Nothing will ever be the same again

Googoosh: Made of Fire

October 2024 •English

On stage since she was a toddler, Googoosh has been an icon of Iranian pop culture since the 1970s. Her progressive style and raw singing talent attracted worldwide acclaim and saw her performing alongside the likes of Tina Turner and Ray Charles. But the star's career came to an abrupt halt after the Islamic Revolution, which banned women from singing in public. Googoosh was placed under house arrest, where she remained for the next two decades. Niloufar Taghizadeh's documentary, which includes interviews with the charismatic singer (now in her seventies, but still performing and advocating for women and girls) and arresting archival footage, offers both a loving portrait of a national icon and a fascinating historical and cultural record of Iran.

Sheep Among Wolves: Volume II

August 2019 •English

Today, Iran's aggressive posture and rogue nuclear weapons program are straining the patience and nerve of the international community. With Iranian fighters, funds, and strategic weapons flooding into the Middle East, significant war appears inevitable. Meanwhile, something surprising is taking place inside this controversial country. Muslim-background Iranians are leading a quiet but mass exodus out of Islam and bowing their knees to the Jewish Messiah—with kindled affection toward the Jewish people. The Iranian awakening is a rapidly reproducing discipleship movement that owns no property, no buildings, has no budget, no 501c3 status, and is predominantly led by women. THIS IS THEIR STORY.

12 Mart: Gripes

April 1994 •Turkish

Revolutionaries passed before the streets of the 1960s on the road to democracy. Then the youth with the victory songs, the workers with the rebel flags, the rightists, the leftists and the putschists again. The country spent 12 years in the grip of the revolution and in the end all roads came to the same crossroads. Ankara was restless in the minutes when the ousted prime minister of the Democratic Party, Adnan Menderes, was hanged. The news of Menderes' execution had not yet come. There was an anxious wait in the houses. Ears were on the radio. Everyone was wondering what happened in Imrali. In the Assembly, the National Unity Committee was in a meeting. They were also trying to learn the fate of Menderes. Suddenly, news came that EP Chairperson Ragıp Gümüşpala and Secretary General Şinasi Osman wanted to meet with the committee urgently. The committee members did not break the request of their former commander Gümüşpala and made an appointment for 14:30...

Demirkırat: Rebellion

July 1991 •Turkish

In the past, when spring came, there was a spring atmosphere in politics. But the spring of 1959 brought the CHP's spring offensive on the contrary. Seeing that the opportunity for a dialogue was completely lost after Menderes' plane crash, İsmet Pasha put on his boots in April and took his 46 deputies with him to the expedition. The chosen route was the route of the Great Offensive in the War of Independence. Uşak, where İnönü took the Greek Commander-in-Chief Trikupis prisoner, was the first stop...

Demirkırat: Coup

July 1991 •Turkish

While the government was in a deep sleep, the brain staff of the revolution was completing its final preparations at the Military Academy, there were only a few hours left for the revolution that had been prepared for six years. Despite six years of preparation, there was actually no serious plan at hand. An unplanned, unscheduled full night raid was to be organized. The management level of the army was pro-government. Therefore, it was impossible for the intervention to take place within the chain of command. This was to be a grassroots military operation. The army of the operation consisted of young cadets. Except for the Harbiye, there was no force at hand. It was even possible for units such as the Guards Regiment and the Central Command to resist. That's how the day of May 27 began with the unknown and risks. Major General Cemal Madanoğlu, the commander of the Revolution Headquarters, would have the last word...

Demirkırat: Execution

July 1991 •Turkish

We came to the end of the road. We told you the story of the establishment of a democracy throughout 9 episodes... We witnessed the collapse of a one-party regime. We witnessed the disappearance of the national chiefdom. Together we experienced the holding of the first free general elections and the raising of democracy in pain. And finally, we told you about the birth, rise and fall of a new power. Where we ended up was a military intervention. Whatever the reasons, the storm of revolution had blown once. Now the task of the officers who seized power on the morning of May 27 was to contain that storm. But it didn't. After a while, the storm started to drag the revolutionaries in front of it. The historical scenario was repeated. The Revolution ate some of their children. The revolution was now speaking its own language...

Shâd Bâsh

March 2024 •French

The Revolution Will Not Be Televised

March 2003 •English

Hugo Chavez was a colourful, unpredictable folk hero who was beloved by his nation’s working class. He was elected president of Venezuela in 1998, and proved to be a tough, quixotic opponent to the power structure that wanted to depose him. When he was forcibly removed from office on 11 April 2002, two independent filmmakers were inside the presidential palace.

Alone In Movie Theater

July 2023 •Arabic

This documentary was written with passion and love for cinema, and on the other hand, he blamed her. Our fictional character for this documentary talks about her passion for cinema and how it affected her life and recounts the decades that passed on the cinema one after the other.

American Coup

November 2010 •English

AMERICAN COUP tells the story of the first coup ever carried out by the CIA - Iran, 1953. Explores the blowback from this seminal event, as well as the coup's lingering effects on the present US-Iranian relationship. Includes a segment on the 1979 Iranian Hostage Crisis and its relation to the 1953 coup. Concludes with a section on the recent Iranian presidential election. Contains interviews with noted Middle East experts and historians and prominent public figures such as Stephen Kinzer (author, All The Shah's Men), Prof. Ervand Abrahamian, Trita Parsi, Col. Lawrence Wilkerson, Ted Koppel and Rep. Ron Paul of Texas. With Iranian cinematography by James Longley.

Coup 53

September 2019 •English

Tehran, Iran, August 19, 1953. A group of Iranian conspirators who, with the approval of the deposed tyrant Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, have conspired with agents of the British MI6 and the US CIA, manage to put an end to the democratic government led by Mohammad Mosaddegh, a dramatic event that will begin the tragic era of coups d'état that, orchestrated by the CIA, will take place, over the following decades, in dozens of countries around the world.

Green Days

September 2009 •Persian

A playwright Iran tries to confront a creative crisis while political clashes erupt during her country's 2009 election.

Rap & Revolution im Iran

July 2024 •German

Inside the Iranian Uprising

June 2023 •English

In September 2022, a 22-year-old Iranian woman, Mahsa Amini, died in police custody. She had been arrested by Iran’s religious police, accused of not wearing her hijab properly. The authorities said she had died of a heart attack, but rumors spread that she had been beaten on arrest. Citizens took to the streets in their thousands in fury. This is an extraordinary and shocking insight into what has been happening across Iran, revealing a regime under huge pressure and resorting to extreme cruelty to control its citizens.