Martin Scorsese and Jafar Panahi shared the stage at the New York Film Festival, where Scorsese appealed to streaming platforms to promote Iranian cinema and Panahi reflected on exile, censorship, and the resilience of Iranian artists.
The event, held in a café where participants appeared in what officials described as “unorthodox attire,” has renewed debate over the government’s role in regulating how citizens dress in public, Mehr News reported on Saturday.
“Authorities had effectively distanced themselves from responsibility, preferring inaction to a defined policy, even as disagreements over personal freedoms and appearance grow more visible across society,” wrote Mehr.
According to Iranian law, the national Working Group for the Regulation of Fashion and Clothing — established under a 2006 act of parliament — is charged with promoting clothing designs “reflecting Iranian-Islamic culture” and guiding the domestic market toward local styles while discouraging “foreign or unfamiliar models.”
The body has failed to meet those goals, Mehr reported. “The current state of fashion shows the neglect of this working group,” the outlet wrote, adding that “there is no sign of guidance in production or marketing.”
According to a 2022 survey by independent Netherlands-based research group GAMAAN, over 70 percent of men and women in Iran opposed mandatory hijab laws.
In Iran, the mandatory hijab serves not only as a religious practice but also as a political emblem woven into the state’s identity. Since 1979, its mandatory observance has been portrayed as a sign of revolutionary integrity and defiance toward Western cultural influence.
For hardliners, enforcing the hijab affirms the Islamic Republic’s legitimacy, while resistance to it is seen as defiance of state authority. As a result, women’s clothing has become a persistent political fault line.
Since the death in morality police custody of Mahsa "Jina" Amini in September 2022, many Iranian women have continued to reject compulsory hijab laws, turning individual gestures of dissent into a broader collective challenge. In Tehran and other major cities, appearing unveiled in public has increasingly become an everyday act of resistance.
Broader debate over hijab enforcement
The controversy unfolded as senior clerics and lawmakers renewed calls for strict hijab enforcement, despite the visible defiance of women and girls across Iran.
At a joint session of the Assembly of Experts, member Hashem Hosseini-Bushehri said “both cultural and economic neglect had caused distress among religious authorities and the public.”
“If the issue of hijab is not managed properly, it will worsen like a cracked dam,” Mojtaba Zolnour, a parliament member from Qom, warned Friday. He accused parliament’s leadership of inaction.
Friday prayer leaders nationwide echoed similar messages in coordinated sermons. Tehran’s temporary prayer leader Mohammad Javad Haj Ali Akbari urged “observance of modesty in public,” while Shahrekord’s cleric Mostafa Hashemi said hijab was “a divine obligation, not a personal right,” and that neglecting it “disturbs the community’s psychological peace.”
Despite such rhetoric, the government has quietly suspended enforcement of a strict hijab bill amid fears of renewed protests.
Conservative figure Mohammad-Reza Bahonar said in a recent interview that “the era of ruling the country by forcing hijab through law is over,” adding that the Supreme National Security Council had cut the bill.
Yet in recent weeks, authorities have sealed cafés and restaurants across cities for noncompliance after outcry by hardliners. Police warned that all businesses “must observe current laws,” signaling that Iran’s long-running struggle over dress and personal freedom remains unresolved.
Bakhtegan, once the province’s largest wetland, has been dry for over 14 years, ILNA said in its report. “Except for a very small area, no water is visible.”
An environmental activist described the situation of Iran’s wetlands as deeply alarming. “The condition of wetlands is now very dire, and it seems that no specific body has taken responsibility for them,” Sirus Zare said in remarks cited by ILNA.
Dried wetlands have become new sources of dust storms, he warned. “Wetlands are naturally low-lying areas that have accumulated pollutants over thousands of years. Once dry, they turn into active dust centers that spread toxic particles,” he said.
Nationwide ecological collapse
The report linked the crisis to Iran’s overuse of groundwater and mismanaged water projects that have reduced the natural flow to lakes and wetlands nationwide. As a result, nine major wetlands dried up by the end of the last water year.
The Karun River, Iran’s longest waterway at more than 950 kilometers, is also nearing an environmental disaster, according to the report.
Further north, Lake Urmia has nearly disappeared after years of warnings from environmentalists. The lake now holds only about 100 million cubic meters of saline water spread over 200 square kilometers, with an average depth of less than half a meter. Experts say the lake is “practically dead” and may evaporate completely within days.
Expanding water crisis
Even Gilan province, one of Iran’s rainiest regions, faces shrinking wetlands. Gilan’s governor, Hadi Heghshenas, said in September that “If no solution is found, Anzali Wetland — an international ecosystem — will fall silent completely.”
On October 10, coinciding with the annual Zayandeh-Roud River Day, concerns mounted over the critical state of the river in the central Isfahan province. Lawmaker Abbas Moghtadaei blamed the Energy Ministry for failures in managing the crisis, saying land subsidence, dust storms, and shortages of drinking and irrigation water stem from mismanagement.
Environmentalists warned that ignoring water rights reflects systemic neglect of national water laws and deepening inequities in resource management.
The event, postponed for a week because of visa delays, coincided with the US premiere of Panahi’s It Was Just An Accident, his Cannes Palme d’Or-winning feature, which was filmed secretly and inspired by his imprisonment, according to the Deadline website.
After winning the prestigious Palme d'Or, Panahi returned to Iran where he is banned from filmmaking. However, the ban has not kept him from doing his job.
The discussion between the two prominent filmmakers quickly turned to the condition of Iranian cinema and the challenges facing its filmmakers.
Scorsese asked about the exodus of major Iranian directors in recent years. Panahi said the loss had been devastating for the nation’s film culture.
“It was really difficult to bear … All the backbones of Iranian filmmaking are out. I really miss all those films that they could have made in Iran and they never did,” he said through a translator.
“I don’t have the courage and I don’t have the ability to leave Iran and stay out of Iran. I have stayed there and I’m going to work there.”
Scorsese urged distributors, festivals, and streamers to step in. “These films would have to be supported,” he said. “Streaming platforms have a lot of room. And they throw things … There’s no reason why, you know, a Criterion, Mubi, and Amazon, all of that, couldn’t show these films.”
Platforms should “curate them a bit” so audiences can find and understand them, he added.
Change and defiance
Panahi recalled being banned from filmmaking for 20 years following his arrest. “When they told me that I could not make films for 20 years, or write, or give interviews, or leave Iran for 20 years, I was in shock,” he said.
“50% of your energy and your strength goes into finding the way to … make a film. And you only have 50% left for creativity and for the work itself.”
Reflecting on the Woman, Life, Freedom protests, Panahi said the movement had permanently altered Iran’s public and artistic life.
“In my opinion, the history of these Islamic Republic is divided into before and after … This had affected everything. Of course it would affect cinema too.”
At this year's Academy Awards, four Iranian directors are competing in the Best International Feature Film category, each representing a different country, with a shortlist of finalists due to be announced on March 2.
Iran submitted Cause of Death: Unknown by Ali Zarnegar after a selection process that excluded films by independent and dissident filmmakers.
Among those left out was the critics’ favorite It Was Just an Accident, secretly filmed by internationally acclaimed director Jafar Panahi, who is banned from filmmaking.
Panahi's drama was in turn submitted to the Oscars by France while fellow dissident filmmaker Alireza Khatami’s The Things You Kill will represent Canada.
Shahram Mokri’s Black Rabbit, White Rabbit has also been selected by Tajikistan.
