Ali Asgari Brings Bold Satire and Real-Life Censorship Battles to His New Film Divine Comedy
Iranian filmmaker Ali Asgari arrives at the Doha Film Festival with his newest feature Divine Comedy, a satirical look at censorship and the daily absurdities artists face in Iran. The film premiered earlier in Venice’s Horizons section and marks a shift toward a more openly comedic style from a director known for exploring quiet tensions and bureaucratic pressure in works like Disappearance, Until Tomorrow, and Terrestrial Verses.
The story follows Bahram, a mid-career filmmaker played by director Bahman Ark, whose entire body of Turkish-Azeri-language work has never been screened in Iran. When cultural authorities reject his latest film, he teams up with his producer Sadaf (played by Sadaf Asgari) to pull off an underground guerrilla screening in Tehran. Their simple act of defiance spirals into a darkly funny odyssey that highlights the maze of red tape, cultural gatekeeping, and anxiety familiar to Iranian artists.
The movie comes together as a multinational co-production between Iran, Italy, France, Germany, and Turkey, with global sales handled by Goodfellas. Asgari, who has faced repeated travel bans and works without official permits, uses satire as a creative strategy and a form of resistance. For more background on his past works, you can check out his profile on Wikipedia.
Asgari explains that although the comedic elements are exaggerated, the experiences depicted are rooted in situations he and Ark have faced. Filmmakers using Azerbaijani Turkish often struggle with scrutiny simply because of the language of their films. He says he fictionalized events to highlight how absurd and illogical many of these rules are.
He believes satire has become a powerful alternative to the metaphors Iranian directors traditionally relied on to avoid government backlash. He notes that a newer generation — such as Mohammad Rasoulof and Jafar Panahi — began addressing political issues more directly, but he wanted a different approach. According to him, satire helps diminish the system’s power by exposing how silly and stupid restrictive rules can be, while also allowing international audiences to grasp the reality without feeling overwhelmed.
The entire film was shot inside Iran without permits despite the risks. Asgari says filmmakers must choose between making a censored, officially approved film or creating freely and accepting the consequences. He only applied for a permit once and found the process intrusive and creatively unacceptable, with officials demanding unnecessary cuts and additions despite lacking filmmaking expertise.
Asgari has had his passport confiscated several times, with the most recent ban lasting eight months. He views these challenges as part of the job when pursuing artistic freedom. He says he avoids conscious self-censorship when writing but admits that unconscious habits shaped by society sometimes influence what he omits, and he actively works to fight that.
The character of Bahram is partly autobiographical, built from shared experiences among the writing team, including Bahman Ark, his brother Bahram Ark, and Canada-based writer Alireza Khatami, known for The Things You Kill. The premise was inspired by the real underground screenings Asgari organized when his film Terrestrial Verses was banned in Iran. He carried a projector from café to café to show the movie to small groups, observing unpredictable reactions from audiences.
At the Doha screening, Asgari was surprised by the full house and the enthusiastic engagement from viewers. He credits the Doha Film Institute for building a knowledgeable and supportive audience over the past decade, noting that many attendees stayed after the session to discuss the film in depth.
For more information on the film’s festival journey and production details, you can visit the Venice Film Festival page or explore sales updates on Goodfellas.
