Laleh Marzban won the Orizzonti award for Best Actress at the Venice Film Festival on September 12, 2026, for her role in Falling House, a drama about a Tehran-area family fighting eviction from their home. Accepting the prize, she dedicated it to "the women of my country who have paid the highest price for the smallest freedoms," closing in Persian with a line about not losing hope. Within days, Iranian state media turned on her. A Basij-aligned channel accused her of turning her back on Iran; other regime-backed channels called it treason and suggested she be barred from returning to the country. State broadcaster IRIB actress Zhila Sadeghi said Marzban should have dedicated the award to children killed in a U.S. strike on a school in Minab instead, and called her a traitor.

1. State Media Calls Her a Traitor (Zhila Sadeghi, Basij-Aligned TV)

Marzban had a global stage and used it to criticize her own country instead of honoring the war dead.

Children killed in a February U.S. strike deserved the dedication instead. Sadeghi argued Marzban should have used the moment to remember them — killed when a missile hit a school in Minab — not to talk about women's freedoms at home.

The words went past criticism, into a curse. Sadeghi said Marzban "betrayed Iran," adding, "curse the ones who let you have a role in a film ever again."

Some regime-backed channels want her barred from the country. Beyond the treason accusation, outlets have floated having Iran's Ministry of Culture block her return.

2. But Marzban Says This Was Solidarity, Not Politics

The speech was solidarity with Iranian women, not an attack on the country.

The dedication was about hope, not politics. Marzban gave the award to women who "have paid the highest price for the smallest freedoms" and said she believed "the wish of all of us will come true."

She closed by naming the moment, not a side. In Persian, she said: "I know we are going through the hardest days of our lives, but we must not lose hope."

3. The Censorship Didn't Start With the Backlash (Director Mohsen Gharaei)

Iran's censorship reached this film long before the backlash did.

Critics already read Falling House as commentary on Iran. Reviewers at Venice described it as a "thinly veiled parable of life in the Islamic Republic," built around a family losing its home.

This fight started in July, months before Marzban's speech. Iranian regime-controlled news sites reacted with outrage when the film's Venice selection surfaced images of Marzban's character on screen without a hijab.

He can't go home anymore. Gharaei told Deadline he would "definitely face a prison sentence" if he returned to Iran; Iranian authorities have confiscated his home and assets there, and he and his family are now living in exile.

His producer describes a coordinated campaign, not a few angry posts. Producer Milad Khosravi told Deadline that state-affiliated media ran a "widespread campaign" against Gharaei, including thousands of threatening messages.

Where This Lands

Iranian state broadcasters say Marzban should have used her Venice moment for the war dead, not for a message about women's freedoms, and some are pushing to keep her out of the country. Marzban's own words describe the dedication as solidarity with Iranian women, delivered in a festival speech that closed on hope, not confrontation. Gharaei's situation shows this isn't just about one speech — he says he can't safely go home over a film that was already drawing state backlash months before Marzban ever took the stage.

Sources