Iran’s Oscar-Nominated Filmmakers Could Miss Ceremony as Government Pulls Campaign Funding: ‘We Are More Than Furious Towards Our Country’

Iranian filmmakers Hossein Molayemi and Shirin Sohani, the creative duo behind the Oscar-nominated animated short “In the Shadow of the Cypress,” find themselves grappling with geopolitical hurdles that have cast a shadow over their historical achievement and may prevent them from attending this year’s Academy Awards.

Despite their film’s incredible festival run and Oscar nomination, the duo has been unable to participate in Oscar campaigning events in person as they’ve been unable to secure visas to visit the United States. They’ve also seen promised public funding rescinded, leaving them with limited options regarding international travel.

“In the Shadow of the Cypress,” a breathtaking 2D look at the effects of PTSD and its profound impacts on a former captain and his daughter, has garnered accolades at prestigious international festivals such as Venice, Animayo, Tribeca and LA Shorts. Since qualifying with award wins at Animayo and Tribeca. The filmmakers’ journey to the Oscars has been anything but smooth.

Speaking with Variety, Molayemi explained the financial difficulties that have hampered their efforts to promote the film. “It’s been years that we have been under sanctions, and they have become worse in the last month,” he explained. “Going abroad was always hard for us. The situation has become more complicated since President Trump’s time in office.”

Financing the film was an early hurdle for Molayemi and Sohani. Development and production for “In the Shadow of the Cypress” – which took six-and-a-half years from start to finish – were entirely self-financed, as government support is rare for Iranian projects from unestablished filmmakers. “They are not proud of these kinds of projects,” Molayemi explained. “They don’t do anything for you or help pay the way for you, as they should have a duty to do. But then, as soon as you become successful, they want to use your work as propaganda.”

During the film’s original festival run, Molayemi and Sohani could only attend three events outside of Iran: Venice, Annecy and Sharjah, and the latter only because the festival covered their expenses. Otherwise, they had to finance the trips mostly on their own.

While speaking abroad, the filmmakers tried their best not to ruffle any feathers back in Iran and, for a time, the Iranian government seemed content, even committing to helping financially support the film’s Oscar campaign, including travel expenses for the directors.

However, things changed after an interview in which the filmmakers discussed the film’s development and production.

Sohani recalls that “during an interview with Euronews, we didn’t say anything political, but we talked about the financial challenges we faced because we couldn’t afford to pay our team members, about how the unreliable internet here complicated things and how many useful online platforms are blocked here in Iran.”

A colleague later told the directors that those complaints – and Sohani’s refusal to wear a hijab should she make it to the Oscars – caused the government to rescind its offer to help them. Now, Sohani insists, “I can say that I’m no longer afraid if this interview upsets them. I want to upset them.”

With no carrot and only a stick hanging over them, the filmmakers are done playing nice. “We are more than furious towards our country, our government,” says Sohani, explaining that although she recognizes sanctions imposed by foreign governments have hurt their film’s prospects, she believes the Iranian government must take most of the blame.

In addition to the financial hurdles faced by Molayemi and Sohani, the duo is being held back by an intractable visa situation. Because there is no U.S. embassy in Iran, they must apply for a U.S. visa from outside the country, meaning another expensive trip abroad. Setting up that appointment required a fee, which the two could pay directly because their Iranian bank accounts were blocked outside the country. After securing help from an Iranian living in Oman, they were finally given an appointment for the summer of 2025, months after the Oscars. The two have since applied for an emergency visa using their Academy nomination letter as proof and are awaiting an update.

However, Molayemi laments, “Even if we get the visas now, we’ve already lost a lot of opportunities. We weren’t in L.A. for key promotional events that other filmmakers could be involved in. We don’t enjoy the financial support and promotional support as others.”

Although the filmmakers find themselves in a situation far different than they had hoped for as their film picked up momentum throughout the awards season, Molayemi and Sohani are trying to stay optimistic about the future.

“There are a lot of negative things we’re dealing with right now, but there are positives too,” Sohani explained. “After the nomination, we received so much positive feedback from ordinary people around the country, and these days, our people need hope. I would never say that hope is dead in Iran, and I’m going to remain hopeful, but positive messages are rarer every day, and seeing what people here had to say about our film gave us a lot of hope.”

Iranian animation is, under unenviable circumstances, experiencing a historic moment. “In the Shadow of the Cypress” is just the second Iranian animated short to be nominated for the Academy Award, and it did so only one year after Yegane Moghaddam’s “Our Uniform” broke that barrier. Yet, recurring and often worsening geopolitical challenges underscore the broader issues faced by Iranian artists on the international stage.

As the final voting for the Oscars draws to a close, it remains uncertain whether Molayemi and Sohani will be able to attend the ceremony. Their story is a stark reminder of the intersection between art and politics, and the resilience of filmmakers who continue to create and inspire while facing extreme adversity.