Closing Ceremony of the 3rd Edition of the Woman, Life, Freedom International Film Festival

20 September 2026, Stockholm

Venue: ABF-huset – Zätasalen | 13:00–15:30

The programme will feature five selected films, three memorial programmes, and the presentation of a new award, in cultural collaboration with Alliance Française.

The third edition of the Woman, Life, Freedom International Film Festival will take place from 16 to 21 September 2026. Over six days, a selection of independent films will be presented through screenings and events across Australia, Europe, the United States, and Canada. Following the official closing ceremony in Stockholm, special festival screenings will continue in several other countries.

This year’s festival stands in solidarity with the Iranian people’s revolutionary movement of January 2026 (Dey 1404) and, through cinema and art, highlights the struggle for freedom, human dignity, and human
rights.

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The festival will open online on 16 September, marking the anniversary of the death of Mahsa (Jina) Amini. During the joint online opening ceremony, the festival’s award winners will be announced by the President of the International Jury, Afghan-French writer and filmmaker Atiq Rahimi.

Following the digital opening, the festival programme will continue over six days in different countries, with its official closing ceremony taking place as a special event in Stockholm on Sunday, 20 September. Special festival screenings will continue in other countries after the official closing ceremony.

This independent film festival was founded in 2024 by the Association of Iranian Film and Theatre Artists Abroad (AIFTAA) with the aim of challenging censorship, defending freedom of expression and gender equality, and highlighting films that portray the struggles and achievements of women around the world.

The festival’s decentralised structure is an essential part of this mission. Rather than concentrating all events in a single city, screenings are hosted by cinemas, cultural institutions, and partner organisations in different countries. Through this structure, the diaspora becomes a cultural infrastructure: films travel, local audiences come together, and a shared festival programme takes on new meanings in Brisbane, Chicago, Stockholm, Toronto, Paris, Cologne, London, Uppsala, Oldenburg, Brussels, Amsterdam, and other cities.

The International Jury for the third edition of the festival in 2026 brings together filmmakers, actors, film writers, educators, and cultural figures from several countries. In accordance with the festival’s annual policy, the jury includes representation of women artists who have been denied the opportunity to work professionally in Iran, as well as artistic representation of the LGBTQ+ community.

The President of the 2026 International Jury is Atiq Rahimi, the Afghan-French writer and filmmaker. The other jury members are Niki Karimi, Vishka Asayesh, Mozhgan Ilanlu, Stephen Lance, Richard Fung, and Carolina Póse.

The festival has so far announced 20 nominated films across four categories: animation, experimental film, documentary, and fiction. The nominated films are currently being evaluated by the festival jury.

The third edition of the festival is also expanding its work in the field of cultural memory. Three memorial programmes will be dedicated to Marjane Satrapi, Bahram Beyzai, and Nasser Taghvai—three important and influential figures in Iranian culture and cinema whose artistic careers were marked by independence, freedom of expression, and an ongoing confrontation with censorship. Bahram Beyzai and Nasser Taghvai passed away in 2025, and Marjane Satrapi in 2026.