Isabelle Huppert, Marion Cotillard, Isabelle Adjani… Many French actresses and singers have cut a lock of hair in solidarity with the struggle of Iranian women, in a video posted Wednesday on Instagram.
Against the background of “Bella Ciao” in Persian, these actresses and singers, including the Belgian Angèle and the French-speaking Britons Charlotte Rampling and Jane Birkin, cut a lock of hair in front of the camera, taking up one of the symbols of the uprising in courses in Iran.
“The Iranian people, women in the lead, demonstrate at the risk of their lives. These people only hope for access to the most essential freedoms. These women, these men, ask for our support”, they say in a written message accompanying the video on the Instagram account “supportwomensiran”.
“Their courage and their dignity compel us. It is impossible not to denounce again and again this terrible repression […] We have therefore decided to respond to the call that was made to us by cutting, too, some of these locks, ”they add, in this call initiated by lawyers.
The day before, more than a thousand personalities of the 7th French art, including stars like Léa Seydoux, Isabelle Huppert and Dany Boon, renowned filmmakers or the boss of the Cannes Film Festival Thierry Frémaux had already called for “supporting the revolt of women in Iran”, in a column sent to AFP.
Until now, the French artistic community had been little heard on the protest movement triggered by the death of Mahsa Amini in Tehran.
Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurd, died on September 16, three days after her arrest for violating the Islamic Republic’s strict dress code, which notably requires women to wear the veil. Her death sparked a wave of protests in Iran, which were violently suppressed, and rallies in solidarity with Iranian women around the world.