DW DocumentaryBy late 2025, fresh protests had erupted across Iran. They rapidly became a mass movement, supported by people from all generations. The regime responded with brutal force. Ali Khamenei had been the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic for decades. Following the US-Israeli airstrikes of February 28 and the official announcement of his death, the country has entered a period of internal turmoil. The Shiite Ayatollah had dominated Iran’s political system since 1989 – a system that repeatedly faced mass protests.
As 2025 moved into 2026, tensions in Iran were already incredibly high. This film tells the story of those pivotal few weeks. On December 28, 2025 protests erupted in Tehran. Bazaar merchants closed their shops to demonstrate against soaring inflation, rising food prices and skyrocketing living costs. The protests spread rapidly throughout the country, becoming the largest Iran had seen since Kurdish student Jina Mahsa Amini died in police custody in 2022.
Within days, the authorities responded with a bloody crackdown, arresting thousands of people and killing countless others. They shut down the country’s internet – the longest blackout in Iran’s history. Officials barred journalists from entering the country. Once the borders closed, Iran vanished from the world’s headlines and TV screens. Yet its citizens continued to risk their lives to report the truth. Students, mothers, workers, artists and anonymous activists share stories from the demonstrations. They relate their fears of nighttime raids, prison and torture. They also speak of the hopes for change that drove them out onto the streets, and the solidarity they found there.
As the days passed, state repression led to growing doubt and disappointment, with the future once again becoming uncertain. When the streets are silenced and the world stops watching: what next? This film hears from individuals who do speak out despite the risks and fears, and remain committed to the fight for their right to self-determination.
