by Alex Billington
May 27, 2026
Source: YouTube
“Great books are supposed to make you feel uneasy, and make you question what you take for granted.” Greenwich Entertainment & Kanopy have revealed the official US trailer for the film Reading Lolita in Tehran, a story about Iranian resistance now releasing in July this summer. This originally premiered in 2024 at the Rome Film Fest, where it won the Audience Award as well as Special Jury Prize. It also played at numerous other festivals but isn’t getting a full release in US theaters until this year. In revolutionary Iran, as fundamentalists tighten their grip on society, a professor secretly gathers a handful of her most dedicated female students from her university to read and discuss forbidden classics of Western literature, including Lolita and Pride & Prejudice. Based on the bestselling memoir by Azar Nafisi about her life in 1980s Tehran. Starring Golshifteh Farahani as Azar Nafisi, Zar Amir Ebrahimi, Mina Kavani, Reza Diako, Arash Marandi, Catayoune Ahmadi, & Sina Parvaneh. The reviews are pretty good for this, describing it as a story about “culture as a tool against oppression.” An inspiring story that we need right now. Worth a watch.
Here’s the official US trailer (+ poster) for Eran Riklis’ film Reading Lolita in Tehran, from YouTube:
As Islamic morality squads stage raids in Tehran and as fundamentalists seize universities, Azar Nafisi (starring Golshifteh Farahani), an inspired teacher, secretly gathers 6 of her most committed female students to read forbidden western classics. Unaccustomed to being asked to speak their minds, they soon removed their veils, their stories intertwining with the novels they read: just like the heroines of Nabokov, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Henry James or Jane Austen, the women in Nafisi’s living room dare to dream, hope & love as we experience the complexity of the lives of individuals facing political, moral & personal siege. Reading Lolita in Tehran is directed by Israeli filmmaker Eran Riklis, director of the films Cup Final, Zohar, Vulcan Junction, Borders, Temptation, Syrian Bride, Lemon Tree, The Human Resources Manager, Playoff, Zaytoun, A Borrowed Identity, Shelter, Spider in the Web previously. The screenplay is by Marjorie David; from a screen story by Marjorie David & Eran Riklis. Adapted from the book of the same name by Azar Nafisi. Produced by Marica Stocchi, Gianluca Curti, Moshe Edery, Santo Versace, Eran Riklis, Michael Sharfshtein. This initially premiered at the 2024 Rome Film Fest a few years back. Greenwich Ent. debuts Reading Lolita in Tehran in select US theaters starting July 10th, 2026 coming up. Who wants to watch?
