1 x 30 min

These images were never supposed to be seen. Amid the war in Iran, two men secretly film their day-to-day lives. These smuggled recordings reveal the struggle they face between internal repression and external attacks.

The 30-minute film, “Embattled in Iran – Diary From a Warzone,” features never-before-seen footage of daily life in Iran during US-Israeli bombardments. In January 2026, the Iranian regime brutally cracked down on mass protests nationwide. After weeks of threats, the US and Israel started a war against Iran on 28 February. In those early weeks of the war, two men in different parts of the country began to film: one in the capital, Tehran, and the other in Baluchestan, in the southeastern part of Iran on the border to Pakistan.

Using their cell phones, they document their lives without showing their faces, acutely aware of the extraordinary risks involved every time they press record.

The Iranian regime maintains tight control of the country’s media. In the wake of January’s mass protests and the start of the war, authorities have instituted a near-total internet blackout, systematically preventing the flow of information inside and outside the country. “Embattled in Iran – Diary From a Warzone” is a film in the face of this media suppression.