TEHRAN – The 16th Anmar Popular Film Festival unveiled the official poster of its international section at a press conference held in Tehran on Monday.
Yemeni cartoonist Kamal Sharaf designed a poster in which a movie camera projects an image of a keffiyeh and the Palestinian flag outward through its lens.
Speaking at the event, Festival Secretary-General Marji Hashemi said that the 16th edition coincided with the development of the region, and that the Ammar Festival began at a time of intensifying national awakening since Operation Al-Aqsa Storm.
“Today, artists from all over the world, especially from Lebanon, Gaza, Yemen, Africa and South America, stand with the oppressed,” she said.
“We invite everyone to join us in this visual and meaningful fight on behalf of the voices of nations seeking justice,” she added.
This year’s Ammar Festival includes categories such as short, semi-feature, and full-length fiction films, documentaries, animation, music videos, television productions, news, blogs, and even works related to artificial intelligence.
“We are inviting resistance artists from all over the world to submit their work in these areas, with the aim of creating an innovative and impactful festival,” she explained.
“We call on artists from all over the world to raise their voice through art about resistance, anti-imperialism and anti-Zionism. Now is the perfect time to voice this message,” Hashemi said, adding, “This is a war of words and media, and in the last two years nations have woken up. We call on artists from all over the world to join us.”
“The international environment has become extremely dangerous for resistance artists, as they face security accusations in the United States, Europe, and Canada,” she said.
“Hegemonic powers are concerned, especially in the United States, that the nation has never been more awakened, especially among young people, since 1947,” she says.
Furthermore, the organizers of the 16th Anmar Popular Film Festival formally invited participation in the international category under the attractive theme of “America, the Vanguard of Crime.”
The festival broadly invites artists, filmmakers, poets, writers, media and cultural activists from around the world to use art as a weapon against occupation and injustice, and to stand firmly in the trenches of truth.
This year’s entries seek works that embody a universal spirit of resistance: works that uncover truth amidst the rubble of distortion, proclaim justice against the oppressors, and amplify the voices of the oppressed. The festival emphasizes that these themes are not just stories, but the common wounds of humanity, and that through art they serve as a platform to awaken the world’s conscience, transcend borders, and defend steadfastness.
The main themes of the submissions include the heroic story of Operation Al-Aqsa Storm, Gaza under siege, and the crimes of the Zionist regime from the perspective of truth and conscience. The festival is also seeking work that depicts the evolution of Palestinian resistance, from stones to rockets, poetry to martyrdom, and the history of the occupation, from deceptive promises to a shameful wall.
Stories of transnational heroes, martyrs, resistance fighters, women on the front lines, and families of martyrs are also highly recommended.
The festival invites works that explore broader resistance movements beyond Palestine, across Lebanon, Yemen, Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Pakistan and Africa. Works that present testimonies of protests, campaigns against normalization, exile or imprisonment are encouraged. Stories about US military intervention, failures in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the collapse of regional projects are also relevant.
The festival is also promoting ‘Our Film’, a content creation campaign that invites the general public, especially young people, to create short films using their cameras and mobile devices. Participants will be able to film scenes of daily life, resistance celebrations, protests, missile launches, and more. Applications are being accepted until December 11th, giving grassroots voices the opportunity to contribute to this global resistance movement through the arts.
The Ammar Popular Film Festival was founded in 2010 by a number of Iranian revolutionaries to celebrate films and works of art that promote themes such as resistance and revolution. It is named after Ammar Yasir, a close friend of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).
Photo: Marji Hashemi, executive director of the 16th Anmar Popular Film Festival, stands next to the official poster of the event international section during a press conference in Tehran on November 10, 2025.
SAB/