'Rehearsals for a Revolution': Why Memory Is Resistance in Pegah Ahangarani's Film

By Elena Vasquez

Pegah Ahangarani's "Rehearsals for a Revolution" opens with a single Persian word: "Yad." That word — memory and remembrance — anchors a film the director and editor Arash Ashtiani built around one central claim: remembering is itself a form of revolution.

The documentary spans half a century of Iranian history and braids it with Ahangarani's own story of exile in London. At IndieWire's Art of the Doc event in Los Angeles, Ahangarani and Ashtiani sat down with IndieWire editor-in-chief Brent Lang for a wide-ranging conversation that began with the film's opening word.

What does the director say about authoritarianism?

Ahangarani, who grew up in Iran and lived there her whole life before exile, said the film's structure flows directly from her experience of state control over the historical record.

"I wanted to emphasize the act of remembering, because the central idea of my film is about remembering," Ahangarani said. "I grew up in Iran and I've lived there my whole life, and I know very well that the authoritarians, including the one in Iran, they don't only censor people. They also try to erase our memories, erase our past, and replace it with their own version of history. They try to rewrite it, and we shouldn't let them steal our memories. I think remembering is one of the few things we have. We should remember our past, we should remember our victims, we should mourn them. Only after that can we start to heal."

The takeaway in plain words: for Ahangarani, censorship of the present is inseparable from erasure of the past, and the film treats recollection as the first act of repair.

Who distributes the film?

National Geographic Documentary Films backs the project. The unit operates as a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company and the National Geographic Society. It describes its mission as premium, feature documentaries covering timely, provocative and globally relevant stories from leading documentary filmmakers.

The banner's reach is substantial: its films reach 300 million people worldwide, across 180 countries and 33 languages, distributed through the global National Geographic channels and the direct-to-consumer platforms Disney+ and Hulu — roughly one in twenty-six people on the planet, by the company's own figures.

The label's recent slate signals the caliber of company "Rehearsals for a Revolution" keeps:

• "The Tale of Silyan" — Emmy-nominated, IDA Award winner for Best Feature
• "Sugarcane" — Oscar and Peabody nominee
• "Bobi Wine: The People's President" — Oscar-nominated, Peabody Award winner
• "Lost In the Jungle" — Emmy Award winner
• "Fire of Love" — Oscar- and BAFTA-nominated
• "The Territory" — Emmy and Peabody Award winner
• "The Rescue" and "Becoming Cousteau" — BAFTA nominees
• "Free Solo" — Oscar- and BAFTA winner

The distribution arithmetic matters: a film arguing that authoritarian regimes rewrite history now sits on platforms available in 180 countries.

For Ahangarani and Ashtiani, the work of mourning and healing begins with a single word — and the full conversation with Brent Lang is available in the complete video from the Los Angeles event.