Afghan-French writer and filmmaker Atiq Rahimi will chair the jury at the third edition of the Woman, Life, Freedom International Film Festival, organizers have announced.
Rahimi will lead an international jury that includes Iranian filmmaker Niki Karimi, actress Vishka Asayesh and documentary filmmaker Mojgan Eilannoor, as well as Australian writer, director and educator Steven Lance, Canadian artist Richard Fung and American producer Carolina Pos.
The festival’s third edition is scheduled to take place from September 16 to 21, 2026, with events and screenings across several cities. The program will open in Brisbane, Australia, before moving to cities including Chicago, Cologne, Brussels, Oldenburg, Uppsala and London. Closing events are planned in Stockholm and Toronto.
Founded in 2024 by the Association of Iranian Film and Theatre Artists Abroad, the Woman, Life, Freedom Film Festival takes its name from the protest movement that emerged in Iran following the death of Jina Mahsa Amini in police custody in 2022. The festival promotes independent cinema and provides a platform for films exploring freedom of expression, gender equality, human rights and social justice.
Rahimi, who was born in Afghanistan in 1962 and moved to France in 1984, is a writer and filmmaker whose work spans literature, cinema and documentary. He won France’s Prix Goncourt in 2008 for The Patience Stone, becoming the first Afghan writer to receive the country’s most prestigious literary prize. He later directed a film adaptation of the novel.
