Eran Riklis – ALLIANCE OF WOMEN FILM JOURNALISTS

MOVIE OF THE WEEK July 10, 2026: READING LOLITA IN TEHRAN

July 5, 2026July 5, 2026 Jennifer Merin Arash Marandi, Azar Nafisi, betsy bozdech, Cate Marquis, Daisy Miller, Eran Riklis, Golshifteh Farahani, jennifer merin, leslie combemale, liz whittemore, loren king, marjorie david, monique jones, nell minow, Pride & Prejudice, Reading Lolita in Tehran, sandie angulo chen, The Great Gatsby, University of Allameh Tabatabei

It’s been more than 20 years since writer/English professor Azar Nafisi’s memoir Reading Lolita in Tehran became a New York Times bestseller — and nearly 50 since Nafisi began living through the events that inspired it. But her powerful story of politics, prose, and female perseverance under the shadow of Iran’s oppressive regime in the 1980s and ’90s feels extraordinarily timely in Israeli director Eran Riklis’ compelling adaptation which focuses on Nafisi as the main but includes other women’s stories that illustrate the many ways in which women have suffered in Iran since the revolution: Some were arrested and imprisoned, others were beaten, many have tense relationships with the men in their lives. The movie, like the book, makes it clear that the situation in Iran is complex and complicated: Nafisi loves her home and wants to believe it can have a better, brighter, more enlightened future — a sentiment that will likely feel all too familiar to many U.S. viewers these days.

Interviews

Marjorie David on Adapting READING LOLITA IN TEHRAN – Jennifer Green interviews

June 30, 2026July 5, 2026 Jennifer Green Arash Marandi, Azar Nafisi, Eran Riklis, Golshifteh Farahani, marjorie david, Reading Lolita in Tehran

A book both beloved (over 100 weeks on The New York Times bestseller list) and banned (in Iran), Iranian author Azar Nafisi’s memoir, Reading Lolita in Tehran, was adapted to screen in 2023 by Israeli filmmaker Eran Riklis based on a script he co-wrote with American Marjorie David. In 2024, it won the Audience Award and Special Jury Prize at the Rome Film Festival, the city where it was filmed. Reading Lolita in Tehran premieres in the US on July 10 through Greenwich Entertainment. The delay is curious considering the book’s popularity in the US. “It was hard to get an American distributor for some reason,” David admits. “It got European distribution immediately. I don’t know why nobody picked it up here for so long. It seems nuts! It’s of the moment, it’s of special interest to women. It’s of interest to anybody interested in Iran.” American interest in Iran could hit a new high this summer as a result of current events. Whether the ongoing US-Iran hostilities will help or hurt the film’s release is yet to be seen. One thing is for sure, though—Americans can and perhaps should gain insights into the people and culture of Iran from this story. And those who have read the book will appreciate how loyal the script stays to the true story at its core.

Reviews

READING LOLITA IN TEHRAN – Review by Leslie Combemale

June 29, 2026July 5, 2026 Leslie Combemale Arash Marandi, Azar Nafisi, Daisy Miller, Eran Riklis, Golshifteh Farahani, Pride & Prejudice, Reading Lolita in Tehran, The Great Gatsby, University of Allameh Tabatabei

The cinematic interpretation of Azar Nafisi’s bestselling memoir Reading Lolita in Tehran is releasing in US theaters on July 10th. Based on Nafisi’s book, which has been translated into 32 languages, the film shares her experience as a literature professor who secretly held a class for seven of her most committed female students. They read and studied banned Western classics like Daisy Miller, Pride and Prejudice, and Nabokov’s Lolita. Reading Lolita in Tehran is perfectly timed in terms of speaking about the harm that systemic gender discrimination, one that denies equal rights to women, does to a society. It is something that continues to be an international issue, and is getting worse in a number of Western countries, including the US.

Reviews

READING LOLITA IN TEHRAN – Review by Monique Jones

June 29, 2026July 5, 2026 Monique Jones Arash Marandi, Azar Nafisi, Daisy Miller, Eran Riklis, Golshifteh Farahani, Pride & Prejudice, Reading Lolita in Tehran, The Great Gatsby, University of Allameh Tabatabei

Reading Lolita in Tehran is a wonderful film about Iranian women who are using literature as a guide to their own personal revolutions against the tightening oppression of the Iranian regime. Set after the 1979 revolution and continuing through changing administrative dictates until the late ’80s, the film gives insight into how women have reacted to the increasingly oppressive government and how they fight to retain their own agency, even at their own personal peril. Reading Lolita in Tehran shows that being yourself and holding true to your ideals can be one of the most revolutionary things a person can do.

Reviews

READING LOLITA IN TEHRAN – Review by Jennifer Merin

June 29, 2026July 27, 2026 Jennifer Merin Arash Marandi, Azar Nafisi, Daisy Miller, Eran Riklis, Golshifteh Farahani, Pride & Prejudice, Reading Lolita in Tehran, The Great Gatsby, University of Allameh Tabatabei

Reading Lolita in Tehran is Israeli filmmaker Eran Riklis’ adaptation of Iranian-American best-selling author and professor of English Azar Nafisi’s acclaimed eponymous memoir about her own experienceds and women’s lives and prospects in post-revolutionary Iran. In the film, Nafisi (brilliantly played by Golshifteh Farahani) and her husband return from America to Iran believing that their beloved homeland has been democratized and is entering a new era of political and cultural freedom. In the film, which is divided into four chapters, each attached to an English literary masterpiece, we see how the circumstances of oppression impact Nafisi and other women in her circle. The film is a The film is galvanizing, heartwrenching and timely study of women’s lives in post-revolution Iran..

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READING LOLITA IN TEHRAN – Review by Jennifer Green

June 29, 2026July 15, 2026 Jennifer Green Arash Marandi, Azar Nafisi, Daisy Miller, Eran Riklis, Golshifteh Farahani, Pride & Prejudice, Reading Lolita in Tehran, The Great Gatsby, University of Allameh Tabatabei

The memoir Reading Lolita in Tehran has many, many fans, and they should be pleased by this faithful film adaptation. Staying very true to its source material, former English literature professor Azar Nafisi’s 2003 memoir about hosting a secret weekly book club with female students in post-revolutionary Iran, means the film can sometimes feel overly episodic, like chapters in a book rather than visual sequences in a narrative arc. But filmmaker Eran Riklis and team have succeeded in conveying the tale’s still-timely messages and capturing its tone.