In her 20s, Zar Amir-Ebrahimi was a television star in Iran, where she played the role of a pious young girl in the country’s longest-running soap opera.
But her career came crashing down in 2006, when she became embroiled in a sex scandal. A video purportedly showing her having sex with a man was posted online and widely distributed on the black market.
Amir-Ebrahimi became the subject of an official investigation. Later that year, she fled her homeland for Europe following what she called an "immoral" smear campaign.
Sixteen years later, the humiliation she long felt gave way to an outpouring of joy when she was awarded the Best Actress award at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival.
Amir-Ebrahimi, who lives in exile in France, received the prize on May 28 for her role in Holy Spider, a film in which she plays a journalist trying to solve the serial murders of prostitutes in the holy city of Mashhad in the early 2000s.
Iranian actress Zar Amir-Ebrahimi shows off her Best Actress award at Cannes on May 28.
The award capped her return to the limelight, following years that she described as marred by hopelessness.
In an interview with RFE/RL’s Radio Farda on May 28 just before she won the prize at Cannes, Amir-Ebrahimi said it was cinema that saved her.
“The moment I realized that I wouldn’t be able to work anymore in Iran, after those things happened, my only motivation to continue living was cinema,” she said. “I would have died if I stopped working in cinema.”
Amir-Ebrahimi’s award at Cannes triggered an outpouring of support for her on social media, where some compared her to a phoenix rising from the ashes.
“The truth is that I never saw myself in ashes,” said the 41-year-old. “My life had ups and downs. I don’t see myself as a victim.”
Amir-Ebrahimi described her first few years in exile as "very difficult." When she moved to Paris, she spoke no French and earned a living doing odd jobs.
In 2018, she won an international award for best actress for her role in Bride Price vs. Democracy, a film about the struggles of an Iranian couple living in Europe.
Soon afterward, she was hired as a consultant for Holy Spider. The role of the journalist in the film was supposed to be played by a young actress based in Iran. But when the actress backed out, the role was given to Amir-Ebrahim who described it as a "gift."
Shot in Jordan, the film is inspired by the true story of an Iranian construction worker who killed sex workers in Mashhad in the early 2000s and became known as the Spider Killer. The serial killer claimed that he had killed the prostitutes “for the sake of God.”
In the dark thriller, Amir-Ebrahimi plays the role of a reporter from Tehran who travels to Mashhad to investigates the murders while enduring sexual rumors and harassment. The role bore resemblance to her own experiences in Iran.
Amir-Ebrahimi said she was inspired to take the role after talking to female Iranian journalists, who revealed to her the sexual harassment they faced in their line of work.
“I couldn’t imagine that a journalist who reports a man for assaulting her can so easily become the target of assault herself,” she said.
Amir-Ebrahimi poses on the red carpet at this year's Cannes Film Festival. “I would have died if I stopped working in cinema,” said the actress, 41.
Roya Karimimajd, an RFE/RL Radio Farda correspondent, extensively covered the murders in Mashhad while working as a journalist in Iran.
She published numerous articles about the case and worked on a documentary, titled And Along Came A Spider, during which she interviewed Saeed Hanaei, the serial killer, who was hanged in 2002.
Karimimajd said she met with Holy Spider’s Iranian-Danish director, Ali Abbasi, in Prague and gave him access to all her reports about the case.
She added that the character of the journalist in Holy Spider had been fictionalized.
“Abbasi has dramatized the case, and only Saeed Hanaei’s character and the atmosphere surrounding him is close to reality,” she said.
Iran’s state-controlled Cinema Organization in a statement on May 30 blasted Amir-Ebrahimi’s award at Cannes, accusing the festival of "committing a biased and political act by praising a false and disgusting film.”
The film "openly insults" the beliefs of Shi’ite Muslims, the organization added.
Amir-Ebrahimi dismissed criticism from conservatives who have said that the film presents a distorted depiction of Iranian society.
“Each society has its problems,” Amir-Ebrahimi said. “The problem in Iran is that we’re afraid of speaking about our problems. We don’t want the world to see.”