Director Mohammad Rasoulof had originally been due to serve on the jury for the Un Certain Regard section at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival, but he was arrested in July 2022 after criticising the government's crackdown on protesters in the south‑western Iranian city of Abadan following a deadly building collapse. On 8 May 2024 Rasoulof's lawyer announced that he had been sentenced to eight years' imprisonment as well as flogging, a fine and the confiscation of his property. On 12 May 2024 Rasoulof said he had managed to flee Iran and was staying at an undisclosed location in Europe. On 24 May 2024 he attended the film's premiere in Cannes and, on the red carpet, held up photographs of two of the cast, Soheila Golestani and Missagh Zareh.
The film was virtually entirely filmed in secret and received financial backing from several companies in France and Germany.
At two hours and forty-eight minutes, it stands as the longest entry in the official competition at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival.
Chosen as Germany's official entry to compete in the 'Best International Feature Film' category at the 97th Academy Awards, scheduled for 2025.
Named among Barack Obama's favourite films of 2024.
Because the film was made in secret, no one knew it existed until it was revealed as part of the programme for the 2024 Cannes Film Festival. Almost immediately afterwards, the Iranian regime summoned and interrogated every member of the cast and crew, forbade them from leaving the country and exerted pressure to have the film removed from the Cannes selection. Some managed to flee and reach the red carpet at Cannes, but others could not, such as Soheila Golestani and Missagh Zareh, who portray the parents.
Casting for the film proved complicated, as the number of people involved had to be kept to a minimum so as not to arouse the suspicion of the Iranian regime, and each performer had to be assessed on both artistic and political grounds. For the parental roles they chose Soheila Golestani, whose public stance for the pro-woman movement was well known, and Missagh Zareh, who had already worked with Mohammad Rasoulof on Lerd (2017). They could not cast teenagers for the daughters, preferring actresses who would be fully aware of the consequences of taking part in this film and mature enough to withstand the tactics the Iranian regime uses to pressurise people. In the end they selected two older actresses, Mahsa Rostami and Setareh Maleki, who remained highly convincing as teenagers.
Director Mohammad Rasoulof chose to include authentic footage from the 2022 Mahsa Amini protests, employing a method that echoes Spike Lee's work in Malcolm X and BlacKkKlansman.
When the Mahsa Amini protests broke out in Iran in late 2022, Mohammad Rasoulof remained incarcerated and followed the movement from inside the prison alongside other political detainees. He was particularly struck by a prison officer's confession — the man loathed his job and could no longer endure it.
When Mohammad Rasoulof's sentence was upheld by the Court of Appeal, he was given a mere two hours to decide whether to remain in Iran or flee. He chose to flee, leaving his film behind. The footage was smuggled out of Iran to Hamburg in Germany, where it was edited by Andrew Bird, with whom Rasoulof had previously worked.
