You who laid flowers on unknown stones in Khavaran, held up photos of the victims of Aban, turned the mourning for Flight 752 into a legal case, stood at the graves of the young who were killed in “Woman, Life, Freedom,” and after Dey staged a mourning dance—now imagine that you’ve received an invitation:

A court has been formed in future Iran, and a defendant sits across from you from within the very same apparatus of repression; this time, however, he has a lawyer, the right to defense is recognized, witnesses are heard, and the prosecutor must prove his charges. Do you walk in?

The court of history, made by Jamshid Berzegar, puts the viewer in precisely this situation. The question of the film is not only who should be tried; the more difficult question is how a trial in Iran after the Islamic Republic should be conducted.

The film compresses a large part of the history of repression in the Islamic Republic into a single file; from the execution and killings of political prisoners in the 1980s to the chain murders, torture, and disappearances, the crackdown on the 2009 protests and Aban 1398, violence against protesters of “Woman, Life, Freedom,” and the repressions that have continued to this day.

Read the full text on the Iran International website.