Zahra Amir Ebrahimi and Golshifteh Farahani
Zahra Amir Ebrahimi
In 2006, Ebrahimi became the centre of an Iranian sex tape scandal when a videotape of a woman, claimed to be Ebrahimi, having sex with a man was leaked to the internet and released on CD. She subsequently became the subject of an official investigation handled by Tehran's chief prosecutor, Saeed Mortazavi. The unnamed man on the tape, who is suspected of releasing it, reportedly fled to Armenia but was subsequently returned to Iran and charged with breach of public morality laws.[2]
In an interview with the Guardian, Ebrahimi denied being the woman in the film and dismissed it as a fake made by a vengeful former fiancé who used studio techniques to form a montage of incriminating images designed to destroy her career.[2]
Rumours of an attempted suicide were also denied by Ebrahimi with a public message: "I just want to tell my country's people that I am alive. I am thinking about the strength of Iranian women and will defend the respect of the girls and women of my nation
Golshifteh Farahani
In January 2012, it was reported that Golshifteh would not be welcome in her homeland after posing nude in the French Madame Figaro.[9]
Britain's Daily Telegraph reported that government officials told Golshifteh that "Iran does not need actors or artists like you. You may offer your artistic services somewhere else."[10] A picture from the shoot on her Facebook page initiated a lively debate about her behavior.[11] She also appeared topless in a short black-and-white film by Jean-Baptiste Mondino, called Corps et Âmes, or Bodies and Souls.[12]
Golshifteh Farahani had become famous through the Islamic Republican institutions, and had learnt her craft through its development programs. She was in all senses of the word "the Golden Child" of Iranian Cinema. She was hand-picked to play significant parts which brought her to the attention of Hollywood directors.
Many of her roles she was picked to play whilst in Iran dealt with the day to day struggles of an independent Iranian Woman (be it a single-mother raising a disabled child on her own in Mim Mesleh Mudar; a wife dealing with a drug addict husband in Santoori; or a woman trying to make it as a motorcycle trick rider in the Islamic Republic in Setareh) a considerable number of her roles, help present an image of a strong, Intelligent woman.
Conversely, however most of the movie roles she has been type cast to play so far in Western cinema present her as a woman dependent on her male counterparts. She has so far played the role of the damsel in distress (Body of Lies), or the submissive wife (There Be Dragons) in contradiction to the strong feminist heroine character types she was picked to play on the big screen of Iranian cinema.
Some people have as such said her actions (both in posing nude and in playing such anti-feminist characters in Western films) have been detrimental for women’s rights in Iran, arguing that in her attempts to gain notoriety in the West she has exploited her position as a famous Iranian actress. Meanwhile, others applaud her for being an artist who is trying to fight conservatism in the Islamic Republic.