TEHRAN- The 16th edition of the Ammar Popular Film Festival unveiled an official poster for its international section during a press conference held in Tehran on Monday. 

Yemeni cartoonist Kamal Sharaf has designed the poster that features a motion picture camera that is projecting an image of a keffiyeh and the Palestinian flag outward through its lens.

Speaking at the event, Marzieh Hashemi, the secretary of the festival, stated that with the beginning of the sixteenth edition, coinciding with regional developments, the Ammar Festival has commenced at a time when the awakening of nations has intensified since Operation Al-Aqsa Storm. 

“Today, artists from around the world—particularly from Lebanon, Gaza, Yemen, Africa, and South America—stand alongside oppressed peoples,” she said. 

“We invite all of them to participate in this visual and meaningful battle, representing the voice of justice-seeking nations,” she added. 

This year, the Ammar Festival will encompass categories including short, semi-feature, and feature fiction films, documentaries, animation, music videos, television productions, news, blogs, and even works related to artificial intelligence. 

“We call on resistance artists worldwide to submit their works in these fields, aiming to host a novel and impactful festival,” she explained. 

“We invite artists globally to speak out through art about resistance, anti-imperialism, and anti-Zionism. Now is the best time to voice this message,” Hashemi noted and added: “It is a battle of words and media, and over these past two years, nations have awakened. We call on artists worldwide to participate.”

“The international environment has become extremely dangerous for resistance artists, as they face security accusations in the United States, Europe, and Canada,” she stated. 

“Particularly in America, the hegemonic powers fear that, since 1947, nations have never been this awakened—especially among the youth,” she said. 

Moreover, the organizers of the 16th Ammar Popular Film Festival have officially issued its call for participation in the international section, under the compelling theme “America, the Vanguard of Crime.” 

The festival extends an open invitation to artists, filmmakers, poets, writers, and media and cultural activists from across the globe to stand firm in the trenches of truth, wielding art as a weapon against occupation and injustice.

This year's edition seeks works that embody the universal spirit of resistance—those that uncover truth amidst the rubble of distortion, proclaim justice against oppressors, and amplify the voices of the oppressed. The festival emphasizes that these themes are not merely narratives but shared wounds of humanity, serving as platforms to awaken global conscience, transcend borders, and uphold steadfastness through art.

Key topics for submission include the heroic narrative of Operation Al-Aqsa Storm, Gaza under siege, and the Zionist regime’s crimes from the perspective of truth and conscience. The festival also calls for works depicting the evolution of Palestinian resistance—from stones to rockets, poetry to martyrdom—and the history of occupation, from deceptive promises to disgraceful walls. 

Stories of borderless heroes, martyrs, resistance fighters, women on the front lines, and families of martyrs are also highly encouraged.

Beyond Palestine, the festival invites submissions that explore the broader resistance movement across Lebanon, Yemen, Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Pakistan, and Africa. Works that showcase protests, campaigns against normalization, and testimonies of exile and imprisonment are encouraged. Narratives about the U.S. military interventions, failures in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the collapse of regional projects are also relevant.

The festival also promotes “Our Film,” a content creation campaign inviting the public, especially youth, to produce short films using any camera or mobile device. Participants can capture scenes from daily life, resistance celebrations, protests, or missile launches. Submissions are open until December 11, providing grassroots voices an opportunity to contribute to this global resistance movement through art.

Ammar Popular Film Festival was established in 2010 by a number of Iranian revolutionary figures to honor film and art products promoting topics such as resistance and revolution. It was named after Ammar Yasir, a close companion of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).

Photo: Marzieh Hashemi, secretary of the 16th Ammar Popular Film Festival, stands beside the official poster for the event's international section during a press conference in Tehran on November 10, 2025.

SAB/