Oscar-winning actresses posted videos on Wednesday where they filmed themselves cutting off locks of their hair in support of protesters in Iran.
Marion Cotillard and Juliette Binoche and other stars including the UK’s Charlotte Rampling, Charlotte Gainsbourg, and singer Jane Birkin have filmed themselves cutting off locks of their hair in support of protesters in Iran.
Their video, released on Instagram and hash-tagged HairForFreedom, comes as Iran is engulfed by anti-government protests following the death in custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini after her arrest for allegedly violating the Islamic Republic’s strict dress code.
Protests in Iran and other countries including Turkey, Lebanon, and France have seen women cutting off their hair in a show of solidarity.
Binoche said: “For freedom” in the video, as she hacked off a large handful of her hair.
Dozens of women famous in France and across the wider world took part. Gainsbourg was filmed cutting the hair of her mother, Birkin.
The video appeared on an Instagram account, “soutienfemmesiran”, which translates as “support women in Iran”.
A post on the video read: “These women, these men are asking for our support. Their courage and their dignity oblige us.
“We have decided to respond to the appeal made to us by cutting – us too – some of these locks.”
Some of the other women who took part included actors Charlotte Rampling and Charlotte Gainsbourg, who was also filmed cutting off a lock of hair from the head of her mother, singer Jane Birkin.
This highly symbolic gesture also echoes Iranian history and folklore in which for women to chop their hair is a sign of protest. The Shahnameh (“The Book of Kings”), a national epic of Iran, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan written by the Persian poet Ferdowsi between 977 and 1010 A.D., refers to a princess chopping her hair to protest against the death of her husband seen as unfair.
“Women cutting their hair is an ancient Persian tradition also found in the Shahnameh, when the fury is stronger than the power of the oppressor,” tweeted Shara Atashi, an Iranian writer based in Wales.
Researcher Javan described it as a “benevolent gesture,” and called for more robust political action from the international community to support Iranian protesters.
“We can’t reduce the fight of Iranian women for their rights — which dates back to the second half of the 19th century — to the gesture of cutting their hair,” she said. “But these viral videos are a way to give an international impact to their fight.”
