tehran the new coronavirus pandemic has brought back something unseen in iran since its 1979 islamic revolution a drivein movie theateronce decried by revolutionaries for allowing too much privacy for unmarried young couples a drivein theater now operates from a parking lot right under tehrans iconic milad tower showing a film in line with the views of hardlinersworkers spray disinfectants on cars that line up each night here after buying tickets online for what is called the cinema machine in farsi they tune into the films audio via an fm station on their car radioswith stadiums shut and movie theaters closed this parkinglot screening is the only film being shown in a communal setting amid the virus outbreak in iran one of the worlds worst iran has reported more than 98600 cases with over 6200 deaths though international and local experts acknowledge irans toll is likely far higherit was very fascinating this is the first time this is happening at least for people my age said behrouz pournezam 36 who watched the film along with his wife we are here mostly for the excitement to be honest the movie itself didnt matter that much i didnt care what movie it is or by whom or which genrethe film being shown however is exodus produced by a firm affiliated with irans hardline revolutionary guard the film by director ebrahim hatamikia focuses on cotton farmers whose fields die from salt water brought by local dams the farmers led by an actor who appears to be the islamic republics answer to american cowboy standin sam elliott drive their tractors to tehran to protest the governmentthere is precedent for this anger iran had built dams across the country since the revolution especially under hardline former president mahmoud ahmadinejad that environmentalists blame for damaging waterways and farmland but this film instead involves a peasant protest against the local authority that symbolically resembles president hassan rouhanis government the stateowned tehran times saidrouhani a relative moderate in irans shiite theocracy has increasingly faced hardline criticism amid the collapse of his nuclear deal with world powers those allied with his administration have criticized the filmmoviegoer atefeh soheili however was glad just to enjoy entertainment outside of her homenow im sitting here with clean hands and if i want to eat something or relax i dont need to worry about distancing from other people she said