Filmmaker Komeil Soheili / Courtesy of filmmaker
Komeil Soheili, an Iranian-born filmmaker residing in Korea, said the international community must stand against the justification of war as a basic principle of humanity regardless of political interests or the complex web of international power dynamics.
The director emphasized that the lives of civilians should never be sacrificed for political gains and called for a deeper global understanding of the humanitarian crisis currently occurring in his motherland.
"Enemy of my enemy won't be my friend necessarily," Soheili told The Korea Times on Wednesday. "We are against dictatorship and we are against war, and for me, there is no boundary where killing innocent children is acceptable for one side while it is not for the other."
The filmmaker is currently watching the unfolding tragedy of his homeland from Korea. On Feb. 28, the U.S. and Israel launched a wave of airstrikes against Iran. Although the strikes led to the death of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the military operations have continued, leaving the nation in a state of chaos and communication blackouts.
Soheili is a naturalized Korean citizen who built a life here with his wife and fellow filmmaker Jooyoung Soheili. The couple recently gained critical acclaim for their documentary "As the Bell Rings," which focuses on the ecological destruction of Mount Gariwang in Korea. The 80-minute film won the Grand Prize in the Korean Competition at the 2025 Seoul International Eco Film Festival.
Despite his deep roots in Korea, the filmmaker remains closely connected to Iran, where his parents and siblings still reside. He recalled the moment the latest conflict began when his brother made a frantic video call to him before the internet went down.
"My brother told me that the internet might shut down again and told me not to worry because they had enough food and water," he said. "We talked for about two hours at the beginning of the war and we keep checking the news together because we don't know about the future."
He described his current emotional state as a form of “han,” a Korean term of deep and collective sorrow. The filmmaker said that Iranians are now experiencing a very deep sorrow and a collective sadness because the bombs are not just hitting military targets but the whole civilization.
The filmmaker said his identity is inseparable from his birthplace. As Iran is part of his everyday life, he is currently working on two new documentaries that were shot there. He also mentioned that his children speak Persian as a native language to preserve their heritage.
Source: Korea Times News
