The Westoxicateds is an autobiographical documentary about how forbidden rock songs, in the repressive atmosphere of post-1979 Iran, shaped the teenage minds of filmmaker Gilda Pourjabar and her brother, Siamak. Returning to Tehran, she retraces the obstacles and friendships forged in the 1990s while hunting for bootleg cassettes in their residential complex of Ekbatan; once an icon of modernization, later a breeding ground for a rebellious youth culture.

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Blending personal narrative, archival  footage, and doodle animation, The Westoxicateds traces the sociopolitical shifts after the Revolution, when the Islamic Republic declared war on “Westoxication”: the intoxicating influence of Western culture. In its crusade against this soft power, the regime banned Western music. Rock survived only through smuggled tapes and remnants from the Shah’s era.

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By the early 1990s, black-market satellite dishes sprouted on Ekbatan windowsills, bringing rock ’n’ roll back home. Immersed in the grunge soundscape, Siamak became a poster artist blending alt-rock graphics with intricate motifs of Iranian miniature. Gilda, became a full-fledged westoxicated, migrating to Canada to chase her own Western dreams. Alongside its personal story, the film revisits key political moments in Iran’s recent history, tracing how each shift in power rippled through youth culture and artistic expression.

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In the film, Siamak designs posters for imaginary Pearl Jam concerts in Iranian cities. The siblings paste these artworks in public, reclaiming urban space as an act of defiance. One poster depicts a raging crow over a burning Tehran, foreshadowing the fury that swept Iran a month later after the death of Mahsa Amini.

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The film closes with the filmmaker’s farewell to Ekbatan, the concrete cradle of a subversive youth culture  and an enduring emblem of resistance.