“Boycott or Compliance” is a twenty-minute documentary featuring how the sounds, noises, and silence that unfolded during 2025–26 protests and the subsequent violent conflict between the military forces of the U.S./Israel and Iran provide clues to understand the totalitarian character of the Islamic Republic. By focusing on recorded interviews with artists, musicians, and scholars who had to overcome various types of economic, ideological, social, and political obstacles in their daily lives to survive the horrific and untenable living conditions under a totalitarian regime, this short documentary sheds light on the complexity of justice in the context of a war that seemingly aimed to liberate a nation. In addition, by highlighting the reasons for which the members of Iranian art, cinema, and music communities had decided to either boycott or comply with the Iranian regime’s top-down policies for artistic activities before the latest round of protests in the country, this documentary reveals why a careful study of the social conditions in the years preceding the 2025–26 protests is of great significance for a more comprehensive understanding of the reasons that fueled the rise of the latest round of protests in Iran. With its raw approach, “Boycott or Compliance” makes manifest the disguised angst and veiled turmoil that characterized Iranian society during an extremely challenging period in its history. A bridge between ethnographic, observational, and performative styles of documentary filmmaking, this documentary highlights important ethnomusicological issues such as the relationship between music, violence, and justice in contemporary times.