Updated, 8:47 Am: Following the arrest in Iran of Leila’s Brothers filmmakers Saeed Roustayi and Javad Noruzbegi, who screened their family drama at Cannes last year without government approval, Martin Scorsese has shared a petition on social with hopes to “bring justice” to the duo.
“Please sign and share the petition in my bio seeking justice for Roustayi and Noruzbegi, so they can continue to be a force of good in the world,” said the Killers of the Flower Moon helmer. “Their voices needs to be heard.” Read more about the circumstances surrounding the pair’s arrest below.
View this post on Instagram
A post shared by Martin Scorsese (@martinscorsese_)
Previous, August 16: Saeed Roustayi and Javad Noruzbegi, the director-producer duo behind family drama Leila’s Brothers, will see jail time in Iran after premiering the film at last year’s Cannes Film Festival without government approval, according to local media reports.
“Please sign and share the petition in my bio seeking justice for Roustayi and Noruzbegi, so they can continue to be a force of good in the world,” said the Killers of the Flower Moon helmer. “Their voices needs to be heard.” Read more about the circumstances surrounding the pair’s arrest below.
View this post on Instagram
A post shared by Martin Scorsese (@martinscorsese_)
Previous, August 16: Saeed Roustayi and Javad Noruzbegi, the director-producer duo behind family drama Leila’s Brothers, will see jail time in Iran after premiering the film at last year’s Cannes Film Festival without government approval, according to local media reports.
- 8/17/2023
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
A daunting task faces the protagonists in Terrestrial Verses (Ayeh haye zamini): Each of them is trying to reason with a government bureaucrat or other self-important authority figure. They’re all residents of Tehran, and there’s something specific to Iran in the oppressive regulations and catch-22s that hinder them, but there’s universal resonance, too, in the escalating lunacy and bleak implications.
In 10 of the feature’s 11 subtly interlocking segments, a single character faces an offscreen interlocutor. The fixed camera holds each one in an unwavering embrace as they try to make sense of arbitrary rules and demands. Inspired by the intricate rhymes of ghazal, a classic form of Persian poetry, writer-directors Ali Asgari and Alireza Khatami have constructed a thoroughly modern work of bracing concision, elegance and blistering deadpan humor, one that pulses with sorrow and outrage over the absurdity of authoritarian dictates that aim to crush souls.
In 10 of the feature’s 11 subtly interlocking segments, a single character faces an offscreen interlocutor. The fixed camera holds each one in an unwavering embrace as they try to make sense of arbitrary rules and demands. Inspired by the intricate rhymes of ghazal, a classic form of Persian poetry, writer-directors Ali Asgari and Alireza Khatami have constructed a thoroughly modern work of bracing concision, elegance and blistering deadpan humor, one that pulses with sorrow and outrage over the absurdity of authoritarian dictates that aim to crush souls.
- 5/23/2023
- by Sheri Linden
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Editor’s Note: For months now, Iranian screenwriter and satirist Nicole Najafi has been determinedly raising awareness on social media from her home in New York, posting reportage coming to her direct from Iran as the people push back against the regime, and using her growing platform to explain the situation to the world in simple terms, with the footage to back it up. While women remove their head coverings with heroic defiance and ‘dissenters’ are imprisoned and burned, beaten and murdered, Najafi has, unflinching, covered it all.
In July, Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi was sentenced to six years in jail for criticizing the government. That same week, Iranian filmmakers Mohammad Rasoulof and Mostafa Aleahmad were also detained. Panahi has been banned from leaving Iran and making films for the past 12 years for his previous criticism of the regime.
Here, Najafi’s guest column for Deadline breaks down the power...
In July, Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi was sentenced to six years in jail for criticizing the government. That same week, Iranian filmmakers Mohammad Rasoulof and Mostafa Aleahmad were also detained. Panahi has been banned from leaving Iran and making films for the past 12 years for his previous criticism of the regime.
Here, Najafi’s guest column for Deadline breaks down the power...
- 11/7/2022
- by Nicole Najafi
- Deadline Film + TV
An Iranian government official has warned that action will be taken against celebrities who publicly show support for anti-government protests, sparked by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini while in police custody.
These demonstrations have garnered an unprecedented level of public support from a number of prominent figures in Iran’s cultural, media and sporting spheres, who previously have not openly commented on the political situation in their country.
Mohsen Mansouri, governor of the province of Tehran, said the authorities would be dealing with “celebrities who fanned the flames of riots and with those who sign [lucrative] contracts with radio and television, but in a time of riots take a stand against security and order.”
“Of course, we may not deal with some cases immediately due to material reasons, but without a doubt we will deal with them after a few days and at the right time,” he was reported as...
These demonstrations have garnered an unprecedented level of public support from a number of prominent figures in Iran’s cultural, media and sporting spheres, who previously have not openly commented on the political situation in their country.
Mohsen Mansouri, governor of the province of Tehran, said the authorities would be dealing with “celebrities who fanned the flames of riots and with those who sign [lucrative] contracts with radio and television, but in a time of riots take a stand against security and order.”
“Of course, we may not deal with some cases immediately due to material reasons, but without a doubt we will deal with them after a few days and at the right time,” he was reported as...
- 9/29/2022
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
Houman Seyyedi’s darkly comic drama World War III has been named as Iran’s entry for Best International Feature Film at the 95th Academy Awards, set for March 12 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. See the full list of entries by country below.
The film chosen “unanimously” by Iran’s Oscars committee follows the day laborer Shakib (Mohsen Tanabandeh), who after being cast in a movie, must secretly shelter his lover on the set or risk losing her and all that movie stardom has promised him.
Seyyedi, Arian Vazirdaftari and Azad Jafarian scripted the pic, which world premiered in the Horizons section of this year’s Venice Film Festival and went on to win the section’s prizes for Best Film and Best Actor (Tanabandeh). Its cast also includes Neda Jebreili, Mahsa Hejazi and Navid Nosrati.
Parviz Sheikh Tadi, the speaker and a member of the committee in...
The film chosen “unanimously” by Iran’s Oscars committee follows the day laborer Shakib (Mohsen Tanabandeh), who after being cast in a movie, must secretly shelter his lover on the set or risk losing her and all that movie stardom has promised him.
Seyyedi, Arian Vazirdaftari and Azad Jafarian scripted the pic, which world premiered in the Horizons section of this year’s Venice Film Festival and went on to win the section’s prizes for Best Film and Best Actor (Tanabandeh). Its cast also includes Neda Jebreili, Mahsa Hejazi and Navid Nosrati.
Parviz Sheikh Tadi, the speaker and a member of the committee in...
- 9/19/2022
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
Click here to read the full article.
Iran has selected Houman Seyyedi’s Venice Festival award winner World War III to represent the country in the 2023 Oscar race in the best international feature category.
The absurdist drama stars Mohsen Tanabandeh as a day laborer who, after losing his wife in a horrible catastrophe, finds himself surprisingly cast to play Adolf Hitler in an Iranian-shot, German-set World War II film. World War III premiered in the Venice Horizons sidebar, where it won best film and best actor honors for Seyyedi and Tanabandeh.
Iran’s selection committee said the decision to pick Seyyedi’s film was “unanimous.” In a statement, the committee said they “salute the Persian cinema family” and wished “ever-increasing success for all artists in our beloved country.”
Iran has had considerable Oscar success, with five Oscar nominations and two wins: for Asghar Farhadi’s A Separation (2011) and The Salesman...
Iran has selected Houman Seyyedi’s Venice Festival award winner World War III to represent the country in the 2023 Oscar race in the best international feature category.
The absurdist drama stars Mohsen Tanabandeh as a day laborer who, after losing his wife in a horrible catastrophe, finds himself surprisingly cast to play Adolf Hitler in an Iranian-shot, German-set World War II film. World War III premiered in the Venice Horizons sidebar, where it won best film and best actor honors for Seyyedi and Tanabandeh.
Iran’s selection committee said the decision to pick Seyyedi’s film was “unanimous.” In a statement, the committee said they “salute the Persian cinema family” and wished “ever-increasing success for all artists in our beloved country.”
Iran has had considerable Oscar success, with five Oscar nominations and two wins: for Asghar Farhadi’s A Separation (2011) and The Salesman...
- 9/19/2022
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Winners repeatedly called for the release of Jafar Panahi and his colleagues.
Emotions ran high at the closing night of the Venice Film Festival, where the Golden Lion was awarded to Laura Poitras’ All The Beauty And The Bloodshed, only the second documentary to win in the festival’s 90-year history, but the third consecutive film directed by a woman to win the top prize, following Chloe Zhao’s Nomadland in 2020 and Audrey Diwan’s Happening in 2021.
There was also an outpouring of solidarity for Iranian director Jafar Panahi whose No Bears was awarded the special jury prize while he is custody in Iran,...
Emotions ran high at the closing night of the Venice Film Festival, where the Golden Lion was awarded to Laura Poitras’ All The Beauty And The Bloodshed, only the second documentary to win in the festival’s 90-year history, but the third consecutive film directed by a woman to win the top prize, following Chloe Zhao’s Nomadland in 2020 and Audrey Diwan’s Happening in 2021.
There was also an outpouring of solidarity for Iranian director Jafar Panahi whose No Bears was awarded the special jury prize while he is custody in Iran,...
- 9/12/2022
- by Alina Trabattoni
- ScreenDaily
Click here to read the full article.
Iranian director Vahid Jalilvand’s second film No Date, No Signature became Iran’s submission in 2019 for the Oscars’ Best Film Not in the English Language category. It would be a miracle if his latest, Venice competition entrant Beyond the Wall, gleaned the same honor, not because it wouldn’t be a worthy choice — it’s a ravaging, powerful work. It’s just that it’s impossible to imagine the Iranian authorities would approve submitting it.
Overtly critical of the repressive state apparatus, especially its capriciously cruel and violent police forces and merciless justice system, this feature played in Venice without Iranian government support and no doubt places Jalilvand in the ranks of audacious cinema dissidents, along with currently imprisoned filmmakers Jafar Panahi (whose latest No Bears also plays Venice this year), Mohammad Rasoulof and Mostafa Aleahmad.
For this twisty study of guilt and self-sacrifice,...
Iranian director Vahid Jalilvand’s second film No Date, No Signature became Iran’s submission in 2019 for the Oscars’ Best Film Not in the English Language category. It would be a miracle if his latest, Venice competition entrant Beyond the Wall, gleaned the same honor, not because it wouldn’t be a worthy choice — it’s a ravaging, powerful work. It’s just that it’s impossible to imagine the Iranian authorities would approve submitting it.
Overtly critical of the repressive state apparatus, especially its capriciously cruel and violent police forces and merciless justice system, this feature played in Venice without Iranian government support and no doubt places Jalilvand in the ranks of audacious cinema dissidents, along with currently imprisoned filmmakers Jafar Panahi (whose latest No Bears also plays Venice this year), Mohammad Rasoulof and Mostafa Aleahmad.
For this twisty study of guilt and self-sacrifice,...
- 9/9/2022
- by Leslie Felperin
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
There was an empty seat beside the name ‘J Panahi’ at the Venice Film Festival press conference for “No Bears.” The arthouse darling, famed for finding ingenious ways around draconian Iranian laws (“This Is Not a Film” was smuggled out of the country on a Usb stick buried in a cake posted from Iran to Paris), was detained in August to serve a deferred six-year sentence, amid a government crackdown that saw directors Mohammad Rasoulef and Mostafa Aleahmad locked-up too. In this sobering context, the harassment that Panahi-playing Panahi experiences in his lands all the more sickeningly and gestures to details that we are probably yet to discover.
Panahi is a director who has always mingled fact and fiction, and here the distinction is more addled than ever, so that by the time the final credits roll it’s not exactly clear what was staged and what was real. One...
Panahi is a director who has always mingled fact and fiction, and here the distinction is more addled than ever, so that by the time the final credits roll it’s not exactly clear what was staged and what was real. One...
- 9/9/2022
- by Sophie Monks Kaufman
- Indiewire
The panel included Orwa Nyrabia, Vanja Kaludjercic and Alberto Barbera.
Venice Film Festival gathered a group of industry representatives in collaboration with activists’ association the International Coalition Filmmakers at Risk (Icfr) to raise awareness of the plight of filmmakers who have suffered oppression and arrests in the past year.
“The danger of forgetting these stories is very relevant,” said International Documentary Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) director Orwa Nyrabia, one of the speakers at the Filmmakers Under Attack: Taking Stock, Taking Action panel organised in collaboration with the Icfr.
The panel also drew attention to an Icfr initiative that seeks to provide...
Venice Film Festival gathered a group of industry representatives in collaboration with activists’ association the International Coalition Filmmakers at Risk (Icfr) to raise awareness of the plight of filmmakers who have suffered oppression and arrests in the past year.
“The danger of forgetting these stories is very relevant,” said International Documentary Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) director Orwa Nyrabia, one of the speakers at the Filmmakers Under Attack: Taking Stock, Taking Action panel organised in collaboration with the Icfr.
The panel also drew attention to an Icfr initiative that seeks to provide...
- 9/4/2022
- by Alina Trabattoni
- ScreenDaily
Iranian directors Jafar Panahi and Mohammad Rasoulof, both of whom are currently imprisoned and being detained by the Iranian government, are urging attendees of the Venice Film Festival to continue to push back against censorship and support independent expression.
The directors in a joint statement distributed by the Venice Film Festival on Saturday to press said that “The hope of creating again is a reason for existence.”
“The history of Iranian cinema witnesses the constant and active presence of independent directors who have struggled to push back censorship and ensure this art’s survival,” Panahi and Rasoulof said jointly. “While on this path, some were banned from making films, and others were forced into exile or reduced to isolation. And yet, the hope of creating again is a reason for existence. No matter where, when, or under what circumstances, an independent filmmaker is either creating or thinking about creation. We are filmmakers,...
The directors in a joint statement distributed by the Venice Film Festival on Saturday to press said that “The hope of creating again is a reason for existence.”
“The history of Iranian cinema witnesses the constant and active presence of independent directors who have struggled to push back censorship and ensure this art’s survival,” Panahi and Rasoulof said jointly. “While on this path, some were banned from making films, and others were forced into exile or reduced to isolation. And yet, the hope of creating again is a reason for existence. No matter where, when, or under what circumstances, an independent filmmaker is either creating or thinking about creation. We are filmmakers,...
- 9/3/2022
- by Brian Welk
- The Wrap
A panel of international figures joined forces today at the Venice Festival to pledge their support for filmmakers suffering oppression, harassment and imprisonment around the world.
Participants in the panel included the Director of the Venice Film Festival Alberto Barbera, Vanja Kalurdjercic (Croatia, Director of the Rotterdam International Film Festival), Sinem Sakaoglu (Turkey, director), Orwa Nyrabia (Director of the Amsterdam Documentary Film Festival), Mike Downey (President of the European Film Academy) and Kaveh Farnam (Iran, producer).
Vania Kaludjercic gave the context for the founding two years ago of the International Coalition Filmmakers at Risk (Icfr), arising out of a shared concern for independent storytellers whose lives and livelihoods at risk. In those two years, the Icfr has helped filmmakers from Afghanistan to Egypt, Myanmar to Iran, and most recently, in Ukraine.
She described how Icfr had mobilised the international film community to raise 420,000 euros, enough to help with emergency relocation,...
Participants in the panel included the Director of the Venice Film Festival Alberto Barbera, Vanja Kalurdjercic (Croatia, Director of the Rotterdam International Film Festival), Sinem Sakaoglu (Turkey, director), Orwa Nyrabia (Director of the Amsterdam Documentary Film Festival), Mike Downey (President of the European Film Academy) and Kaveh Farnam (Iran, producer).
Vania Kaludjercic gave the context for the founding two years ago of the International Coalition Filmmakers at Risk (Icfr), arising out of a shared concern for independent storytellers whose lives and livelihoods at risk. In those two years, the Icfr has helped filmmakers from Afghanistan to Egypt, Myanmar to Iran, and most recently, in Ukraine.
She described how Icfr had mobilised the international film community to raise 420,000 euros, enough to help with emergency relocation,...
- 9/3/2022
- by Caroline Frost
- Deadline Film + TV
Click here to read the full article.
Imprisoned Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi has sent a message of defiance to the Tehran regime.
Panahi, one of Iran’s most acclaimed directors, whose latest film No Bears screens in competition at the Venice Film Festival next week, was arrested in Tehran last month and is currently serving a six-year prison sentence. But from his prison cell, Panahi sent a letter to Venice, which festival director Alberto Barbara read out on Saturday at the start of a panel titled “Filmmakers Under Attack: Taking Stock, Taking Action.”
“We are filmmakers, for us to live is to create,” Panahi wrote in part. “The work we create is not commissioned [so] some of our governments see us as criminals … some [filmmakers] were banned from making films, others were forced into exile or reduced to isolation. And yet, the hope of creating again is a reason for existence.”
Panahi...
Imprisoned Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi has sent a message of defiance to the Tehran regime.
Panahi, one of Iran’s most acclaimed directors, whose latest film No Bears screens in competition at the Venice Film Festival next week, was arrested in Tehran last month and is currently serving a six-year prison sentence. But from his prison cell, Panahi sent a letter to Venice, which festival director Alberto Barbara read out on Saturday at the start of a panel titled “Filmmakers Under Attack: Taking Stock, Taking Action.”
“We are filmmakers, for us to live is to create,” Panahi wrote in part. “The work we create is not commissioned [so] some of our governments see us as criminals … some [filmmakers] were banned from making films, others were forced into exile or reduced to isolation. And yet, the hope of creating again is a reason for existence.”
Panahi...
- 9/3/2022
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Click here to read the full article.
As the Venice Film Festival celebrates Iranian cinema — there are four Iranian films screening at the 79th Biennale — back home in Tehran, Iranian filmmakers and artists are facing the harshest crackdown in decades.
The hardline government of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi has stepped up pressure on dissident artists and all critics of the regime to toe the line. In July, authorities arrested three prominent directors: Mostafa Aleahmad (2009’s Poosteh), 2020 Berlin’s Golden Bear winner Mohammad Rasoulof (There Is No Evil) and Jafar Panahi, winner of Venice’s Golden Lion for Dayereh (2000) and of Berlin’s Golden Bear for Taxi (2015).
Aleahmad and Rasoulof were among some 170 prominent Iranian filmmakers, artists and actors who signed an open letter May 29 calling for security forces in the country to “lay down their arms” and side with the people over a government described in the letter as rife with “corruption,...
As the Venice Film Festival celebrates Iranian cinema — there are four Iranian films screening at the 79th Biennale — back home in Tehran, Iranian filmmakers and artists are facing the harshest crackdown in decades.
The hardline government of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi has stepped up pressure on dissident artists and all critics of the regime to toe the line. In July, authorities arrested three prominent directors: Mostafa Aleahmad (2009’s Poosteh), 2020 Berlin’s Golden Bear winner Mohammad Rasoulof (There Is No Evil) and Jafar Panahi, winner of Venice’s Golden Lion for Dayereh (2000) and of Berlin’s Golden Bear for Taxi (2015).
Aleahmad and Rasoulof were among some 170 prominent Iranian filmmakers, artists and actors who signed an open letter May 29 calling for security forces in the country to “lay down their arms” and side with the people over a government described in the letter as rife with “corruption,...
- 9/2/2022
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The Venice Film Festival is launching two initiatives to support directors, filmmakers and artists who have been arrested or imprisoned around the world during the past year.
In tandem with the International Coalition Filmmakers at Risk (Icfr), a panel will be held on Sept. 3 at the Palazzo del Casinò press conference room titled: “Filmmakers Under Attack:Taking Stock, Taking Action.” Panelists will include fest chiefs Alberto Barbera (Venice); Vanja Kalurdjercic (Rotterdam); Orwa Nyrabia (Amsterdam Documentary Film Festival); Turkish producer Nadir Öperli; European Film Academy president Mike Downey and an unspecified Iranian director.
The point of the panel is to shed more light “on the situation of filmmakers currently being persecuted, arrested or incarcerated around the world; to express solidarity and concern for their future; to signal the need for the world of cinema to mobilize; to discuss possible actions that the international community could concretely undertake to help them,” a Venice statement said.
In tandem with the International Coalition Filmmakers at Risk (Icfr), a panel will be held on Sept. 3 at the Palazzo del Casinò press conference room titled: “Filmmakers Under Attack:Taking Stock, Taking Action.” Panelists will include fest chiefs Alberto Barbera (Venice); Vanja Kalurdjercic (Rotterdam); Orwa Nyrabia (Amsterdam Documentary Film Festival); Turkish producer Nadir Öperli; European Film Academy president Mike Downey and an unspecified Iranian director.
The point of the panel is to shed more light “on the situation of filmmakers currently being persecuted, arrested or incarcerated around the world; to express solidarity and concern for their future; to signal the need for the world of cinema to mobilize; to discuss possible actions that the international community could concretely undertake to help them,” a Venice statement said.
- 8/25/2022
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Click here to read the full article.
The 2022 Venice International Film Festival will hold a “flash mob” on the red carpet to demonstrate its support for filmmakers who have been arrested or imprisoned over the past year.
Directors, actors and other VIPs attending the 79th Venice festival will gather on the red carpet on Sept. 9 and hold up the names of imprisoned artists.
The flash mob will take place at 4:30 p.m. local time, just ahead of the Venice world premiere of No Bears from Iranian director Jafar Panahi. Panahi, one of Iran’s most acclaimed directors, and whose 2000 drama Dayereh won Venice’s Golden Lion for best film, was arrested in Tehran last month and is currently serving a six-year prison sentence.
Panahi was the third Iranian filmmaker to be arrested in the country in less than a week, as authorities also locked up Mohammad Rasoulof, director of...
The 2022 Venice International Film Festival will hold a “flash mob” on the red carpet to demonstrate its support for filmmakers who have been arrested or imprisoned over the past year.
Directors, actors and other VIPs attending the 79th Venice festival will gather on the red carpet on Sept. 9 and hold up the names of imprisoned artists.
The flash mob will take place at 4:30 p.m. local time, just ahead of the Venice world premiere of No Bears from Iranian director Jafar Panahi. Panahi, one of Iran’s most acclaimed directors, and whose 2000 drama Dayereh won Venice’s Golden Lion for best film, was arrested in Tehran last month and is currently serving a six-year prison sentence.
Panahi was the third Iranian filmmaker to be arrested in the country in less than a week, as authorities also locked up Mohammad Rasoulof, director of...
- 8/25/2022
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Click here to read the full article.
The Venice Film Festival has picked four Iranian films for its official 2022 lineup, sending a clear political message to Tehran, which has received international condemnation for a recent crackdown on local filmmakers.
Just days after critically-acclaimed Iranian dissident director Jafar Panahi was arrested and ordered to serve a six-year prison sentence, Venice unveiled on Tuesday that it would screen his latest feature, No Bears, in competition this year. The film, like all of Panahi’s recent work, was shot in secret as the director is banned from working in his home country.
Also premiering in the Venice competition this year is Beyond the Wall from Iranian director Vahid Jalilvand. A Lido favorite, Jalilvand’s feature No Date, No Signature won best director and best actor honors, the latter for star Navid Mohammadzadeh, in Venice’s Horizons section in 2017. His latest movie is a...
The Venice Film Festival has picked four Iranian films for its official 2022 lineup, sending a clear political message to Tehran, which has received international condemnation for a recent crackdown on local filmmakers.
Just days after critically-acclaimed Iranian dissident director Jafar Panahi was arrested and ordered to serve a six-year prison sentence, Venice unveiled on Tuesday that it would screen his latest feature, No Bears, in competition this year. The film, like all of Panahi’s recent work, was shot in secret as the director is banned from working in his home country.
Also premiering in the Venice competition this year is Beyond the Wall from Iranian director Vahid Jalilvand. A Lido favorite, Jalilvand’s feature No Date, No Signature won best director and best actor honors, the latter for star Navid Mohammadzadeh, in Venice’s Horizons section in 2017. His latest movie is a...
- 7/26/2022
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSJafar Panahi.Having been detained last week for protesting the arrest of fellow Iranian filmmakers Mohammad Rasoulof and Mostafa Aleahmad, Jafar Panahi has now been ordered to serve six years in prison. Ahead of this development Eric Kohn reported on the broader situation in Indiewire. “Maybe they will come for all of us one by one,” says one anonymous filmmaker who is quoted in the article.Martine Marignac, a producer of vital films by Jacques Rivette, Chantal Akerman, Leos Carax, Jeanne Balibar, Jean-Marie Straub and Danièle Huillet, and others, has died aged 75.The juries have been announced for the 79th edition of the Venice Film Festival. Julianne Moore will head up the main jury, supported by filmmakers Audrey Diwan, Leonardo di Costanzo, Rodrigo Sorogoyen, and Mariano Cohn, plus actor Leila Hatami and author Kazuo Ishiguro.
- 7/20/2022
- MUBI
Jafar Panahi with his award Photo: Courtesy of Antalya Film Festival Jafar Panahi has been jailed for six years after being detained last week.
The Venice Golden Lion and Berlin Golden Bear-winning Iranian filmmaker was reportedly arrested after going to Evin prison in Tehran to inquire about two other film directors, Mohammad Rasoulof and Mostafa Al-e Ahmad, being held there.
Rasoulof and Al-e Ahmad were accused of "inciting unrest" over social media posts about a building collapse that left 40 dead.
Taxi director Panahi, 62, was previously arrested in 2010 for supporting anti-government protests and was sentenced to six years and banned from filmmaking for 20 years. It is this sentence he has now been ordered to serve.
A judiciary spokesman said: “Panahi had been sentenced in 2010 to a total of six years in prison… and therefore he was entered to the detention centre of Evin to serve his sentence there.”
Panahi is well known internationally,...
The Venice Golden Lion and Berlin Golden Bear-winning Iranian filmmaker was reportedly arrested after going to Evin prison in Tehran to inquire about two other film directors, Mohammad Rasoulof and Mostafa Al-e Ahmad, being held there.
Rasoulof and Al-e Ahmad were accused of "inciting unrest" over social media posts about a building collapse that left 40 dead.
Taxi director Panahi, 62, was previously arrested in 2010 for supporting anti-government protests and was sentenced to six years and banned from filmmaking for 20 years. It is this sentence he has now been ordered to serve.
A judiciary spokesman said: “Panahi had been sentenced in 2010 to a total of six years in prison… and therefore he was entered to the detention centre of Evin to serve his sentence there.”
Panahi is well known internationally,...
- 7/19/2022
- by Amber Wilkinson
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Jafar Panahi, one of Iran’s most prolific filmmakers, has been ordered to finish out a six-year prison sentence from 2010. He was detained last week in Tehran.
Iranian officials first arrested and sentenced Panahi, 62, on charges of producing anti-government propaganda in 2010 and 2011. But the sentencing was never enforced. The order from Iran’s judiciary to now enforce that sentence, as announced by spokesman Masoud Setayeshi, comes amid heightened efforts by the government to silence criticism as Iran faces political and economic pressures.
Panahi is no stranger to angering the Iranian government through his art. His work often takes on issues of censorship and social and cultural restriction within in the Islamic Republic. Since the 2010 arrest, he has been barred from leaving the country despite winning awards at several film festivals since then, including the Berlin Film Festival’s Golden Bear in 2015 for “Taxi.” For a time, Panahi had specifically been...
Iranian officials first arrested and sentenced Panahi, 62, on charges of producing anti-government propaganda in 2010 and 2011. But the sentencing was never enforced. The order from Iran’s judiciary to now enforce that sentence, as announced by spokesman Masoud Setayeshi, comes amid heightened efforts by the government to silence criticism as Iran faces political and economic pressures.
Panahi is no stranger to angering the Iranian government through his art. His work often takes on issues of censorship and social and cultural restriction within in the Islamic Republic. Since the 2010 arrest, he has been barred from leaving the country despite winning awards at several film festivals since then, including the Berlin Film Festival’s Golden Bear in 2015 for “Taxi.” For a time, Panahi had specifically been...
- 7/19/2022
- by Benjamin Lindsay
- The Wrap
Jafar Panahi, the critically acclaimed filmmaker of “Taxi” and “Three Faces,” has been ordered by the Iranian judicial authorities to serve the six-year sentence he was given in 2010.
Panahi was arrested last week in Tehran after going to Evin prison to ask about another filmmaker who was being detained. Panahi’s wife, Tahereh Saeedi, told BBC Persian that he was imprisoned without due process, which was the same as a kidnapping.
“Jafar has some rights as a citizen. There’s due process. To imprison someone, they need to be summoned first. But to imprison someone who is protesting outside the jail raises a lot of questions. This is a kidnapping,” Saeedi told BBC Persian.
Along with Panahi, two other prominent filmmakers were arrested earlier this month and are currently being detained in Iran: Mostafa Aleahmad and Mohammad Rasoulof, whose latest film “There Is No Evil” won the Golden Bear at Berlin in 202O.
Panahi was arrested last week in Tehran after going to Evin prison to ask about another filmmaker who was being detained. Panahi’s wife, Tahereh Saeedi, told BBC Persian that he was imprisoned without due process, which was the same as a kidnapping.
“Jafar has some rights as a citizen. There’s due process. To imprison someone, they need to be summoned first. But to imprison someone who is protesting outside the jail raises a lot of questions. This is a kidnapping,” Saeedi told BBC Persian.
Along with Panahi, two other prominent filmmakers were arrested earlier this month and are currently being detained in Iran: Mostafa Aleahmad and Mohammad Rasoulof, whose latest film “There Is No Evil” won the Golden Bear at Berlin in 202O.
- 7/19/2022
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSMohammad Rasoulof's There Is No Evil (2020).Three prominent Iranian filmmakers have been arrested this week. After the arrests of Mohammad Rasoulof and Mostafa Aleahmad last week, news comes that Jafar Panahi has also been detained (on his birthday) after visiting the prosecutor's office to inquire about his colleagues. "It's shocking that artists are taken into custody because of their peaceful endeavors against violence,” said Mariette Rissenbeek and Carlo Chatrian, directors of the Berlinale, in a statement released following the initial arrests and the subsequent call for international support shared by Iranian producers Kaveh Farnam and Farzad Pak.James Caan has died, as announced in a post put out by his family on July 6. Alongside many moving tributes to the actor "best known for his explosive, unpredictable turn as Sonny Corleone in Francis Ford Coppola...
- 7/12/2022
- MUBI
Click here to read the full article.
The Cannes Film Festival has joined the chorus of calls for the release of Iranian filmmakers Mostafa Al-Ahmad, Mohammad Rasoulof and Jafar Panahi after they were arrested by Iranian authorities in recent days.
The latest crackdown on dissent in Iran saw Al-Ahmad and Rasoulof arrested on Friday over the posting of social media statements that urged Iranian security force members to lay down their weapons used against protesters. And on Monday, Iranian filmmaker Panahi was also arrested in Tehran.
Panahi has screened many of his films at Cannes and other international festivals, including Three Faces and Crimson Gold. Panahi also won the Golden Bear in Berlin in 2015 for his film Taxi.
“The Festival de Cannes strongly condemns these arrests as well as the wave of repression obviously in progress in Iran against its artists. The festival calls for the immediate release of Mohammad Rasoulof,...
The Cannes Film Festival has joined the chorus of calls for the release of Iranian filmmakers Mostafa Al-Ahmad, Mohammad Rasoulof and Jafar Panahi after they were arrested by Iranian authorities in recent days.
The latest crackdown on dissent in Iran saw Al-Ahmad and Rasoulof arrested on Friday over the posting of social media statements that urged Iranian security force members to lay down their weapons used against protesters. And on Monday, Iranian filmmaker Panahi was also arrested in Tehran.
Panahi has screened many of his films at Cannes and other international festivals, including Three Faces and Crimson Gold. Panahi also won the Golden Bear in Berlin in 2015 for his film Taxi.
“The Festival de Cannes strongly condemns these arrests as well as the wave of repression obviously in progress in Iran against its artists. The festival calls for the immediate release of Mohammad Rasoulof,...
- 7/11/2022
- by Etan Vlessing
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Berlin winner in 2015 detained while querying arrest of another director after protests over building collapse
The award-winning director Jafar Panahi has become the third Iranian film-maker to be arrested in less than a week, the Mehr news agency has said, as he visited prosecutors over the detentions last week of Mohammad Rasoulof and Mostafa Aleahmad.
Panahi, 62, has won a slew of awards at international festivals for films that have critiqued modern Iran, including the top prize in Berlin for Taxi in 2015, and best screenplay at Cannes for 3 Faces in 2018.
The award-winning director Jafar Panahi has become the third Iranian film-maker to be arrested in less than a week, the Mehr news agency has said, as he visited prosecutors over the detentions last week of Mohammad Rasoulof and Mostafa Aleahmad.
Panahi, 62, has won a slew of awards at international festivals for films that have critiqued modern Iran, including the top prize in Berlin for Taxi in 2015, and best screenplay at Cannes for 3 Faces in 2018.
- 7/11/2022
- by Agencies
- The Guardian - Film News
The Cannes Film Festival has put its weight behind calls for the immediate release of Iranian filmmakers Mohammad Rasoulof, Mostafa Aleahmad and Jafar Panahi.
Berlin Golden Bear winner Rasoulof and his colleague Aleahmad were reportedly arrested last Friday after showing support for popular protests against the Iranian authorities over the collapse of a building in May, that left 43 people dead.
Panahi was also reported to have been arrested in Tehran on Monday. According to Iranian news agency Mehr, he was detained after going to the prosecutor’s office to follow up on what had happened to Rasoulof.
“The Festival de Cannes strongly condemns these arrests as well as the wave of repression obviously in progress in Iran against its artists. The Festival calls for the immediate release of Mohammad Rasoulof, Mostafa Aleahmad and Jafar Panahi,” said the festival.
“The Festival de Cannes also wishes to reassert its support to all those who,...
Berlin Golden Bear winner Rasoulof and his colleague Aleahmad were reportedly arrested last Friday after showing support for popular protests against the Iranian authorities over the collapse of a building in May, that left 43 people dead.
Panahi was also reported to have been arrested in Tehran on Monday. According to Iranian news agency Mehr, he was detained after going to the prosecutor’s office to follow up on what had happened to Rasoulof.
“The Festival de Cannes strongly condemns these arrests as well as the wave of repression obviously in progress in Iran against its artists. The Festival calls for the immediate release of Mohammad Rasoulof, Mostafa Aleahmad and Jafar Panahi,” said the festival.
“The Festival de Cannes also wishes to reassert its support to all those who,...
- 7/11/2022
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
Jafar Panahi, the Iranian dissident filmmaker known for films such as “Taxi” and “This Is Not a Film,” was arrested Monday in Tehran, according to the French news agency Afp.
Afp cited news agency Mehr saying that Panahi, the winner of the Berlin Film Festival’s Golden Bear in 2015, was arrested Monday after he visited the prosecutor’s office in Tehran to “follow up on the situation of another filmmaker, Mohammad Rasoulof.”
Panahi, 62, is the third filmmaker arrested in the matter of a week, as it was reported by Iranian state news agency Irna late Friday that both Rasoulof and colleague Mostafa Aleahmad had also been detained. The two directors were arrested after participating in protests over a building that had collapsed in the city of Abadan in May.
The Cannes Film Festival on Monday called for the release of all three filmmakers and condemned their arrest.
Also Read:
‘A...
Afp cited news agency Mehr saying that Panahi, the winner of the Berlin Film Festival’s Golden Bear in 2015, was arrested Monday after he visited the prosecutor’s office in Tehran to “follow up on the situation of another filmmaker, Mohammad Rasoulof.”
Panahi, 62, is the third filmmaker arrested in the matter of a week, as it was reported by Iranian state news agency Irna late Friday that both Rasoulof and colleague Mostafa Aleahmad had also been detained. The two directors were arrested after participating in protests over a building that had collapsed in the city of Abadan in May.
The Cannes Film Festival on Monday called for the release of all three filmmakers and condemned their arrest.
Also Read:
‘A...
- 7/11/2022
- by Brian Welk
- The Wrap
Prominent dissident Iranian auteur Jafar Panahi, known globally for prizewinning works such as “The Circle,” “Offside,” “This is Not a Film,” and 2015 Berlin Golden Bear winner “Taxi,” has been arrested in Tehran, Agence France Press is reporting and several sources have confirmed.
“Jafar Panahi has been arrested today [Monday] when he went to the prosecutor’s office to follow up on the situation of another film-maker, Mohammad Rasoulof,” Afp said, citing Iranian news agency Mehr.
Panahi’s arrest marks the third detention of an Iranian filmmaker in less than a week, coming after the recent arrests of Rasoulof and fellow filmmaker Mostafa Al-Ahmad, which took place over the weekend and were allegedly prompted by the directors posting a statement on social media in the wake of a violent government crackdown.
Panahi, who is considered among Iranian cinema’s greatest living masters, has won multiple festival awards, including the Venice Golden Lion in 2000 for “The Circle,...
“Jafar Panahi has been arrested today [Monday] when he went to the prosecutor’s office to follow up on the situation of another film-maker, Mohammad Rasoulof,” Afp said, citing Iranian news agency Mehr.
Panahi’s arrest marks the third detention of an Iranian filmmaker in less than a week, coming after the recent arrests of Rasoulof and fellow filmmaker Mostafa Al-Ahmad, which took place over the weekend and were allegedly prompted by the directors posting a statement on social media in the wake of a violent government crackdown.
Panahi, who is considered among Iranian cinema’s greatest living masters, has won multiple festival awards, including the Venice Golden Lion in 2000 for “The Circle,...
- 7/11/2022
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Mohammad Rasoulof was one of two film directors arrested by Iranian authorities on Friday, the country’s state media reports.
Berlin Golden Bear winner Rasoulof and his colleague Mostafa Aleahmad were arrested following the collapse of a building, killing 43, in the country’s southwest back in May.
The tragedy sparked angry protests in solidarity with victims’ families, with demonstrators facing tear gas, warning shots and arrests. Rasoulof led a group of Iranian filmmakers in publishing an open letter demanding security forces “lay down their arms” in the face of “corruption, theft, inefficiency and repression” relating to the disaster.
The pair were arrested for “inciting unrest and disrupting the psychological safety of society,” according to Irna state news agency.
Rasoulof won the Golden Bear for Best Film award at Berlin Film Festival for There Is No Evil in 2020, and has also triumphed at Cannes and other festivals.
He returned to Iran...
Berlin Golden Bear winner Rasoulof and his colleague Mostafa Aleahmad were arrested following the collapse of a building, killing 43, in the country’s southwest back in May.
The tragedy sparked angry protests in solidarity with victims’ families, with demonstrators facing tear gas, warning shots and arrests. Rasoulof led a group of Iranian filmmakers in publishing an open letter demanding security forces “lay down their arms” in the face of “corruption, theft, inefficiency and repression” relating to the disaster.
The pair were arrested for “inciting unrest and disrupting the psychological safety of society,” according to Irna state news agency.
Rasoulof won the Golden Bear for Best Film award at Berlin Film Festival for There Is No Evil in 2020, and has also triumphed at Cannes and other festivals.
He returned to Iran...
- 7/9/2022
- by Caroline Frost
- Deadline Film + TV
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.