Jafar Panahi arrested in Iran
well, the international film community will prote……………………………………….
ANAC, the most important Italian Association of Movie Makers, has published a statement demanding the immediate release of Jafar Panahi. “The works of Jafar Panahi – the statement says – are well renowned in the whole world”. “We appeal to Italian cultural and artistic world in order to organise a national demonstration against this grave attack to the freedom of expression and against this offence to International culture.”
http://www.anac-autori.it/online/?p=1519
ANAC, the most important Italian Association of Movie Makers, has published a statement demanding the immediate release of Jafar Panahi. “The works of Jafar Panahi – the statement says – are well renowned in the whole world”. “We appeal to Italian cultural and artistic world in order to organise a national demonstration against this grave attack to the freedom of expression and against this offence to International culture.”
http://www.anac-autori.it/online/?p=1519
At least it wasn’t Kiarostami.
Just kidding.
Let’s trade Gaspar Noe for him.
it is horrible international film community has to do something
god bless him
The BBC is reporting that Iranian officials claim they arrested him for unspecified “crimes”.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8545505.stm
“Let’s trade Gaspar Noe for him.”
a pathetic post….
Fascism has many faces, in this case it wears a religious one.
@LAW
That was funny.
ahhhh hopefully he will be freed and inspired to create a film about it!
At least Panahi’s family members have been released
The Berlin Film Festival and the German Foreign Minister have publically called for his release.
So has France’s culture minister
so has Ken Loach
Please pass on the following link and ask your friends to submit their names:
http://www.payamfilms.com/payamfilms/Articles/Entries/2010/3/21_Send_your_statements_to_support_Panahi….html
Jafar Panahi in prison for 20 days!
Today is 31th March, a month since Jafar Panahi has been arrested. His family finally got to visit him in prison. she told Radio Farda that he seems find and in high spirit, however he has lost weight. He is still under interrogation and they ask him repetitive questions trying to find paradoxes in his answers. Since few days ago he has been moved to a smaller cell…
Tahere Saidi, his wife has told him about your support which has made him very happy. but what can we do next?
a friend has suggested mass screening of Panahi’s film co-ordinated through out the world at the same time. That would be great. I think we can do it by asking Film and Media departments in all the universities to arrange a screening of one of his films. among us there are film students, scholars, film historian, film critic and lecturers. you guys can be a great help. if we arrange ten university for screening we have achieved. If you want to help with the arrangement please write to freepanahi@gmail.com and put the subject Film Screening.
if you are in a position to write a recommendation to a university, call a friend, talk to your classmate or whatever that helps arranging it, please do so.
let’s put the date for 15th April. we hope he is released by then and we screen one of his film, whatever we have, celebrating freedom of speech. if you have a suggestion regarding the date share it please.
Now it’s not only about Panahi. It’s about freedom of speech, it’s about peace and hope, it’s about us, all of us.
with peace, justice and light
Bad news. Guardian article.
And the article itself:
The acclaimed Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi was sentenced to six years in prison today, and banned from directing and producing films for the next 20 years, his lawyer said.
Panahi, an outspoken supporter of Iran’s opposition green movement, was convicted of gathering, colluding and propaganda against the regime, Farideh Gheyrat told the Iranian state news agency ISNA.
“He is therefore sentenced to six years in prison and also he is banned for 20 years from making any films, writing any scripts, travelling abroad and also giving any interviews to the media including foreign and domestic news organisations,” she said. Gheyrat said she would appeal against the conviction.
Panahi won the Camera d’Or award at the Cannes film festival in 1995 for his debut feature, The White Balloon, and took the Golden Lion prize at Venice for his 2000 drama, The Circle. His other films include Crimson Gold and Offside. He is highly regarded around the world but his films are banned at home.
Hamid Dabashi, a professor of Iranian studies at Columbia university, told the Guardian the sentence showed Iran’s leaders could not tolerate the arts. “This is a catastrophe for Iran’s cinema,” he said. "Panahi is now exactly in the most creative phase of his life and by silencing him at this sensitive time, they are killing his art and talent.
“Iran is sending a clear message by this sentence that they don’t have any tolerance and can’t bear arts, philosophy or anything like that. This is a sentence against the whole culture of Iran. They want the artists to sit at their houses and stop creating art. This is a catastrophe for a whole nation.”
Panahi, 49, was initially arrested in July 2009 after participating in a mourning ceremony for the protesters killed in the aftermath of the disputed presidential election. He was released shortly afterwards but was denied permission to leave the country. In February 2010, he was arrested along with his family and colleagues, and taken to Tehran’s notorious Evin prison.
Muhammad Rasoulof, one of the film-makers who was arrested at the same time, was also sentenced to six years in jail today.
Senior Hollywood figures including Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, Francis Ford Coppola, and Juliette Binoche condemned his arrest. Binoche held up Pahani’s name in protest at the Cannes festival.
In May, he was released on $200,000 (£129,000) bail after several days on hunger strike. He has since been denied permission to attend film festivals where he was invited as a judge, including a recent invitation from the Berlin film festival.
In an interview in September, Panahi said: “When a film-maker does not make films it is as if he is jailed. Even when he is freed from the small jail, he finds himself wandering in a larger jail.”
And 6 years for Muhammad Rasoulof too. His last film, the White Meadow, was amazing and I can see how it could get him in trouble, but this is still terrible news.
This is outrageous!
Ugh!
A disgrace is what it is.
Is he not able to resign his citizenship?
This is absolutely shocking news. I haven’t been this enraged about a news stroy for a while. Banning an artist from making art is like killing the spirit of the artist. And all of this because of his Panahi’s political beliefs. The society that does this is a lost society.
Protests from celebrities won’t change a thing. It has happened in the past, it will happen again.
Nothing new here as much as I love Panahi’s films. Do I come off as a pessimist? Maybe…but that’s how “democracy” across the globe works. Iran’s fascistic democracy is just more profane than the “civilized” areas and countries of this globe who have been using democracy as a fascist machine ever since democracy was first conceived.
I think this is absolutely horrible. I applaud IMDb for announcing so widely. I hope this doesn’t stop the distribution of his films (I really want to see The White Balloon, it’s very difficult to find).
FREE JAFAR.
-Is he not able to resign his citizenship?-
As far as I know, Malik, he has been unable to leave the country since the Iranian government revoked his passport in 2009.
Very depressing news. This is a travesty and should be condemned by the entire film community. Iran had one of the most inventive and creative cinemas going, with many fine films from the 1980’s, 1990’s, through early 2000’s. Panahi is one of the best of recent Iranian filmmakers, with a strong vision and style. I thoroughly enjoyed his films such as The Circle and Crimson Gold. These films showed a creative talent that placed him at the leading edge of the best of Iranian cinema.
Now, we are entering a very dark period for Iranian film and culture. This is the death knell for Iranian film of any kind of stature in world cinema. By jailing Panahi, they are destroying the spirit and importance of their own cinema. What a stupid, inhumane, and backward thing to do! All the stereotypes in the West of a brutal and repressive dictatorship are proving themselves true here. I would be interested in what the rest of the Iranian film community, including some high-profile types such as Kiarostami, have to say about this despicable action.
FREE PANAHI & FREE IRANIAN CINEMA FROM THOSE ATTEMPTING TO SILENCE IT!
“All the stereotypes in the West of a brutal and repressive dictatorship are proving themselves true here.”
The West is in itself a brutal repressive dictatorship, it’s just more sly in its actions. The most recent examples, the rape of Greece and Ireland.
Doinel
“Police in Iran have arrested internationally acclaimed filmmaker Jafar Panahi and his family.
Plainclothes police broke into Mr Panahi’s family home and arrested him, his wife and daughter and 15 other guests, his son Panah told reporters. "
From an early BBC release. No real details.
I wonder if the international film community will be speaking out against the regime.