URGENT!!! PLEASE SIGN THE PETITION TO FREE IRANIAN FILMMAKER JAFAR PANAHI BEING HELD BY IRANIAN SECURITY FORCES
wait, i went to the link and nothing happened? wtf? i want to sign!
Anyone know what he’s in for? just political filmmaking? or is he member of some anti-government group or what?
According to the NY Times:
“Prosecutor General Abbas Jafari Dowlatabadi confirmed his arrest on Tuesday, saying Mr. Panahi had been arrested for committing “certain offenses,” the official IRNA news agency reported . . . He did not elaborate on the offenses, but said that the arrest was not related to Mr. Panahi’s “profession or to politics.”
So that’s the offficial line, but clearly it’s political.
Iran doesn’t give a shit about online petitions. I’m signing it anyway, but god, what a utopian cause.
I’ve actually seen that petition referenced on blogs and such, so while it’s not like it’s actually going to be read by the Iranian government, it at least brings the situation to the attention of more people than would probably otherwise be aware.
Cinephile I am, I’ve been wondering about what was going to happen to the great Iranian filmmakers ever since the Green Movement first started to gain traction. With Panahi, it was really only a matter of time. Kiarostami, who has been hesitant to directly attack the Iranian government since the upheaval began, has written a letter denouncing the detainment. http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/09/iranian-filmmaker-speaks-out-on-prisoners/ Interestingly, the letter voices disapproval of Panahi’s “radical and sensational methods.” It is true that the Iranian government does not care about online petitions, but expressions of solidarity can go further than one may think.
Again many thanks to everyone who has signed the petition and those who voiced their concerns regarding the impact of or lack of impact of these actions.
I for one tend to agree on both counts that it is necessary to express some form of solidarity backed up by concrete action, awareness being only the first step. I must also confess that I am also at a loss as to how go past that first step.
Apart from the Rambo option (which I half consider at times along with The Dirty Dozen option) many times l feel frustrated that this all seems like shooting a sling shot at a steel wall.
Unlike my country where colonial mentality also works in the positive sense at times as in the case a few months back where international solidarity, influence and pressure exerted mostly through the internet helped reinstate progressive and world respected presidential candidate Nicanor Perlas after he was unjustly dropped by our Commission on the Elections (most likely at the behest of the corrupt government administration of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo), I am also well aware home much of a steel wall the current Iranian government can be with regards to efforts such as these.
On the filmmaking side, filmmakers in my country are no strangers to political and moral censorship as most recently in the case with the government banning/censoring of the works of Brillante Mendoza, Lav Diaz, Raya Martin, Sherrad Sanchez, Khavn De La Cruz, and also with the most emphasis during Lino Brocka’s generation’s literal and figurative battles with the Marcos dictatorship in the 1970s and 1980s as well as the many of the activists, progressive minded individuals and media people who have been abducted, tortured, murdered and disappeared by various incarnations of the Philippine government over the last several decades.
Personally, I have experienced corporate censorship with regards to my documentary work and I will attest – however you learn from it and gain strength from it – it is still one of the more unpleasant and morally wrong experiences any artist can go through.
So I will again say that to at least speak out on this (and to find a way to act somehow) is very important however pointless or little it may seem for to do nothing is indeed an alternative but one that I fear leads to more brashness of these kinds of policies and actions until we eventually find nothing left to fight for once they eventually come knocking at the doors of our own homes carrying the manacles, blindfolds and earplugs.
signed
Oh my goodness! I think everyone needs to see The Circle. Mr. Panahi followed a group of women through the streets of Tehran as they tried to evade arrest, family violence and other forms of injustice – an unsentimental picture of the way laws and social customs are often arbitrarily and harshly enforced in Iran. And I absolutely adored the little girl in The White Balloon – a tender and spirited performance! I will never gaze upon the fish in my aquarium the same way again. Wonderful films!
signed
As an Iranian person, and as a student in the university where Mr Ahmadinejad was a professor, and as someone who knows the people who you call the government, let me tell you something clearly: Iranian government doesn’t care for such thing, period.
I hate to break it to you, but I don’t really think an online petition is going to sway the opinion of the Iranian Government, if they even look at the internet between their life of totalitarian power.
Nathan, you’ve just crushed my idealism.
As far as I know, they still haven’t levied Panahi with any charges but is being held for anything to do with the films he has made or for just being an outspoken member of the political opposition?
The Prosecutor General has said that he was detained for reasons that aren’t related to his profession or poltics, but . . .
Dear Friends,
Today it’s 31th of march. A month has passed since Jafar Panahi has been arrested. Today his family finally got to visit him in prison. His wife said to Radio Farda that Jafar seems fine and he is in high spirit. However he has lost weight. Since few days a go he has been moved to a smaller cell… He is still in interrogation process. Tahere Saidi, his wife also mentioned they are asking him repetitive question and trying to find paradoxes in his answers. She also has told him about your support which has made him very happy. That has been the least we could do. but what can we do next?
some friends has suggested mass screening of his films that are co-ordinated through out the world at the same time. That would be great. But to make it more possible how about asking all the Film and Media Departments to do such a screening of his films? that would be more likely to arrange. Among us there are film students, scholars, lecturers, historians, film critic and chair of departments of some of the best universities from all around the world. you guys can help with this. If you are of a position that can write a recommendation to a university, or you can call a friend or propose the screening to your university please do so.
Please write me back if you would like to help with the arrangement. Put the subject of your email Film Screening and tell me what you can do. Let’s put the date for screening on 15th April. Two weeks time to go. If you have a suggestion for a better date please share it. we show one of his films. if we arrange 10 universities from all around the world we have achieved it.
if you are in facebook please join the page
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=341946171819&ref=mf
and share your comments and thoughts with everybody.
Those of you that I could not reply to your emails please forgive me. thank you for your great support. and hope Jafar is released before our screening. Then we will screen his movies and celebrate freedom of speech.
Now it’s not only about Jafar Panahi. It’s about freedom of expression. It’s about hope and peace. It’s about us, all of us.
With peace, justice and light
Alireza Khatami
freepanahi@gmail.com
Wow. I heard he was arrested a while back but didn’t realise he was still being held captive. I signed the petition immediately. Hopefully we can help somehow.
Cancel Cannes 2010 Awards in Support of Jafar Panahi
http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/cancel-cannes-2010-awards-in-support-of-jafar-panahi.html
Sign the petition!
Signed. Godspeed, Jafar!
Thank you for signing.
Have you heard anything since this from Kiarostami at Cannes?
Thank you for that, Matt.
The petition to cancel Cannes 2010 awards has collected 247 signatures by now, including those of film critics like Bill Khron and Jonathan Rosembaum. It is important to send it to as many people as possible until tomorrow.
There’s a comment on the petition signed by F.X. Feeney which translates perfectly this call for …action, and I’d like to share it with you:
“A dramatic gesture is in order. Awards can be directed to their winners silently — for after all, ceremonies & speeches are generally forgotten. Actions are remembered. Cinema is based on this truth.
Long live Jafar Panahi.”
http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/cancel-cannes-2010-awards-in-support-of-jafar-panahi.html
This bares repeating:
“A dramatic gesture is in order. Awards can be directed to their winners silently — for after all, ceremonies & speeches are generally forgotten. Actions are remembered. Cinema is based on this truth.
Long live Jafar Panahi.”
Signed it.
“Free Panahi”
Thank you all for the updates.
Here’s a video of the introduction of the jury including the seat left empty in the absent Panahi:
According to this , the Iranian government has indicated that they are preparing to release Panahi.
that would be great ;)
This is the Iran government, they could care less about public opinion, especially from western lands.
I hope Panahi makes it through this ordeal, but I don’t this having a happy ending or even an acceptable ending
Paul
Well, I signed it… it at least helps him know he matters to us.