Sad news (and, sadly, not surprising): Iranian director Jafar Panahi has been arrested in Iran, along with his wife and daughter. The arrest went down at his home in Tehran, where he was hosting a dinner party (and all of the other partygoers were arrested as well). Iranian media is not reporting the arrest (small wonder – not to mention the fact that Panahi’s films are banned in his homeland – doesn’t mean Iranians don’t see his films, though – thank you, Internet, thank you, bootleg DVDs), and we only know that Panahi has been detained from a quote from his son on opposition leader’s Mir Hossein Moussavi’s website. This is not Panahi’s first arrest, he has always been in trouble. His films depict life on the streets in Iran with a gritty sense of reality and anger that, naturally, upsets the status quo and the theocratic bullies who watch over the public. His main interest is in the second-class status of women in Iran, something he obviously feels passionate about, since it is the topic of all of his films.
I am a huge fan of Panahi’s work – I love its energy, its absurdity (he is mostly dangerous because he LAUGHS at the restrictions placed on women, he LAUGHS at how stupid all of the rules are), its courage – and this news truly saddens me. Panahi has said in interviews that one of the main reasons why all of his films are set, mainly, out in the streets of Tehran (as opposed to quiet domestic dramas), is that because of censorship in Iran, women must be shown veiled at all times in films, even though for the most part when women are in their private homes, with their husbands and children, off come the veils. And Panahi does not like LYING, or HAVING to lie, when he makes a film – he refuses to compromise. If a woman comes home to her own home, and takes off her veil as she hangs out with her family, then you should be able to show that. Since it is not allowed, Panahi makes all of his films take place outdoors, in the gritty blinding light of Tehran – and he mainly shoots on the fly, using non-actors, and real-life settings. He flies under the radar as much as possible, at least during filming, using guerrilla tactics and deception to get the shots he needs, without having to involve the appropriate authorities, who always feel he is up to no good. His films are world-famous and highly decorated, yet no Iranian can go into a movie theatre in their own country and see one of his films. Due to a rule from the Motion Picture Academy that no film can receive an Oscar nomination that hasn’t been screened for at least a week in its country of origin, Panahi’s powerful awesome films have not received the nominations they so justly deserve, despite the pleading letters written by movie execs here in the States to the various Ministry of Culture bozos in Iran to please give the film at least a short screening, so that it can be considered for an Oscar.
Panahi is someone I obviously am very fond of (he comes off beautifully in interviews, he’s a true artist), and love all of his work dearly. It means a lot to me. This is not about me – but I do want to mention that my site, because of its large section on Iran and Iranian cinema in general – is blocked from being seen in Iran. That shows you how terrified the regime is. My site? Like I have any influence? My traffic is okay, but minimal. But still: I review as many Iranian films as I can get my hands on, and so Iranians are blocked from seeing my measly little site. But I have gotten emails from film students and film buffs and teenagers from Iran who have the the ingenuity to hack through firewalls or whatever the hell is the technical issue, to be able to read the reviews I have written of the films from their country. One kid sat at his computer lab and tried to call up my URL, but got a “forbidden” message, and somehow got around it. Look out for the nerds and techno-geeks, mullahs. They are way smarter than you. I have received emails from these Iranians who get through to my site to tell me that Panahi does not exaggerate, this is what it is like for them, please get the message out. These are voices that touch me to my very core. Panahi speaks FOR THEM, and in this day and age of technology, his films literally cannot be held back and “disappeared”. EVERYONE in Iran has seen “Offside” – so much so that the year after it came out around the world, to rave reviews, and not seen ONCE in Iran – groups of women in Iran showed up at soccer stadiums around the country – which they are not allowed to enter (the theme of Offside) – and stood beside the front gates, holding up signs saying “We don’t want to be OFFSIDE”. Incredibly moving.
His message does get through and therefore he is intensely threatening to the powers-that-be.
COINCIDENTALLY: New Yorkers, listen up:
At the end of March, BAM is running a short series called Muslim Voices: The Female Perspective. Panahi’s 2006 film Offside (my favorite film of that year, bar none) is playing on March 29. It is a perfect opportunity to show your support for this jailed artist, a man whose films will live long after the theocratic regime in Iran has, hopefully, passed. Panahi has said that he wants his films to live on, that hopefully the message to future generations will be: “This is how we lived once.”
I’ve only reviewed two of his movies here on my site – but take a look at his list of titles, and check them out (Offside, The Circle, Crimson Gold, The White Balloon). Go to Netflix, order them. He’s not just an important voice (although he is that), and beloved to Iranians – but an innovative exciting filmmaker, with the courage of his convictions.
My review of Jafar Panahi’s The Circle.
My review of Jafar Panahi’s Offside
And if you’re in New York, consider going to see Offside at BAM on March 29. I will certainly be there.
Various Panahi clips (films, interviews, award ceremonies) below the jump:
Good post. It is an odd and scary world we live in, sometimes. Thanks for the heads up!
This is just terrible. The only consolation is to know that regimes like this can’t last. They are built to fail. No help to the Panahi family though.
Bren – I know – it’s very sad. I’m sad to hear his wife and daughter were rounded up as well. Sad and mad. At least his brave son has gotten the word out by any means possible – he HAD to because nobody was reporting it in Iran. That is how everyone found out about it. Brave brave soul.
Here’s hoping they release him soon – he hasn’t made a film since Offside which is not all that unusual in Iran, but still – not a very good sign.
I wonder if I’d have the courage to be one of those “white scarf girls” were our situations reversed or to sign my name to the letter to FIFA. What a wonderfully brave family.