Iranian director Jafar Panahi has been sentenced to 6 years in prison and has also been banned from making another film for the next 20 years. The reason he was originally arrested was that it was believed that a film he was preparing to make was about the recent controversial elections in Iran, and included criticisms of the current regime. He’s 50 years old. This is a life sentence. I have written a lot about Jafar Panahi over the years, and have reviewed most of his wonderful films on my site. In 2006, he won the Silver Berlin Bear award for his film Offside, a terrific movie about 6 girls who dress up as boys in order to go to a soccer game in Tehran. His imprisonment during last year’s Cannes Film Festival drew international spotlights onto his plight, which resulted in him being released from prison, briefly, awaiting his sentence. He had been on the jury at Cannes, and his seat was left open and available the entire time, a glaring reminder of the situation. The Berlinale is going on right now and Jafar Panahi managed, somehow, to get a letter out of prison in Iran to Isabella Rossellini, president of this year’s Berlinale jury, at great risk to himself. He will be punished severely for this action, since he has been forbidden to contact the outside world. Rossellini read his letter at the opening ceremony.
This is absolutely heartbreaking. My heart is broken. But it is important to watch the clip below, and to hear his words, which have made it out to us. I have much to say about this, and much more to think about, but that is not important now. If you are interested in reading my reviews of his movies, they are easily search-able on my site. All of them are worth it. See this man’s work. He is, at this very moment, being silenced.
But not before he got this letter out to Ms. Rossellini.
That last section where he acknowledges his situation, but then says they can’t co-opt his dreams. Heartbreaking.
Yes. And they cannot.
But still ….
Nothing is worse than the actual act being committed against him. But yes, it makes it even harder to swallow in his own words.
Tell me something is being done about this or at least attempted. This shouldn’t be going on a minute longer.
I had hopes during the Cannes Film Festival, when he went on hunger strike, and the publicity was hot and heavy and he was released.
I have lost some of that hope now.
These people in the regime mean business.
But they did not count on
1. Panahi’s connections to the international world of filmmaking – how loved he is by people across the globe
2. The Internet age – which means they cannot operate in privacy.
Dictatorships REQUIRE privacy. They no longer have that.
So publicity is the only thing we have going for us. Keep writing about him, keep writing about him, never stop talking about him. These thugs REQUIRE that we forget. We must NOT.
Here is the link mentioned in the video of the text of the letter in 3 languages.
Total gut check for me. I take a lot of things for granted.
Alli – I have the same reaction.
If you’d like to write something up for the Iranian Film Blog-a-Thon, that would be so awesome! If you need suggestions of things to see, I would be happy to provide.
Hello,
We are hosting a tribute film series honoring Jafar Panahi at the Asia Society Museum in NYC. All events are free with registration. Please help us spread the word and show your support!
http://asiasociety.org/arts-culture/film/film-series-tribute-iranian-filmmaker-jafar-panahi
Thank you so much – just put a link up on Facebook and Twitter. I will definitely be there.
Another way to show your support:
http://www.facebook.com/freedomofopinion
Claudia – Thanks.
And to anyone who comes to this link alone, please check out the Iranian Film Blogathon going on on my site from February 21 – 27. Lots of good links and interesting content.