{"id":95155,"date":"2015-01-26T10:32:32","date_gmt":"2015-01-26T15:32:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/?p=95155"},"modified":"2015-05-06T08:51:12","modified_gmt":"2015-05-06T12:51:12","slug":"statement-from-jafar-panahi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/?p=95155","title":{"rendered":"Jafar Panahi Issues Statement"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"panahi-540x304\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\nJafar Panahi should need no introduction, but just in case<\/a>… <\/p>\n

Jafar Panahi is a director from Iran, with an international reputation, and an incredible list of films, The White Balloon<\/i>, The Mirror<\/i>, The Circle<\/i>, Offside<\/i>, Crimson Gold<\/i>. (He’s one of my favorite directors.) Harassed and persecuted by the hard-line Iranian regime for years, based on Panahi’s films that were critical of the regime in Iran, most particularly its barbaric treatment of women, Panahi was finally arrested and imprisoned. Probably tortured. He went on hunger strike. The situation made international news. Released from prison, Panahi was placed on house arrest until the decision from the court came down. When it did, it was devastating: 6 years in prison, as well as a 20-year ban on making films. No travel, no interviews. <\/p>\n

Despite the official ban, and the fact that those who work with him (cinematographers, co-directors, actors) are also arrested, their passports revoked \u2026 Panahi has continued to make films in secret, and then “smuggling” them out of the country. (One story involves smuggling in the most literal sense of the word, the film on a zip drive being smuggled out of Iran inside a cake, so that it could premiere at Cannes.) <\/p>\n

Taxi<\/i>, Panahi’s new film (the third to be done since he was banned from film-making) will be premiering at the Berlin Film Festival. <\/p>\n

In preparation for that, Jafar Panahi (who is no longer under house arrest, but is still not allowed to leave Iran) has issued a statement on why he must keep making movies. <\/p>\n

\u201cNothing can prevent me from making films since when being pushed to the ultimate corners I connect with my inner-self and in such private spaces, despite all limitations, the necessity to create becomes even more an urge…Cinema as an Art becomes my main preoccupation. That is the reason why I have to continue making films under any circumstances to pay my respect and feel alive.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Variety has more information.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jafar Panahi should need no introduction, but just in case… Jafar Panahi is a director from Iran, with an international reputation, and an incredible list of films, The White Balloon, The Mirror, The Circle, Offside, Crimson Gold. (He’s one of … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[24,4],"tags":[14,1255,1116,174],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95155"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=95155"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95155\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":95160,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95155\/revisions\/95160"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=95155"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=95155"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=95155"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}