Cannes, Venice film festivals call for release of Iranian filmmakers

The Venice film festival called Tuesday for the "immediate release" of award-winning dissident Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi and fellow directors Mohammad Rasoulof and Mostafa Aleahmad. On Monday, Cannes film festival organisers also condemned their arrest.

Iranian film director Jafar Panahi won the best screenplay award at Cannes in 2018 for his film "Three Faces". © AFP

The world's oldest film festival said it was "deeply dismayed" by the reported arrests of Panahi on Monday, and Rasoulof and Aleahmad on Friday.

"La Biennale di Venezia joins its own voice to the many that are now speaking out in the world to condemn the repressive actions underway," it said.

It said it also "demands the immediate liberation of the directors arrested for defending the right to freedom of expression and creation".

Cannes film festival organisers, in a statement Monday, said they "strongly condemn the (directors') arrests as well as the wave of repression evidently under way in Iran against its artists", calling for their immediate release.

The Festival de Cannes demands the immediate release of filmmakers Mohammad Rasoulof, Mostafa Aleahmad and Jafar Panahi. He also wishes to reassert its support to all those who, throughout the world, are subjected to violence and repression. Read more ► https://t.co/rJpQCN1nRh

— Festival de Cannes (@Festival_Cannes) July 11, 2022

The Berlin film festival, which last week protested against the arrests of Rasoulof and Aleahmad, also said Monday it was "dismayed and outraged to hear of the arrest of another Iranian filmmaker."

International film festivals

Panahi, 62, has won a slew of awards at international festivals for films that have critiqued modern Iran, including the top prize in Berlin for "Taxi" in 2015, and best screenplay at Cannes for his film "Three Faces" in 2018.

"Jafar Panahi has been arrested today when he went to the prosecutor's office to follow up on the situation of another film-maker, Mohammad Rasoulof," Mehr reported.

State news agency IRNA (Islamic Republic News Agency) had reported late Friday that Rasoulof, also an award winning film-maker, had been arrested along with colleague Mostafa Aleahmad.

Panahi was also arrested in 2010, following his support for anti-government protests. He was later convicted of "propaganda against the system", sentenced to six years in jail and handed a ban on directing or writing films.

Since then has been barred from leaving the country to pick up any of his awards.

Restrictions

Rasoulof, 50, won the Golden Bear in Berlin in 2020 with his film "There Is No Evil" but was likewise unable to accept the award in person as he was barred from leaving Iran.

Rasoulof and Aleahmad were arrested over events relating to a deadly building collapse of the Metropol building in the city of Abadan, an event which sparked angry protests, IRNA said.

"In the midst of the heart-breaking incident in Abadan's Metropol, (the filmmakers) were involved in inciting unrest and disrupting the psychological security of society," the agency said.

The 10-storey Metropol building, that was under construction in southwestern Khuzestan province, collapsed on 23 May, killing 43 people.

It sparked demonstrations in solidarity with victims' families.

Demonstrators demanded that "incompetent officials" responsible for the tragedy be prosecuted and punished, while many faced tear gas, warning shots and arrests by the police.

A group of Iranian filmmakers led by Rasoulof published an open letter calling on the security forces to "lay down their arms" in the face of outrage over the "corruption, theft, inefficiency and repression" surrounding the Abadan collapse.

Rasoulof's passport had been confiscated after his 2017 film "A Man of Integrity" premiered at Cannes, where it won the top prize in the Un Certain Regard section of the festival.

(with AFP)