PETITION CALLS FOR OVERTURNING IRANIAN DIRECTOR’S SENTENCE

Amnesty International on Wednesday headed a delegation to the Iran Mission to the United Nations that delivered a petition signed by more than 20,000 people calling for the reversal of the sentence meted out to award-winning director Jafar Panahi for making “propaganda against the system.” He was sentenced to six years in prison and barred […]

IRANIAN FILM AWARDED TOP PRIZE IN BERLIN

The Berlin Film Festival — the Berlinale — whose jury was reduced by one member when the Iranian government imprisoned director Jafar Panahi, who was to have served on it, awarded the Golden Bear, its top prize, on Saturday to Nader and Simin: A Separation, a film by another Iranian director, Asghar Farhadi. The entire […]

CRITICS GROUP BLASTS IRAN, MPAA RATINGS BOARD

In addition to announcing its selection of outstanding film achievements in 2010, the National Society of Film Critics, whose members include some of the country’s most respected critics, has condemned the prison sentences meted out to Iranian directors Jafar Panahi and Mohammad Rasoulaf, who were also banned from making movies for 20 years. “Not only […]

DGA BLASTS IRAN’S SENTENCING OF TOP DIRECTOR

In a curiously delayed response, the Directors Guild of America on Wednesday denounced the arrest, conviction and sentencing of award-winning Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi and his colleague, Mohammad Rasoulof. The two were sentenced in Iran on Monday to six years in jail and barred from making movies for 20 years for “colluding in the gathering […]

IRAN SENTENCES TOP FILMMAKER TO PRISON

In a surprisingly iron-fisted action, Iran has sentenced one of its most honored filmmakers to six years in prison and banned him from making films for the next 20 years. Jafar Panahi was convicted of colluding with opponents of Iran’s leadership and making propaganda undermining the government. He was also barred from traveling abroad or […]

IRANIAN FILMMAKER BARRED FROM LEAVING COUNTRY

Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi, who was jailed for “anti-regime” activities prior to this year’s Cannes Film Festival, where he was to have served as one of the jurors, has been forbidden to leave Iran to attend the Venice Film Festival. His absence was conspicuous as his film The Accordion, opened the short film section on […]

IRAN RELEASES JAILED DIRECTOR

Award-winning Iranian film director Jafar Panahi was released on $200,000 bail today (Tuesday) from the Evin prison in Tehran, where he had been held since March on charges of producing an “anti-regime” film. The film was reportedly in early development. Panahi had been named as a judge at the Cannes Film Festival, which ended on […]

IRANIAN DIRECTOR CALLS FOR RELEASE OF FELLOW DIRECTOR

An award-winning Iranian director opened a news conference at the Cannes Film Festival following the screening of his film with a call for the release of a fellow Iranian director, who was jailed for making an “anti-regime” film. Abbas Kiarostami, who won the festival’s top Palme d’Or award in 1997 and whose latest film, Certified […]