Award-winning director Jafar Panahi, winner of Berlin Golden Bear for “Taxi,” was arrested in Iran on Monday, becoming the the third Iranian film-maker to be arrested in less than a week. Mehr news agency reported that he was held after going to Evin prison to ask prosecutors about Mohammad Rasoulof, who was arrested last Friday along with Mostafa Aleahmad for supporting protests.
International film festivals including Cannes Film Festival, Venice Film Festival and Berlin Film Festival quickly condemned the arrest of Golden Bear Winner Jafar Panahi in Iran and called for the release of the filmmaker.
Berlin Film Festival:
The Berlin International Film Festival was dismayed and outraged to hear of the arrest of another Iranian filmmaker. On Monday, the renowned and multiple award-winning director Jafar Panahi was arrested. Jafar Panahi’s films have been shown at the Berlinale many times, and in 2015, his film Taxi was awarded the Golden Bear. Panahi was arrested when he sought to inquire with the prosecutor‘s office about the directors Mohammad Rasoulof and Mostafa Al-Ahmad, who were arrested on July 9. A critic of the Iranian government, Jafar Panahi has been the victim of repression for many years.
“The arrest of Jafar Panahi is another violation of freedom of expression and freedom of the arts. We ask the Iranian authorities to release the detained filmmakers immediately,” say the Berlinale directors Mariette Rissenbeek and Carlo Chatrian.
Cannes Film Festival:
The Festival de Cannes demands the immediate release of filmmakers Mohammad Rasoulof, Mostafa Aleahmad and Jafar Panahi
On Friday, July 8, 2022, Iranian filmmakers Mohammad Rasoulof and Mostafa Aleahmad were arrested and imprisoned at an unknown location for protesting against violence against civilians in Iran. Mohammad Rasoulof had already been deprived of his freedom of movement and work since 2017, following the screening of his film A Man of Integrity, which won the Un Certain Regard Award at the 70th edition of the Festival de Cannes. His films Manuscripts Don’t Burn, which won the Fipresci Prize in 2013 and Goodbye, which won the Best Director Prize at Un Certain Regard in 2011, had also been screened in Cannes. He had subsequently won the Golden Bear at the Berlin Festival in 2020 with There is No Evil.
Today, on Monday, July 11, Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi was also arrested in Tehran. The director presented numerous works at Cannes, including Three Faces, which was selected in Competition in 2018 and awarded the Prize for Best Screenplay, as well as Crimson Gold, which won the Jury Prize at Un Certain Regard in 2003. Jafar Panahi also won the Golden Bear at the Berlinale in 2015 for his film Taxi.
The Festival de Cannes strongly condemns these arrests as well as the wave of repression obviously in progress in Iran against its artists. The Festival calls for the immediate release of Mohammad Rasoulof, Mostafa Aleahmad and Jafar Panahi.
The Festival de Cannes also wishes to reassert its support to all those who, throughout the world, are subjected to violence and repression. The Festival remains and will always remain a haven for artists from all over the world and it will relentlessly be at their service in order to convey their voices loud and clear, in the defense of freedom of creation and freedom of speech.
Venice Film Festival
Venice Film Festival_La Biennale di Venezia demands the Liberation of Jafar Panahi
Arrested in Iran / La Biennale di Venezia demands the liberation of the filmmakers Jafar Panahi, Mohammad Rasoulof and Mostafa Aleahmada
La Biennale di Venezia is deeply dismayed at the news of the arrests of Iranian filmmakers. Today, Jafar Panahi, the dissident director who has already been arrested and condemned in the past, was again deprived of his personal freedom for having protested together with many of his colleagues against the arrest of two other filmmakers, Mohammad Rasoulof and Mostafa Aleahmad, on July 8th following the protests against violence towards civilians in Iran.
Among the many prestigious acknowledgments Panahi has won throughout his extraordinary international career, hewas awarded the Golden Lion at the Venice International Film Festival in 2000 for his film The Circle.
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 and demands the immediate liberation of the directors arrested for defending the right to freedom of expression and creation.
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