Jafar Panahi and Mohammad Rasoulof, currently subject to legal proceedings in Iran which earned them a sentence of six years in prison and a 20-year employment ban, to which they have appealed, will be in Cannes with two films made in semi-clandestine conditions and which reached the festival in recent days.   « The reality of being alive and the dream of keeping cinema alive motivated us to go through the existing limitations in Iranian cinema » Jafar Panahi sai...

  There was a conspicuous empty chair when the jury of the 61st Berlinale held its press conference on Thursday afternoon. Jury President Isabella Rossellini read a pronouncement that the empty chair was a symbolic gesture of support for Iranian director Jafar Panahi, who was invited to participate on the jury but was prevented from leaving his country. Panahi was sentenced last month to a six-year prison term and also received a ban from making movies for the next 20 years.   The...

  Shortly after the Berlinale invited Jafar Panahi to be on this year's International Jury, he was sentenced to six years in prison and banned from filmmaking for the next 20 years. Ever since, people have been protesting worldwide against this verdict as it violates the right to freedom of opinion and expression in the arts.     The Berlin International Film Festival very strongly condemns the harsh sentences imposed on the distinguished Iranian director Jafar Pan...

  Amnesty International, the human rights organization, is building a petition campaign to protest the sentence of Jafar Panahi, a leading Iranian filmmaker and human rights activist. Panahi, an internationally celebrated film director who won the coveted Golden Lion prize at the Venice Film Festival for his 2000 film "Dayareh" (Circle), has been sentenced to six years in prison plus a twenty-year ban on all his artistic activities—including film making, writing scrip...

In support of the convicted Iranian director Jafar Panahi, the Berlin International Film Festival is launching a number of initiatives at the upcoming Berlinale. In his films, Jafar Panahi critically explores the social situation in his homeland. His conviction violates the right to freedom of opinion and expression in the arts.   In 2011 the Berlinale will show several films by Jafar Panahi in a number of its sections and so draw attention to the extraordinary oeuvre for which this art...

  MOHAMMED RASULOFThe Thessaloniki International Film Festival denounces the sentences conferred upon Iranian filmmakers Jafar Panahi and Mohammed Rasulof.  The recent accusations against them, as well as the excessive penalty imposed on them for spreading “propaganda against the system”, for participation in the protests that ensued after Ahmadinejad’s re-election and for their socially focused work, is a direct and unabashed violation of civil liberties. Thessaloniki Film Festival...

  International reaction is building as news emerges from Iran that Jafar Panahi, one of that country's most internationally respected film artists, has been sentenced to a lengthy prison term. The Berlin International Film Festival is the first of many film institutions around the world to sharply condemn the harsh sentences handed down to the renowned Iranian director Jafar Panahi and his directing colleague Mohammed Rasulof. Accused of spreading “propaganda against the system”,...

Iran has sentenced two prominent filmmakers to six years in jail each on vague charges of working against the ruling system, their lawyers said Monday. One of the two, the renowned filmmaker Jafar Panahi, has won awards at the Chicago, Cannes and Berlin film festivals. His films have been screened at various film festivals in India. He was invited as chief guest at the recently concluded 41st international film fest in Goa (IFFI) but was not allowed to leave the country. Iran has ...

  Beginning of March, Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi had been arrested by the police of his country. Over two months later, he's still in prison.   The International Federation of Film Critics FIPRESCI, a non-profit, apolitical organization consisting of members from 68 countries worldwide, strongly protests the arrest and unjust confinement of filmmaker Jafar Panahi. In the collective view of FIPRESCI, Panahi is not only an outstanding filmmaker - he has merited the FIPR...

The Board of the European Film Academy strongly protests against the arrest of Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi and demands his immediate release. Jafar Panahi is an internationally recognised artist and his work has been honoured at the festivals in Berlin, Cannes and Venice. Before his arrest, Panahi was denied permission to leave Iran in order to attend the 60th Berlinale as an honorary guest. The Board of the European Film Academy encourages the EFA Members to join this prote...