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Iranian Filmmaker, Daryush Shokof, Goes Missing One Day Before Panahi’s Release

Just one day before the release of previously jailed filmmaker, Jafar Panahi, yet another Iranian film director, the exiled Daryush Shokof, unfortunately went missing.

The director, who resides in Germany, was set to hop a train to Paris on May 24th, but has not been heard from since. The last time he was in the mainstream spotlight, the director was showing two films, Iran Zendan and Hitler’s Grave, in Berlin.

Much like Panahi, the filmmaker had been critical of the current Iranian regime, with the aforementioned films being reportedly rampantly anti-regime. This disappearance has family and friends of the filmmaker worried, that foul play may be involved here.

Friend Kazem Moussavi spoke with the AP and said that they ‘fear that the Iranian regime is responsible for his disappearance.’ There are even reports that the director had received threatening calls following the release of pieces of his film, Iran Zendan, on YouTube.

This is yet another example of just how censored and embattled foreign filmmakers truly are. Stateside, we get directors complaining about their film being messed with by the studio who shelled out money for it, and changing their artist view. In Iran specifically, filmmakers don’t have so many studios to abide by, but the government in and of themselves. These directors deal with jail time instead of problematic productions. Here’s hoping that this story resolves quick, and with Shokof safe.

Source: The L Magazine

Joshua Brunsting

Josh is a critic, a member of the Online Film Critics Society, a wrestling nerd, a hip-hop head, a father, a cinephile and a man looking to make his stamp on the world, one word at a time.