CriterionCast

Iranian Government Take Passports Of Collaborators On Jafar Panahi’s New Film Closed Curtain

panahiframed

One of the more talked about films to play this year’s early festival circuit was the newest film from Iranian auteur Jafar Panahi, a picture entitled Closed Curtain, which garnered awards from this year’s Berlin Film Festival. However, for co-director Kambuzia Partovi and star Maryam Moghadam, it has proven to be something more than just another film.

The Guardian reports that Iranian officials have taken the pair’s passports, making it impossible for them to promote the film abroad. With Panahi still under house arrest, the government had come out damning the Berlin festival for awarding the director and his film, and this is apparently their next step in stamping out dissenting cinematic voices in the country.

The film follows the story of a group who become  trapped in a house by a lake, so the themes here aren’t too deep, or at least the criticisms of the Iranian government aren’t all that deep, but if the great reviews out of Berlin are to be believed, the film is deeply moving and thought provoking. An absolute travesty, but not a shocking one, this is just another attempt to quell dissenting voices in Iran, and one that will hopefully continue to be challenged. Not much else is known about this situation at this moment, but we’ll have more as it comes.

Source The Guardian

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.