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Abbas Kiarostami Calls For Jafar Panahi’s Release At Cannes

It looks like the Cannes Film Festival has seen yet another film take the critics by storm, with the premier of Abbas Kiarostami’s new film, Certified Copy, at the festival. However, Kiarostami is using this opportunity to make something else known.

According to The AP, the brilliant Iranian filmmaker opened up a news conference at the festival, with a plea for the release of jailed filmmaker, fellow Iranian director Jafar Panahi, and also what it’s like making films in his native Iran.

“For a long time, the Iranian government has put a spoke in the wheel of independent filmmakers. That’s my case and the case of Jafar Panahi.’ He went on to say that Iranian filmmakers ‘live under constant pressure and cannot do their jobs.”

If there is one thing that filmmakers in the U.S. tend to site as a problem here, it’s studio interference in their projects. However, if there is one thing that this story should do, it’s that it should open up eyes to the fact that filmmakers around the world don’t only have studios to appease, but also governments that if you question, they will do things to stop either the film being made, or you from making films. It’s something that is both not getting quite enough coverage outside of the cinephile world, and should be getting more within it. Here’s to hoping that this pressure, from Iran’s most gifted and important filmmaker will do something to free Panahi. One can only hope.

Source: AP

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.