Annual event suffers as increasing censorship forces celebrated directors to stop working or move to the west
With an Oscar win last year for Asghar Farhadi's The Separation, you'd be forgiven for thinking that these are golden years for Iranian cinema. But ramped up censorship has sent several of the country's most famous film-makers into early retirements or off to western Europe and north America.
A look at the listings for this week's annual Fajr (Dawn) film festival, which commemorates the 1979 revolution and is one of the most important in the Middle East, shows another anaemic year for Iran's film industry. The number of new indigenous productions has dropped, leaving older Iranian films and foreign movies to pick up the slack. Film festival movies, which in the 1980s and 1990s were the only way Iranians could view foreign cinema, this year include Finding Nemo, Kung Fu Panda 2 and...
With an Oscar win last year for Asghar Farhadi's The Separation, you'd be forgiven for thinking that these are golden years for Iranian cinema. But ramped up censorship has sent several of the country's most famous film-makers into early retirements or off to western Europe and north America.
A look at the listings for this week's annual Fajr (Dawn) film festival, which commemorates the 1979 revolution and is one of the most important in the Middle East, shows another anaemic year for Iran's film industry. The number of new indigenous productions has dropped, leaving older Iranian films and foreign movies to pick up the slack. Film festival movies, which in the 1980s and 1990s were the only way Iranians could view foreign cinema, this year include Finding Nemo, Kung Fu Panda 2 and...
- 2/7/2013
- The Guardian - Film News
Marzieh Vafamehr, who appeared in a film critical of Iran's repressive policies, has had her harsh sentence lifted
An Iranian court has overturned the lashing sentence imposed an an actor after she appeared in a film critical of the Islamic republic's repressive policies, according to Amnesty International.
Marzieh Vafamehr, who appeared with her head uncovered in the film My Tehran for Sale, was released from prison after her sentence of one year in prison and 90 lashes was overturned on appeal.
Amnesty said Vafamehr was released on Monday night, although there has been no report on her case in Iranian media.
Vafamehr, wife of the acclaimed film-maker Nasser Taghvai, was arrested in July after Iranian authorities took exception to the film about an actor whose theatre work is banned in Iran.
The film, directed by Granaz Moussavi, features Vafamehr as an actor who flees to Australia as an illegal immigrant after being persecuted in Iran.
An Iranian court has overturned the lashing sentence imposed an an actor after she appeared in a film critical of the Islamic republic's repressive policies, according to Amnesty International.
Marzieh Vafamehr, who appeared with her head uncovered in the film My Tehran for Sale, was released from prison after her sentence of one year in prison and 90 lashes was overturned on appeal.
Amnesty said Vafamehr was released on Monday night, although there has been no report on her case in Iranian media.
Vafamehr, wife of the acclaimed film-maker Nasser Taghvai, was arrested in July after Iranian authorities took exception to the film about an actor whose theatre work is banned in Iran.
The film, directed by Granaz Moussavi, features Vafamehr as an actor who flees to Australia as an illegal immigrant after being persecuted in Iran.
- 10/29/2011
- by David Batty
- The Guardian - Film News
The Viennale posted its full program last night. Besides this year's festival standards (Kaurismäki's Le Havre, Cronenberg's A Dangerous Method and so on), there'll be a Chantal Akerman retrospective, a strand devoted to new work by Jean-Marie Straub, another to Sasha Pirker, and another to Lee Anne Schmitt, a focus on Austrian silent films of the 1920s, another on Reinhard Kahn and Michel Leiner, tributes to Soi Cheang, producer Jeremy Thomas and Harry Belafonte, and Ulrich Seidl will screen a work-in-progress.
In A Short History of Cahiers du Cinéma (2009), Emilie Bickerton "restates the main polemical point" of her essay that originally appeared in the New Left Review in 2006, namely, as Bill Krohn puts it at Kino Slang, "that the Cahiers is dead as a doornail… As someone who has been writing for the Cahiers during the thirty-year period that Bickerton judges to have been one of steep decline, I'd better...
In A Short History of Cahiers du Cinéma (2009), Emilie Bickerton "restates the main polemical point" of her essay that originally appeared in the New Left Review in 2006, namely, as Bill Krohn puts it at Kino Slang, "that the Cahiers is dead as a doornail… As someone who has been writing for the Cahiers during the thirty-year period that Bickerton judges to have been one of steep decline, I'd better...
- 10/13/2011
- MUBI
Marzieh Vafamehr also given one-year jail term for appearing in My Tehran for Sale with a shaved head and without a hijab
For one Iranian actor, life is mirroring art, in the most gruesome of ways. Two years ago Marzieh Vafamehr starred in a film about an actor whose theatre work is banned in Iran.
Now she faces a year in prison and 90 lashes after Iranian officials took exception to the film, which is itself banned inside the country.
Her crime? Appearing in an Australian film which is critical of the Islamic regime with her head uncovered.
Vafamehr, wife of the acclaimed film-maker Nasser Taghvai, was arrested in July after starring in My Tehran for Sale, which touches on many of the taboo issues of modern life in Iran.
"A sentence of one year in jail and 90 lashes has been issued for Marzieh Vafamehr," said a report published on Kaleme.
For one Iranian actor, life is mirroring art, in the most gruesome of ways. Two years ago Marzieh Vafamehr starred in a film about an actor whose theatre work is banned in Iran.
Now she faces a year in prison and 90 lashes after Iranian officials took exception to the film, which is itself banned inside the country.
Her crime? Appearing in an Australian film which is critical of the Islamic regime with her head uncovered.
Vafamehr, wife of the acclaimed film-maker Nasser Taghvai, was arrested in July after starring in My Tehran for Sale, which touches on many of the taboo issues of modern life in Iran.
"A sentence of one year in jail and 90 lashes has been issued for Marzieh Vafamehr," said a report published on Kaleme.
- 10/11/2011
- by Saeed Kamali Dehghan
- The Guardian - Film News
Marzieh Vafamehr will also be jailed for starring in controversial film.
In a continuation of their crackdown on perceived dissident filmmakers, the Iranian courts have sentenced actress Marzieh Vafamehr to 90 lashes and a year in prison for starring in a film about censorship. Vafamehr, who is married to director Nasser Taghvai, has been condemned in part because she appeared in one scene without wearing a hijab.
The film, My Tehran For Sale, was made by an Australian company but included filming done in the Iranian capital. It explores issues relating to Iran's censorship...
In a continuation of their crackdown on perceived dissident filmmakers, the Iranian courts have sentenced actress Marzieh Vafamehr to 90 lashes and a year in prison for starring in a film about censorship. Vafamehr, who is married to director Nasser Taghvai, has been condemned in part because she appeared in one scene without wearing a hijab.
The film, My Tehran For Sale, was made by an Australian company but included filming done in the Iranian capital. It explores issues relating to Iran's censorship...
- 10/11/2011
- by Jennie Kermode
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Banning the celebrated director from making films is the latest step in the regime's attempt to murder the nation's creative soul
A spectre is haunting the Islamic Republic of Iran – the spectre of freedom. All the powers of the old guard have entered a holy alliance to exorcise it: the ayatollahs and their warlords, Ahmadinejad and Khamenei, hanging judges and paramilitary vigilantes.
To try to exorcise that spectre, the custodians of the sacred terror will go to any lengths. But have they gone just a bit too far this time?
What exactly does it mean to condemn a globally celebrated film-maker who has done nothing but bring credit to his profession and glory to his homeland, to six years in prison, and on top of that to ban him from making a film for 20 years, from writing any script, from attending any film festival outside his country, or giving any...
A spectre is haunting the Islamic Republic of Iran – the spectre of freedom. All the powers of the old guard have entered a holy alliance to exorcise it: the ayatollahs and their warlords, Ahmadinejad and Khamenei, hanging judges and paramilitary vigilantes.
To try to exorcise that spectre, the custodians of the sacred terror will go to any lengths. But have they gone just a bit too far this time?
What exactly does it mean to condemn a globally celebrated film-maker who has done nothing but bring credit to his profession and glory to his homeland, to six years in prison, and on top of that to ban him from making a film for 20 years, from writing any script, from attending any film festival outside his country, or giving any...
- 12/24/2010
- by Hamid Dabashi
- The Guardian - Film News
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.