October 18, 2011

Iranian Filmmakers Call for International Boycott of State-Run Film and TV Organizations

A month after the arrest of five independent Iranian filmmakers on charges of working for BBC Persian, 21 Iranian filmmakers and actors living outside of the country signed a statement asking the international community to boycott official Iranian film and television organizations and impose sanctions on Iranian media officials.

The statement criticizes Iranian government and media officials for the prosecution of independent Iranian filmmakers. It condemns the harsh treatment and unfair sentencing of renowned filmmakers and actors and such as Jafar Panahi, Mohammad Rasoulof, Mojtaba Mirtahmaseb, Marzieh Vafamehr, and Ramin Parchami. The undersigned emphasize the harsh prison conditions the filmmakers and actors have been subjected to, including spending long periods in solitary confinement, suffering lengthy interrogations, and coerced confessions. They also describe the lack of due process and unjust sentences the filmmakers have received, such as Vafamehr’s flogging sentence and Panahi’s six-year prison sentence and twenty-year ban on film making.

The statement is as follows:

It has been a month since the unfair arrest of five filmmakers, three of whom have been temporarily released on bail after enduring harsh interrogations and many days in solitary confinement.

Renowned documentary filmmaker, Mojtaba Mirtahmasb, and one of the most successful Iranian film distributors, Katayoon Shahabi, are still languishing in Evin Prison in Tehran.

Our information from inside Iran indicates that the arrested filmmakers have been under pressure by the authorities to confess, on camera and in writing, that they were agents of western powers such as France and Britain.

The families of the prisoners have testified that their loved ones are kept in inhuman conditions, have lost weight and do not look healthy.

On the 10th of October 2011, Ms. Marzieh Vafamehr, who has been in prison since July 2011, was sentenced to one year in prison and 90 lashes for taking part in a film, despite the fact that it was made with the official permission of the Iranian authorities. Actor Ramin Parchami, who was arrested during protests in February 2011, was also recently sentenced to one year’s imprisonment.

On the 14th of October 2011, the Appeal Court upheld the sentence of the lower court given to winning filmmaker Jafar Panahi, of six-years prison and a ban on writing scripts and making films for twenty years. The Appeal Court sentenced renowned filmmaker Mohammad Rassulof, who was arrested with Panahi in March 2010, to one year’s imprisonment.

In the past few months, dozens of filmmakers have been interrogated and intimidated by security agents from Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and the Revolutionary Guards.

We, the undersigned, ask ministers of foreign affairs and culture of countries throughout the world; international film festivals, and film and television organizations, to condemn the arrest and intimidation of filmmakers in Iran and to ask the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran to release the arrested filmmakers immediately.

We also ask you to boycott the official Iranian film and television organizations and impose tough visa sanctions against Iranian film and television officials.

Shohreh Aghdashlou (Actress)

Reza Allamehzadeh (Filmmaker)

Shoja Azari (Filmmaker)

Maziar Bahari (Filmmaker)

Abbas Bakhtiari (Producer)

Nazanin Boniadi (Actress)

Bahman Ghobadi (Filmmaker)

Hana Makhmalbaf (Filmmaker)

Mohsen Makhmalbaf (Filmmaker)

Samira Makhmalbaf (Filmmaker)

Navid Negahban (Actor)

Shirin Neshat (Filmmaker)