[Reader-list] Iranian Filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami Speaks Out on Prisoners

[Shuddhabrata Sengupta]

Dear Rahul,

I totally agree with you. Roman Polanski, howsoever great he may be  
as a filmmaker, was a fugitive pedophile. And, in my opinion, his  
talent as a filmmaker, or his presently advanced age, cannot be an  
excuse not to hold him in custody. That's like saying Eichmann should  
have been left to tend gardens as a gentle pensioner rather than face  
trial for his role in the Holocaust.

There can be no comparison whatsoever with the case of Jafar Panahi,  
who is a filmmaker and artist being persecuted by a venal  
dictatorship. The longer they hold him (and thousands of others in  
Iran) the tighter will be the noose that the people of Iran will tie  
one day to the neck of the Islamic Republic.

best

Shuddha


On 11-Mar-10, at 8:54 PM, Rahul Asthana wrote:

> Thanks Shuddha for this. Jafar Panahi's masterful work is a  
> testimony to  his humanism,love for his country and empathy towards  
> the common Iranian. His opposition to the Iranian regime maybe  
> political but as expressed through his work (I have seen Crimson  
> Gold and Off Side) is couched in social terms.It should also be  
> pointed out that while most of the Iranian artists tend to leave  
> Iran to exercise their freedom of expression he lives there and  
> continues to work in the most trying of conditions.
> To get a sense of perspective, we can look at the hue and cry made  
> over the detention of Roman Polanski for, what, one may argue,  
> entirely valid reasons. Panahi is no less a filmmaker than  
> Polanski, and it is horrifying that the detention of an artist of  
> such a stature is not raising more of a storm in world media.
>
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----
> From: Shuddhabrata Sengupta <shuddha at sarai.net>
> To: sarai-list list <reader-list at sarai.net>
> Sent: Wed, March 10, 2010 1:57:14 PM
> Subject: [Reader-list] Iranian Filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami Speaks  
> Out on Prisoners
>
> Dear All,
>
> The situation in Iran continued to be in turmoil. The besieged,
> cynical, repressive regime that currently holds power in the name of
> an Islamic Republic has continued to face stiff opposition from
> Iranians from all walks of life, and so it continues to oppress them.
> Recently, the well known Iranian filmmaker, Jafar Panahi, has been
> arrested. Below is a report (from a blog associated with the New York
> Times) on his arrest, and a letter written in protest against his
> detention by Abbas Kiarostami, a much admired Iranian filmmaker. Many
> of us (especially at Sarai) have had occasion to see and enjoy the
> work of Panahi and Kiarostami. I hope that you will all join me in
> condemning this sad turn of events, and hope for the early demise of
> the repressive regime fronted by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his cynical
> coterie.
>
> best
>
> Shuddha
> --------
>
> Iranian Filmmaker Speaks Out on Prisoners
> By Robert Mackey
>
> The Lede, The New York Times Blog
> http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/09/iranian-filmmaker-speaks-
> out-on-prisoners/?scp=1&sq=kiarostami&st=cse
>
> March 9, 2010, 5:31 pm
>
> Abbas Kiarostami, a celebrated Iranian filmmaker who has won numerous
> international awards for films like “ Close-Up” and “ Through The
> Olive Trees,” published an open letter in a Tehran newspaper on
> Tuesday calling for the release of Jafar Panahi and Mahmoud Rasoulof,
> two directors recently detained by the authorities.
>
> Mr. Kiaorstami sent the original, Persian-language text of his letter
> and an English translation to The Lede from Iran through a mutual
> friend, Hooman Majd, the author of “The Ayatollah Begs to Differ.”
> The complete text of the translation is below. The original text is
> available for download.
>
> Mr. Panahi, who has directed two films scripted by Mr. Kiarostami,
> “The White Balloon,” and “ Crimson Gold,” was arrested last week, as
> my colleague Nazila Fathi reported.
>
> In an interview uploaded to YouTube, he discussed the event that
> inspired his 2006 film “ Offside,” which is about a group of Iranian
> women who want to be allowed to watch a soccer match.
>
> According to The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, a
> source close to him said: “Over the past years, Ministry of
> Intelligence authorities have summoned Jafar Panahi to different
> investigation offices of the Ministry in different locations and have
> questioned him. In one of these meetings he was told, ‘Just because
> you are a famous filmmaker, you mustn’t think that we are unable to
> arrest you. We can arrest you whenever we decide.’”
>
> Here is the complete text of Mr. Kiarostami’s open letter, written in
> response to that arrest.
>
> ----------
> "...I don’t quite know to whom I am addressing this letter, but I do
> know why I’m writing it and I believe that under the circumstances it
> is both critical and inevitable because two Iranian filmmakers, both
> of whom are vital to the Iranian wave of independent cinema, have
> been incarcerated.
>
> As a filmmaker of the same independent cinema, it has been years
> since I lost hope of ever screening my films in my country. By making
> my own low-budget and personal films, it has also been years since I
> lost all hope of receiving any kind of aid or assistance from the
> Ministry of Guidance and Islamic culture, the custodian of Iranian
> cinema.
>
> In order to make a living, I have turned to photography and use that
> income to make short and low-budget films. I don’t even object to
> their illegal reproduction and distribution because that is my only
> means of communicating with my own people. For years now I have not
> even objected to this lack of attention from the ministry and cinema
> tic authorities .
>
> Even if we choose to disregard the fact that for years now, the
> cinematic administrators of the country, who constitute the main
> cultural body of the government, have differentiated between their
> own filmmakers (insiders) and independent filmmakers (outsiders), I
> am still of the opinion that they are oblivious of Iranian
> independent cinema. Filmmaking is not a crime. It is our sole means
> of making a living and thus not a choice, but a vital necessity.
>
> I have found my own solutions to the problem. Independent of the
> conventional and customary support granted to the cinematic community
> at large, I make my own short and independent films with hopes of
> gaining some credit for the people I love and a name for the country
> I come from. Sometimes the necessity to work calls for the making of
> films beyond the borders of my country, which is ultimately not out
> of personal choice or taste.
>
> However, others, like Jafar Panahi, have for years tried to summon
> official government support, exploring the same frustrating path,
> only to be confronted with the same closed doors. He too has for
> years held hopes of obtaining public screenings for his films and
> receiving official aid and assistance from the relevant governmental
> bodies. He still believes that based on the merits of his films and
> the acclaim they have brought the country, he can seek legal
> solutions to the problem. The Ministry of Guidance and Islamic
> culture is directly responsible for what is happening to Jafar Panahi
> and his like. Any wrongdoing on his part, if there is any at all, is
> a direct result of the mismanagement of officials at the cinematic
> department of the Ministry of Guidance and it’s inadequate policies
> which in no way leave any choice for the filmmaker other than to
> resort to means that jeopardize his situation as a filmmaker. He too
> makes a living through cinema.
> For him too, filmmaking is a vital necessity. He needs to make
> himself heard and has the right to expect cinematic officials to
> facilitate the process, rather than become the major obstacles
> themselves. Perhaps the officials at the ministry can not at present
> be of help in solving Jafar Panahi’s dilemma, but they need to know
> that they are and have been responsible all these years, for the
> dreadful consequences and unpleasant and anti-cultural reflections of
> such policies in the world media.
>
> I may not be an advocate of Jafar Panahi’s radical and sensational
> methods but I do know that the cause for his plight is not a result
> of choice but an inevitable [compulsion].
>
> He is paying for the conduct of officials who have for years closed
> all doors on him, leaving open small passages and dead end paths.
>
> Jafar Panahi’s problem will eventually be solved but there are
> numerous young people who have chosen the art of cinema as their
> means of expression and careers.
>
> This is where the duty of the government and the Ministry of Guidance
> and Islamic Culture, as the government’s main cultural body, becomes
> even more critical, for they face a large group of Iranian youth who
> aim to work independently and away from complicated official
> procedures and existing prejudices.
>
> Jafar Panahi and Mahmoud Rasoulof are two filmmakers of the Iranian
> independent cinema, a cinema that for the past quarter of a century
> has served as an essential cultural element in expanding the name of
> this country across the globe. They belong to an expanded world
> culture, and are a part of international cinematic culture. I wish
> for their immediate release from prison knowing that the impossible
> is possible. My heartfelt wish is that artists no longer be
> imprisoned in this country because of their art and that the
> independent and young Iranian cinema no longer faces obstacles, lack
> of support, attention and prejudice.
> This is your responsibility and the ultimate definition of your
> existence."
>
> Abbas Kiarostami / 1388.12.18 [March 9, 2010] / Tehran
> ---------------
>
> Even though his films have been banned in Iran for years, Mr.
> Kiarostami, who recently made his first film abroad, dismissed the
> idea of leaving Iran permanently in an interview with The National,
> an Abu Dhabi newspaper, in October. “I don’t believe in leaving my
> home,” he told the newspaper. “The place where I sleep well at night
> is my home. We make films in order to live. No matter under whatever
> conditions, my home, at the end of a dead end, is where I’ve been
> living, and there’s nothing that’s persuaded me yet to leave it.”
>
> He added that in the face of difficulties, such as those confronting
> Iran’s filmmakers today, “It just depends on what your reaction is in
> the face of things that don’t appeal to you. You can find shelter in
> alcohol and opium. You might get depressed. Or you can think, since
> I’m not going to do those things, what can I do?”
> In the same interview, Mr. Kiarostami was asked to comment on the
> decision of another Iranian filmmaker, Bahman Ghobadi, to leave Iran.
> “Based on what I’ve witnessed of Iranians leaving Iran, I haven’t
> seen a very positive outcome,” he replied. “I have no criticism of
> anybody else that should choose to leave their home…. If Bahman
> Ghobadi believes that he will make films under better conditions
> outside of Iran, I only congratulate and praise him. So long as he
> does make them.”
>
> As my colleague Michael Slackman reported in January, Mr. Ghobadi
> took that as an attack of some sort and wrote a furious open letter
> denouncing Mr. Kiarostami for not taking a political stand against
> Iran’s government. In an email message to The Lede, Mr. Kiarostami
> said that his remarks about Mr. Ghobadi were not in any way an attack
> on him.
>
>
> Shuddhabrata Sengupta
> The Sarai Programme at CSDS
> shuddha at sarai.net
> www.sarai.net
> www.raqsmediacollective.net
>
>
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Shuddhabrata Sengupta
The Sarai Programme at CSDS
Raqs Media Collective
shuddha at sarai.net
www.sarai.net
www.raqsmediacollective.net