Birthday Wish for imprisoned filmmaker Jafar Panahi
A letter by Soheil Parhizi
Posted in: Cinema | July 12, 2012
Jafar Panahi, the internationally renowned Iranian director celebrates his 52rd birthday – even as he continues to live under the heavy burden of his sentence.
Jafar Panahi has been sentenced to six years in jail with his "social rights," including making movies, writing scripts, travelling outside of Iran and giving interviews to domestic and foreign media, having been taken away for a total of 20 years!
Every year, international film festivals such as Cannes, Locarno, especially Berlin, remind me and certainly many others of Jafar Panahi, who, in my opinion is a social filmmaker, not a politically inclined individual.
Like a mirror, he always reflected the demons and the divine of the society, women’ issues and social struggles, with a deep, delicate precision unique to Panahi. And that is what made him a “people’s” filmmaker.
I had the privilege of meeting him for the first time in June of 1998 while shooting “The wind will carry us” directed by Abbas Kiarostami. His empathy and caring for people and social issues introduced me to a cinematic world of the Panahi kind.
It was neither the Can Award, nor the regime punishment, but his tendency to value his audience that made him famous. For me personally, Panahi has always been something beyond an ordinary filmmaker. He is an exceptional individual who stands out among his peers. His views and unique filmmaking trajectory were determined and self-evident — long before 2009 presidential elections – in films such as “The circle”, “Crimson gold” and “Offside” among others.
Making films on international stage, collaborating with well-known filmmakers and global recognition that Farhadi is currently experiencing, were Panahi’s experience years ago. It was that respect for worldview that lured Panahi back to his homeland of Iran.
Winning an Oscar seemed quite likely for Panahi in 2006 since Sony Pictures which had distribution rights for Farhadi’s “A Separation”, also held the same rights for “Offside” at the time. Michael Barker the president of Sony Pictures at the time was quite certain of the film’s winning chance, if nominated which did not happen due to the uncooperative attitude of the regime and certain personal agendas. Similar request had previously been made by Wendy Lidell, President of Wellspring in 2003 about Crimson Gold which was also turned down.
Perhaps, Iranian cinema could have already been an Oscar winner years ago, had the government supported Panahi instead of banning him from filmmaking and sentencing him to house arrest thereby causing much grief and regret for him and his fans, Iranian and international film industry.
Thus the storms in the recent years have brought us all to this unimaginable juncture where we are forced to witness one of the greatest filmmakers’ arrested and banned from work, yet we hold on to the hope that the climate in our country will soon change so we can once again watch Panahi’s incredible films across the globe.
And so on this day, on behalf of all Jafar Panahi’s fans and supporters, I would like to wish you — “Panah” [refuge] of Iranian cinema — a Very Happy Birthday…
Soheil Parhizi
Switzerland, 11 July 2012
http://www.persianicons.org/?p=2545
No comments:
Post a Comment