free jafar panahi

text of US filmmakers' petition for Jafar Panahi's release

The internationally acclaimed Iranian director of such award-winning films as The White Balloon, The Circle, Crimson Gold and Offside, was arrested at his home on March 1st in a raid by plain-clothed security forces. He has been held since then in Tehran’s notorious Evin prison.

A recent letter from Mr. Panahi’s wife expressed her deep concerns about her husband’s heart condition, and about his having been moved to a smaller cell.

Mr. Panahi’s films have been banned from screening in Iran for the past ten years and he has effectively been kept from working for the past four years.

Last October, his passport was confiscated and he was banned from leaving the country. Upon his arrest, Islamic Republic officials initially charged Mr. Panahi with “unspecified crimes.” They have since reversed themselves, and the charges are now specifically related to his work as a filmmaker.

We (the undersigned) stand in solidarity with a fellow filmmaker, condemn this detention, and strongly urge the Iranian government to release Mr. Panahi immediately.

Paul Thomas Anderson, Joel and Ethan Coen, Francis Ford Coppola, Jonathan Demme, Robert De Niro, Curtis Hanson, Jim Jarmusch, Ang Lee, Richard Linklater, Terrence Malick, Michael Moore, Robert Redford, Martin Scorsese, James Schamus, Paul Schrader, Steven Soderbergh, Steven Spielberg, Oliver Stone, Frederick Wiseman

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Also read Abbas Kiarostami's beautiful and patriotic open letter about artistic freedom calling for his colleague's release and sign the free Jafar Panahi petition that was posted on Jafar Panahi's facebook page.

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Acá, la carta de repudio a la detención de Jafar Panahi del Proyecto de Cine Independiente (PCI) argentino.