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| Jahar Panahi (top left) and his internationally award-winning films. |
"So from now on, and for the next twenty years, I’m forced to be silent. I’m forced not to be able to see, I’m forced not to be able to think, I’m forced not to be able to make films. I submit to the reality of the captivity and the captors. I will look for the manifestation of my dreams in your films, hoping to find in them what I have been deprived of. "
We were tracking the protest movements in the Middle East when we came across a reference to an open letter from Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi that Isabelle Rossellini read during the opening ceremony of the 61st Berlinale or the Berlin International Film Festival.
We jumped to the Berlinale webpage, and there it was, a video clip of the opening event showing his empty jury chair on the stage with a white board with his name on it, extracts from his movies, and Isabelle Rossellini reading his open letter. After she was done, the audience gave Panahi a long standing ovation.
On December 20 last year, Jafar Panahi, 49, was convicted of colluding in gathering and making propaganda against the Iranian government, sentenced to six years of imprisonment, and banned for 20 years to make films, write scripts, travel abroad and give interviews to the media. His fellow filmmaker Muhammad Rasoulof was also sentenced to serve six years in jail.
Here is Jafar Panahi's open letter to the world, which can be downloaded from the Berlinale webpage in Farsi or English --
Here is Jafar Panahi's open letter to the world, which can be downloaded from the Berlinale webpage in Farsi or English --
"The world of a filmmaker is marked by the interplay between reality and dreams. The filmmaker uses reality as his inspiration, paints it with the color of his imagination, and creates a film that is a projection of his hopes and dreams.
"The reality is I have been kept from making films for the past five years and am now officially sentenced to be deprived of this right for another twenty years. But I know I will keep on turning my dreams into films in my imagination. I admit as a socially conscious filmmaker that I won’t be able to portray the daily problems and concerns of my people, but I won’t deny myself dreaming that after twenty years all the problems will be gone and I’ll be making films about the peace and prosperity in my country when I get a chance to do so again.
"The reality is they have deprived me of thinking and writing for twenty years, but they can not keep me from dreaming that in twenty years inquisition and intimidation will be replaced by freedom and free thinking.
"They have deprived me of seeing the world for twenty years. I hope that when I am free, I will be able to travel in a world without any geographic, ethnic, and ideological barriers, where people live together freely and peacefully regardless of their beliefs and convictions.
"They have condemned me to twenty years of silence. Yet in my dreams, I scream for a time when we can tolerate each other, respect each other’s opinions, and live for each other.
"Ultimately, the reality of my verdict is that I must spend six years in jail. I’ll live for the next six years hoping that my dreams will become reality. I wish my fellow filmmakers in every corner of the world would create such great films that by the time I leave the prison I will be inspired to continue to live in the world they have dreamed of in their films.
"So from now on, and for the next twenty years, I’m forced to be silent. I’m forced not to be able to see, I’m forced not to be able to think, I’m forced not to be able to make films.
"I submit to the reality of the captivity and the captors. I will look for the manifestation of my dreams in your films, hoping to find in them what I have been deprived of."
Panahi is a supporter of Iran's opposition green movement. He was arrested in July 2009 for participating in the mourning of protesters killed in the aftermath of the disputed presidential election that year. He was released but was banned to leave the country. In February 2010, he was again arrested with his family and colleagues and taken to Tehran's Evin prison.
He is an internationally acclaimed filmmaker but his movies are banned in Iran.
His debut film, The White Balloon (1995), won the Camera d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival that year. The New York Film Critics Circle declared it the Best Foreign Language Film in 1996.
His The Mirror (1997) garnered the Golden Leopard of the 1997 Locarno International Film Festival and the Golden Tulip of the 1998 Istanbul International Film Festival.
The National Board of Review of the USA gave his The Circle (2000), a movie about women struggle in the sexist society of Iran, its Freedom of Expression award that year. It went to the 2000 Venice Film Festival and brought home five awards including the Golden Lion and the UNICEF awards. In 2001, it was the FIPRESCI Film of the Year at the San Sebastian International Film Festival, and was, among others, the Best Film at the Uruguay International Film Festival.
His 2003 film, Crimson Gold, was not shown in Iranian cinemas because it was considered a "dark" movie by the government. Thus it could not be considered Iran's entry to the Best Foreign Film derby of the 2003 Oscars. It's interesting to note that "the lead actor, playing a pizza delivery man, is, in real life, a pizza delivery man [who] is also a paranoid schizophrenic." (The hyperlink goes to a trailer of the film.)
His movie Offside (2006) about a group of women trying to sneak into a stadium to watch a qualifying soccer game between Iran and Bahrain for the 2005 World Cup. Women are forbidden to watch male sports events. The film won the Silver Bear of the 2006 Berlinale. (The hyperlink goes to a trailer of the film.)
His 2003 film, Crimson Gold, was not shown in Iranian cinemas because it was considered a "dark" movie by the government. Thus it could not be considered Iran's entry to the Best Foreign Film derby of the 2003 Oscars. It's interesting to note that "the lead actor, playing a pizza delivery man, is, in real life, a pizza delivery man [who] is also a paranoid schizophrenic." (The hyperlink goes to a trailer of the film.)
His movie Offside (2006) about a group of women trying to sneak into a stadium to watch a qualifying soccer game between Iran and Bahrain for the 2005 World Cup. Women are forbidden to watch male sports events. The film won the Silver Bear of the 2006 Berlinale. (The hyperlink goes to a trailer of the film.)
As Jafar Panahi said, he will make movies in his mind for the next 20 years. Hopefully, international film festivals will give him every now and then some space and time for his freedom of expression through these films he has completed for the world to see.
References:
Berlinale HomePage. http://www.berlinale.de/en/das_festival/festivalprofil/berlinale_themen/openletterpanahi.html
Stone, Susan. (2011, Feb 19). Berlinale focuses on Iran. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved from http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-et-0219-berlin-film-20110219,0,7637764.story
Dehghan, Saeed Kamali Dehghan, (2010, Dec 20). Iran jails director Jafar Panahi and stops him making films for 20 years. The Guardian Co. UK. Retrieved from http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/dec/20/iran-jails-jafar-panahi-films
IMDb,com for materials regarding Jafar Panahi and his movies (hyperlinks in the above story).
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