Persian Realm

Jafar Panahi and Mohammad Rasoulof are in Cannes in absentia with two films which are being currently screened at the Festival. The films were made under semi-clandestine conditions, as the two Iranian filmmakers are currently under legal proceedings in Iran and have appealed their sentence of six years in prison and a 20-year ban on filmmaking.

“The reality of being alive and the dream of keeping Iranian filmmaking intact have motivated us to overcome the restrictions we are up against,” Jafar Panahi wrote to theFestival on May 5th.

Jafar Panahi and Mohammad Rasoulof in the Cannes Official Selection !

Asa Result :

Bé Omid é Didar (Good Bye) directed by Mohammad Rasoulof(Iran, 2011, 100') is selected in Un Certain Regard and will be screened onSaturday, 14 May.
A feature film, with Leyla Zareh, Fereshteh Sadreorafai,Shahab Hoseini and Roya Teymorian, Good Bye is the story of a young female lawyer in Tehran trying to get a visa to leave the country. Mohammad Rasoulof made the film during the winter of 2010/2011.

Teaser One :

Teaser Two:

Teaser Three:

>In Film Nist (This is not a Film) directed by Jafar Panahi and Mojtaba Mirtahmasb (Iran, 2011, 75') is a Special Screening in the Official Selection, and will be screened on Friday 20 May.

This film recounts how, for months, Jafar Panahi has been waiting for the verdict of his court appeal.Through the depiction of a day in his life, Jafar Panahi and Mojtaba Mirtahmasb (a documentary filmmaker and former assistant director), present an overview ofthe current situation of Iranian filmmaking.

"Mohammad Rasoulof's film and the conditions under which it was made,and Jafar Panahi's diary of his daily life as an artist who is not allowed towork, are films which, by their very existence, represent the filmmakers’ resistance against the sentence they have been handed down. Sending these films to Cannes, at the same time, the same year, when they face the same fate, is anact of courage and also an extraordinary artistic message. Cannes is the international institution that protects them and we are sure that the film professionals from all over the world who have gathered on the Croisette will unite in a natural expression of fraternal solidarity," declared Gilles Jacob and Thierry Frémaux.

"Our problems are also our greatest resource,” Jafar Panahi says in his message. "Understanding this promising paradox encourages us not to lose hope, and to continue on our path.The world will always have its problems, big and small; but it is our duty not to be defeated and to look for solutions".

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