 |
| Jafar Panahi (Source Reuters) |
Since the 2009 presidential elections, Iranian
authorities have intimidated many directors who supported the Iran opposition
Green Movement. The case of Jafar
Panahi, influential filmmaker of the Iranian New Wave
movement and peace activist, is an extreme example of this intimidation. In
2009, the director was banned from traveling outside the country after being
photographed at the Montreal Film Festival wearing a green scarf. First
arrested in July 2009, his passport was revoked and his demand for a visa to
travel to the 60th Berlin Film Festival, to participate in the panel discussion
on “Iranian Cinema: Present and Future”, was denied. The director was arrested
again in March 2010 and detained three months for planning to make a film about
the protests that followed the disputed 2009 presidential election. He was
sentenced to six years in prison, plus a 20-year ban from writing, filming,
travelling and talking to the press, in January 2011. A Tehran appeals court
upheld this sentence on 15 October 2011. I did not manage to find the precise
reference of the law upon which he was sentenced (which is not surprising me),
but according to the government-run newspaper the director was sentenced “for
acting against national security and propaganda against the regime.”[1]
I knew that Jafar Panahi was sentenced to
jail but I shocked to discover that he was banned from creative activities for
20 years. The word “intimidation” appears now to me to be kind of soft and
inadequate. As a law student, my first question would be whether the
international community is able to do something about it. The sentence was
publicly condemned by governments and NGOs, which called for his release. Further,
the European Union High Representative, Catherine Ashton, stated she “was
disturbed to learn of the 6-year prison sentence”. She calls on Iran
immediately to review the sentence and “to put an end to the persecution -
whether by detention or other forms of harassment - of these and other members
of its artistic community”[2].
Indeed, this sentence is a breach of the International Human Rights Law,
precisely the article 19 (2) of the International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights. The latter states that “[e]veryone shall have the right to freedom of expression” and
that “this right shall include freedom to seek, receive and impart information
and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or
in print, in the form of art, or through any other media of his choice”. Iran
signed this treaty on 24 June 1975 and is bound by its engagement. This is unfortunately not the first time that a State does not respect its international engagements and if Jafar Pnahi is still free, it is likely that the Supreme Court will uphold the sentence.
As I mentioned earlier, A Separation’s director, Asghar Farhadi,
has also been subjected to intimidation by Iranian authorities. They recently cancelled
the ceremony organised to honour him: A
Separation received the Golden Bear for best film at the 61st
Berlin International Film Festival, on 15 February 2011, and won the Golden
Globe for the Best Foreign Language Film, on 15 January 2012. According to the Guardian, the cancellation shocked the
country came “as something of a shock”, even if some “conservative figures
close to Iran's leaders have previously criticised the film for insulting the
Islamic republic” [3].
They apparently feel concerned “over the film's depiction of domestic turmoil,
gender inequality and the desire of many Iranians to leave the country”. In
2010, Asghar Farhadi already faced problems regarding his film. The Iranian
authorities banned his shooting of A
Separation, after he expressed publicly his support for Mohsen Makhmalbaf and Jafar
Panahi (mentioned above), respectively exiled and imprisoned for their
filmmaking activities. According to the New-York
Times and the Guardian, Asghar
Farhadi was allowed to carry on his work after apologising.
A Separation (I am not revealing the plot)
 |
| Source: IMDb website |
The film takes place in Tehran and starts
with a scene introducing a couple, Nader and Simin, during a divorce hearing.
Simin wants to leave Iran with her husband and their daughter Termeh, whereas
Nader wants to stay to look after his father who suffers from Alzheimer's
disease, and refuses to allow Termeh to leave with her mother. The couple
separates and Simin decides to move to her parents’ home. Nader hires Razieh, a
poor and devout Iranian, to help him looking after his father.
Before watching A Separation, I knew it would be a great movie (and it is) but it
was surprisingly not what I was expecting. Without revealing anything, I can
simply say that the movie is an engaging “detective movie”. While I was
watching it, I was really stressed. I was asking so many questions about the
plot: who was telling the truth? Who was the “bad” character? And I could not
stop asking my flatmate why the police or the judges were not asking the right
questions. The following day I watched
the DVD Bonus and the interview of Asghar Farhadi. It was really interesting as
he describes A Separation as “a
detective movie, full of enigmas, except that there is no sign of a detective”:
“it is the spectator who plays that role”. I understood then why I was asking
so many questions. The movie is also really interesting because while I was
playing the role of a detective, each of the characters of the movie were also
playing a certain role, such as the children who seemed to play the role of
judges. Further, as explaining by Asghar Farhadi “each person, based upon their
beliefs, their class, and their disposition can have completely divergent views
on the objective truth and on the meaning of justice”[4].
 |
| Asghar Farhadi (Source: FilmMaker Magazine) |
I read in The Guardian that the Iranian conservative figures criticised A Separation because they were feeling
concerned “over the film's depiction of domestic turmoil, gender inequality and
the desire of many Iranians to leave the country”. The film is indeed dealing
with family, social, religious, and justice issues, but while I was watching it
I did not understand why the Iranian government feel threatened by Asghar
Farhadi’s work. I think I have found a kind of reply to my question in an
interview of the director by the review magazine Cineaste:
Cineaste:
“Part of the greatness of the film is that it touches upon issues that are
problematic in every society. In the press conference, you said that you only
want to make films that can be shown in Iran. What aspects of this film speak
specifically to the Iranian audience?”
Farhadi:
“I will have to answer this last question enigmatically. If you’ve lived in
Iran for the last few years, you would know exactly what is Iranian in it, and
I don’t think I want to elaborate beyond that.”[5]
I chose not to reveal important details
of the plot for the readers who have not seen A Separation yet but I hope this is enough, either to make you want
to see it or to watch it again through a “new eye”.
Raphaëlle
If you are interested or feel concerned
by the Jafar Panahi case, here is the link to Amnesty International’s action to
support him: http://www.amnestyusa.org/our-work/cases/iran-jafar-panahi
References
A
Separation, Asghar
Farhadi, 2011.
Child Ben, “Jafar
Panahi loses appeal against six-year prison sentence”, The Guardian, 18 October 2011.
Child, Ben “Iran
cancels ceremony to honour A Separation director”, The Guardian, 13 March 2012.
Kemp P., “A separation”, Sight & Sound, 2011, 21(7), p. 77.
Rahul H., “Freedom and Its Discontents,
An Interview with Asghar Farhadi”, Cineaste,
Winter 2011, pp. 40-42.
Yong, William “Iran
Lifts Ban on Director, Saying He Issued an Apology”, New-York Times, 3
October 2010.
[1] Information provided by
the website Iranian.com: http://www.iranian.com/main/2011/oct/jafar-panahi-prison-sentence-upheld
[2] Iran: Statement by the spokesperson of EU HR Ashton
on the sentences on Filmmaker Jafar Panahi and Actress Marzieh Vafamehr
(accessible at http://www.eu-un.europa.eu/articles/fr/article_11496_fr.htm)
[3] Child, Ben “Iran
cancels ceremony to honour A Separation director”, The Guardian, 13 March 2012.
[4] Rahul Hamid, “Freedom
and Its Discontents, An Interview with Asghar Farhadi”, Cineaste, Winter 2011,
p. 40.
[5] Rahul Hamid, “Freedom
and Its Discontents, An Interview with Asghar Farhadi”, Cineaste, Winter 2011,
p. 42.
