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RFL/RE – The head of the Cinema Organization of the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance has warned the country’s film industry that dissent will be dealt with harshly after several people from the sector participated in the Cannes Film Festival without obtaining permission from Tehran.
Mohammad Khazaie said on May 29 that the individuals who traveled to the French seaside resort for the festival earlier this month will be barred from operating in Iran’s film industry, saying they cannot both “wear the coat of opposition” and work in Iranian cinema.
While only one Iranian film, Terrestrial Verses, was officially entered in the competition, dissident director Mohammad Rasolof, who was recently released from Tehran’s notorious Evin prison, was asked to be a jury member. However, he was not granted permission to attend the event.
Still, several Iranian-born celebrities attended the festival and made statements calling for an end to oppression in the country and an end to state violence against dissent. One of the most notable statements came from Iranian model Mahlagha Jaberi, whose red-carpet dress featured a noose as the neckline.
Khazaie said he was also concerned over the underground production and distribution of films and noncompliance with religious issues.
“We will cut ties with anyone who, for any reason, works with smuggled and unlicensed films in Iran and abroad, and works against Iran,” Khazaie warned.
This includes all elements of the film industry, from actors and producers to technical staff, he added.
Khazaie’s comments were likely directed at the film Me, Maryam, The Children, And 26 Others, directed by Farshad Hashemi. The film was shown by the Independent Filmmakers Union of Iran at the Marche du Film (Cannes Film Market), despite being made in Iran without observing the Islamic republic’s censorship laws, including the mandatory hijab for female actors.
Such acts of civil disobedience have increased in Iran — where the law requires women and girls over the age of 9 to wear a head scarf in public — since the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini while in the custody of the morality police on September 16 for an alleged hijab offense.
While the protests appear to be waning, resistance to the hijab is likely to increase, analysts say, as it is seen now as a symbol of the state’s repression of women and the deadly crackdown on society.
Several Iranian cinematographers and prominent public figures have also been summoned by the police or arrested, including director Hamid Porazari.
Other celebrities, including prominent Iranian actresses Afsaneh Bayegan, Fatemeh Motamed-Arya, Katayoun Riahi, and Pantea Bahram, have been interrogated and faced legal action after they made public appearances without wearing the mandatory hijab to show support for the protesters.
