In March of this year, Iranian authorities took celebrated filmmaker Jafar Panahi (“The White Balloon,” “Circle,” “Offside”) into custody for undisclosed reasons following a raid on his home. This wasn’t the first time the filmmaker faced troubles with Iranian authorities as he has long been held in suspicion by the regime, and was arrested last year following the election protests (Panahi is a key supporter of opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi).
As Panahi’s detention grew longer, with no news of what charges he faced (it has been suspected that he was working on a film about last year’s Iranian elections), international outrage grew. At the Cannes Film Festival awards ceremony this past weekend, Abbas Kiarostami talked about him at a press conference, Juliette Binoche brought a sign of support to the filmmaker at the closing night ceremony and his chair on the Palme D’Or jury, where he had been invited to participate, was left empty in protest.
Panahi had been about a week into a hunger strike before he was released on $200,000 bail, but he still faces possible indictment. Iranian authorities continue to contend that Panahi’s arrest was not political and related to actual criminal offenses, but its hard to believe considering most of his films are banned in the country. Our thoughts are with Panahi, his friends and family and we hope this matter is resolved swiftly.