Jafar Panahi

Jafar Panahi (Persian جعفر پناهی; born July 11, 1960 in Mianeh, East Azerbaijan province ) is an Iranian film director. He is one of the best known abroad directors from Iran.

Life

Jafar Panahi is one of the most important independent filmmakers in Iran. He studied in the 1980s in Tehran film and television director. After some TV work and short films, he was assistant to Abbas Kiarostami. His debut film, The White Balloon award in 1995 at the International Film Festival in Cannes Golden Camera. His next film The Mirror won the 1997 Locarno Film Festival. The greatest success was winning the Golden Lion at the International Film Festival in Venice in 2000 with the film The circle for him. The film was banned by the Iranian regime and not shown in Iran. 2003 Crimson Gold was awarded the main prize at the Semana Internacional de Cine de Valladolid. His film Offside experienced at the Berlinale 2006 on 17 February 2006 its world premiere and won a day later a Silver Bear.

In February 2010, Panahi was the guest of honor of the 60th Berlin International Film Festival as part of the World Cinema Fund Day at a discussion on " Iranian Cinema: Present and future expectations within and outside the country " to participate. The departure from his homeland Panahi was refused. He was previously occurred in Nader Davoodis critical documentary Red, White & The Green, Panorama documents was shown in the Berlinale series and makes the hope of the Iranian intellectuals, youth and women clearly to a political change.

Panahi supported in the disputed Iranian presidential elections in 2009, the opposition movement of Mir Hossein Mousavi Green movement against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

According to opposition Panahi was arrested along with his wife, his daughter and other dissidents on 1 March 2010 at his home by the Iranian police. Was also arrested Mohammed Rasoulof, with whom he worked repeatedly. Panahi was initially housed without charge in Evin Prison, where he remained imprisoned under three months. He went on a hunger strike, in part because he wanted a private attorney. Numerous international intellectuals such as Michael Moore, Steven Spielberg, Robert Redford, Abbas Kiarostami have campaigned for his release. Panahi was on 25 May 2010 on bail of 200,000 U.S. dollars emaciated until the beginning of the criminal trial free. Already in the summer of 2009, Panahi was briefly detained after a memorial service for Neda Agha Soltan -.

The trial was held on December 20, 2010. Panahi was sentenced to six years in prison here; at the same time he received a prohibition of 20 years, must be no interviews or travel abroad. According to his lawyer must Panahi for "propaganda against the system" to jail. Specifically, he is accused of, he wanted to prepare a dissident film about the elections and the subsequent riots.

Panahi had retained his place in the competition jury at the 61st International Film Festival of Berlin in absentia. The festival thus continuing a sign to support Panahi's freedom struggle. It should also be supported with screenings and discussions. In several sections, respectively, a film was shown of him. In solidarity with Jafar Panahi, who was prevented by the religious regime of Iran from leaving the Berlinale 2011, the daily newspaper (taz ) was published on February 11, 2011 in green color, the color of the Iranian opposition movement. By the end of the Berlinale festival director Dieter Kosslick had believed Panahi would end up still sitting on his jury court. The award ceremony nevertheless had to take place without him. The strong solidarity Kosslick, however, led to a global coverage of the case Panahi.

In early May, 2011, the festival director of the film festival of Cannes premiere of Jafar Panahi and Mojtaba Mirtahmasbs In film Nist ( English language title: This is not a film ) is known. The 75 -minute documentary shows a day in Panahi's life as he had to wait for months on his sentence.

In October 2011, an Iranian appeals court upheld both the six -year prison sentence and the twenty years of professional and travel ban against Panahi. Beginning of March 2012 declared the Iranian ambassador to Germany, Ali Reza Sheikh Attar, that Panahi stand at this time in the second instance court.

In January 2013 it was announced that Panahi's new film Pardé will be shown in competition at the Berlinale 2013.

Awards

• 2000: Golden Lion of the Venice Film Festival for the film The Circle
• 2012: Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought by the European Parliament, together with the Iranian lawyer and human rights activist Nasrin Sotoudeh
• 2013: National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Experimental Film for This Is Not a Film
• 2013: Silver Bear for Best Screenplay, together with Kambuzia Partovi for Pardé

Movies

• Yarali Bashlar (1988, short documentary )
• Kish (1991, Documentary )
• Doust (1992, short film )
• Zire Darakhatan Zeyton ( Through the Olive grove, 1994, assistant director)
• Badkonake Sefid ( The White Balloon, 1995)
• Ardekoul (1997, short documentary )
• Ayneh (Der Spiegel, 1997)
• Dayereh ( The Circle, 2000)
• Talaye Sorkh ( Crimson Gold, 2003)
• Offside (2006)
• Accordion ( the accordion, 2010 Short Film)
• In film Nist ( This is not a movie, 2011)
• Pardé (Closed Curtain, 2013)