Croisette's blog

Jafar Panahi and Mohammad Rasoulof, currently subject to legal
proceedings in Iran which earned them a sentence of six years in prison and a
20-year employment ban, to which they have appealed, will be in Cannes with two
films made in semi-clandestine conditions and which reached the festival in
recent days.

« The reality of being alive and the dream of keeping cinema alive
motivated us to go through the existing limitations in Iranian cinema » Jafar
Panahi said in a letter sent to the Festival on May 5th.

Here is the following information:

.Bé Omid é Didar (Good Bye) directed by Mohammad Rasoulof
(Iran, 2011, 100') is in the Official Selection, Un Certain Regard and will be
screened on Friday May 13th.

A feature film, with Leyla Zareh, Fereshteh Sadreorafai, Shahab Hoseini
and Roya Teymorian, Good Bye is the story of a young lawyer in Tehran in
search of a visa to leave the country, which is what Mohammad Rasoulof did
during the winter of 2010/2011.

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

This film tells how, for months, Jafar Panahi waited 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)
offer us an overview of the current situation of Iranian cinema.

"Mohammad Rasoulof's film and the conditions under which it was
made, Jafar Panahi's 'diary' of the days of his life as an artist not allowed
to work, are by their very existence a resistance to the legal action which affects
them. That they send them to Cannes, at the same time, the same year, when they
face the same fate, is an act of courage along with an incredible artistic
message. Cannes is the international institution which protects them. Film
professionals from world over will gather on the Croisette and unite, we are
sure, in a sort of self-evident fellowship" declared Gilles Jacob and
Thierry Frémaux.

"Our problems are also all of our assets, Jafar Panazhi says in his
message. Understanding this promising paradox helped us not to lose hope, and
to be able to go on since we believe wherever in the world that we live, we are
going to face problems, big or small. But it is our duty not to be defeated and
to find solutions".

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