He was released on bail on Tuesday: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jHm5ykFxwLW2QYHDRvVqqEiFzuSwD9FU0EPG0 On Tue, May 25, 2010 at 5:04 PM, Wm. McRae <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > > > Following are two items related to the jailing of master Iranian filmmaker > Jafar Panahi. The first is from the English languge daily newspaper > Hurriyet News and Economic Review in Istanbul. The second is from Criterion > Collection and contains a method by which to sign the petition for his > release. > > > > > > > > > > > CULTURE > > • MOVIES > > > Tuesday, May 25 2010 16:45 GMT+2 > Your time is > 16:56:17 > > > > > > > Iran filmmakers call for Panahi's release > > > > > Sunday, May 23, 2010 > > TEHRAN - Agence France-Presse > > > > > A group of 85 Iranian filmmakers has called for the release of acclaimed > director Jafar Panahi, who has been incarcerated since March and reportedly > on a hunger strike for seven days, the ILNA news agency reported Saturday. > > > > “The undersigned, a group of independent filmmakers, want the release of > Jafar Panahi and quick action on his situation and demands in jail,” said a > letter signed by a group of mostly young and upcoming directors. > > > > Panahi went on a hunger strike May 16 in protest against his conditions in > jail, demanding to be released until a trial date is set. > > His lawyer and family told Agence France-Presse they expected to hear this > weekend whether he will be granted bail. > > Panahi, who won an award at the 1995 Cannes festival for “The White > Balloon” and scooped up the Venice film festival’s top award in 2000 for > “The Circle,” has been a vocal backer of Iran’s opposition movement. > > > > He was detained, according to Iran’s culture minister, for making an > “anti-regime” film about the unrest that rocked the country last year after > the disputed presidential election that kept Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in power. > > > > Panahi had been invited to the Cannes festival in France this week to join > the jury that decides the winner of the festival’s top prize, the Palme > d’Or, but was prevented from going by his continued detention. > > > > His mentor, Abbas Kiarostami – whose movie “Certified Copy” is a candidate > for this year’s Palme d’Or – on Tuesday denounced the Iranian authorities’ > crackdown on artists and called for Panahi’s release. > > > > Prominent international and Iranian filmmakers, as well as the French > government, have called for Panahi’s freedom. > > From the Criterion Collection. > > > Petition for Panahi > > > The March arrest and continued detainment of the great Iranian filmmaker > Jafar Panahi—whose gripping, subversive films include The Circle, Crimson > Gold, and Offside—have American directors and film writers rallying in > support. Panahi, an outspoken backer of the country’s opposition leader Mir > Hossein Mousavi during the highly contested and tumultuous 2009 elections, > is being held as a political prisoner in Tehran’s Evin prison. Though the > reasons for his arrest were originally not given, Iranian officials now > allege that he was planning to make a film critical of the current regime. A > petition calling for Panahi’s immediate release has been organized by a > committee including Jamsheed Akrami, Godfrey Cheshire, Jem Cohen, Kent > Jones, and Anthony Kaufman. Among those who’ve signed are Jim Jarmusch, Ang > Lee, Richard Linklater, Michael Moore, Paul Schrader, Martin Scorsese, > Steven Spielberg, and Frederick Wiseman. See the full petition here. (or go > to the following web-site.) > > http://www.criterion.com/current/posts/1455-petition-for-panahi > > > > > > _________________________________________________________________ > http://clk.atdmt.com/UKM/go/197222280/direct/01/ > Do you have a story that started on Hotmail? Tell us now > ---- > Screen-L is sponsored by the Telecommunication & Film Dept., the > University of Alabama: http://www.tcf.ua.edu > ---- Online resources for film/TV studies may be found at ScreenSite http://www.ScreenSite.org