DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran has summoned France’s consultant in protest after the French international minister praised a prize-winning Iranian movie as “a gesture of resistance against the Iranian regime’s oppression.”
International Minister Jean-Noel Barrot had praised “It Was Just an Accident” after it gained the celebrated Palme d’Or award on the Cannes Movie Pageant. The Iranian movie facilities on a person who abducts his suspected captor after being tortured in jail.
Iran’s International Ministry mentioned the French cost d’affaires was summoned over the minister’s “interventionist, irresponsible and instigative allegations,” the state-run IRNA information company reported.
“Spare us Iranians the lectures. You have no moral authority whatsoever,” Iran’s International Minister Abbas Araghchi mentioned on “X,” citing France’s method to Israel’s ongoing conflict in Gaza. France final week threatened “concrete action” in opposition to Israel if the nation did not halt the offensive in Gaza and elevate restrictions on humanitarian support, however the assertion was principally dismissed as empty threats.
Instantly following the award’s announcement, the Iranian state information company had introduced a extra muted celebration of the award, crediting the nation’s movie business for profitable a second Palme d’Or after Abbas Kiarostami’s 1997 drama, “Style of Cherry.”
In Iran, movie productions must obtain script approval from the federal government to shoot in public. Dissident filmmaker Jafar Panahi refuses to try this, figuring out they gained’t permit him to make the movies he desires to, and “It Was Just an Accident” was filmed with out cooperation. Iranian state TV referred to as the movie a mix of “lie and smearing” in addition to an “underground” movie produced with out required permits in Iran. State TV additionally chastised Panahi for not mentioning the plight of the Palestinians in his acceptance speech.
The movie follows a person named Vahid, performed by Vahid Mobasser, who believes he sees his former captor, who tortured him in jail and ruined his life. He abducts him, takes him to the desert and begins to bury him within the floor.
However to fulfill pangs of doubt, Vahid decides to substantiate his suspicion by bringing the person, locked in his van, to different former prisoners for identification. In a wierd and emotional journey, they’re all compelled to grapple with revenge and forgiveness. Panahi drew on the experiences from his personal imprisonment in addition to the tales of detainees round him.
Different state media had been extra essential of the win. The Mizan information company, an arm of the nation’s judiciary, reported on the win as a part of the “Political Cannes Film Festival,” suggesting that the prize was given to Panahi due to his political leanings.
Professional-reform media retailers and activists praised Panahi. “This victory is no accident — it is the result of a tireless dedication to exploring humanistic values and human rights,” mentioned Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi, who was additionally beforehand imprisoned at Tehran’s infamous Evin Jail. Inmates on the jail embrace these with Western ties and political prisoners.
Panahi, one of many main worldwide administrators, was banned from touring out of Iran in 2009 for attending the funeral of a pupil killed in anti-government protests, a judgment later prolonged to 20 years. However even when positioned below home arrest, Panahi saved making films, lots of that are among the many most lauded of the century. He made 2011’s “This Is Not a Film” on an iPhone in his lounge. “Taxi” (2015) was clandestinely shot virtually solely inside a automobile.
Panahi was arrested in 2022 when he went to the Tehran prosecutor’s workplace to inquire in regards to the arrests of two different Iranian filmmakers. A choose later dominated that he should serve six years for an earlier sentence on expenses of propagandizing in opposition to the federal government from 2011 that had by no means been enforced. In early 2023, Panahi went on a starvation strike and was launched from Evin Jail.
Panahi mentioned he wouldn’t search asylum out of the country, regardless of the dangers of further imprisonment.
“It’s simple. I’m unable to live here,” he mentioned final week from the Cannes competition. “I have no ability to adapt to a new country, a new culture. Some people have this ability, this strength. I don’t.”
On Monday, Panahi landed in Tehran to cheers and applause from followers.
— Related Press Nasser Karimi in Tehran, Iran, and Jake Coyle in Cannes, France, contributed.
