The Cannes Film Festival’s organizers condemned “a serious violation of free speech” on Wednesday after Iranian director Saeed Roustaee was jailed for screening a movie in the competition.
According to Tuesday’s local media, an Iranian court gave Roustaee, 34, a six-month prison term for showing his movie “Leila’s Brothers” at the Cannes film festival.
Since its debut last year, the movie, which details a family’s financial hardships in Tehran, has been outlawed in that country.
Roustaee’s sentencing, which includes a ban on working for five years. “constitutes once again a serious violation of free speech for Iranian artists, film-makers, producers and technicians,” Cannes organisers said in a statement to AFP.
“The Cannes Festival expresses its support to all those who suffer violence and reprisals for creating and distributing their works. The Festival is their home,” it said.
“Leila’s Brothers” was in competition for the Palme d’Or at last year’s Cannes festival. It missed the top prize but won the International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI) award.
It was prohibited after the director refused to “correct” it as instructed by the cultural ministry and it “broke the rules by being entered at international film festivals without authorisation,” according to official media at the time.
Roustaee and the film’s producer Javad Noruzbegi, according to the reformist newspaper Etemad on Tuesday, “were sentenced to six months in prison for screening the movie at Cannes Film Festival.”
They were found guilty of “contributing to the propaganda of the opposition against the Islamic system.” Roustaee and Noruzbegi.
The filmmakers will only serve one-twentieth of their sentence—roughly nine days—and the other portion “will be suspended over five years,” according to Etemad, which also noted that the decision is appealable.
The newspaper reported that the accused would have to complete a course in filmmaking while “preserving national and ethical interests” and refrain from interacting with other movie industry experts.
