The Iranian Independent Filmmakers Association (IIFMA) was back at the Berlinale this year with a stand, flashmob and a panel discussion on why it believes the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences should stop accepting Oscar submissions from Iran’s state Farabi cinema body.
It was the third year running that the association – which was created in 2023 in the wake of the Woman Life Freedom movement, sparked by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in police custody on September 22, 2022 — had a presence at the festival and its EFM market.
The panel event, the subject of which was decided in late December, was a somber affair in the wake of the harsh crackdown by Iran’s Islamic Republic government on anti-government demonstrations on January 8 and 9, which has left thousands dead or detained.
It kicked off with a montage of footage collated from social media posts and material sent directly to IIFMA from Iran, capturing the protests and violent crackdown.
“I welcome you to this very important panel but as you know we have to adjust when the world changes,” said IIFMA board member Mahshid Zamani by way of introduction.
“I’m going to share a short video which shows a few scenes from an unimaginable massacre that happened in Iran, in my country, on January 8 and 9, just a few weeks ago… the images shown are chilling… they serves as reminder of the struggles faced by those yearning for freedom,” she continued.
“Each frame captures the courage, hope and longing that define the Iranian spirit while also shedding light on the brutal realities imposed by a repressive, fanatic, Islamic, terrorist regime. Tens of artists were murdered while bravely standing up for their beliefs in the uprising of January 8 and 9.”
It was not an easy watch showing images of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) officers kicking women to the ground and dragging them by their hair; bodies peppered with bullet holes, and relatives looking for loved ones among row upon row of black body bags.
Prior to showing the video, Zamani read out a list of musicians, artists, filmmakers and actors confirmed as having been killed in the crackdown as well as another half dozen arts and culture professionals who have been detained, requesting that that the audience applaud each of the names.
The dead included 38-year-old photographer Shokoufeh Abdi, a mother of two young girls, who was shot dead in the industrial city of Arak in Northern Central Iran, and directors Ahmad Abbasi and Javad Genji, whose deaths were previously reported on by Deadline, as well as puppeteer Shabnam Ferdowsi. Scroll down for full list.
Screenwriter Shadmehr Rastin, a writer on Jafar Panahi’s It Was Just An Accident; Richard Lorber, chairman and CEO of independent distribution Kino Lorber, and film programmer Céline Roustan joined the panel, delving into Iran’s Islamic Regime controlled selection process for the International Feature Film category.
In pre-recorded interventions, Rastin explained the workings of the Farabi’s submission process, and the case for supporting a submission from an independent cinema body.
Lorber, who is among the voters for the international category, acknowledged that he had not really understood the implications of Farabi’s involvement, suggesting this would be case for most AMPAS members.
He noted that he had watched Iran’s Farabi-selected submission to the 98th Academy Awards, Cause of Death: Unknown by Ali Zarnegar and not found it particularly pro-regime.
One of the Iranian audience members said the submission of Zarnegar’s film, which is critical of aspects of life in Iran, had been a deliberate ploy by Farabi to counter dissident director Panahi’s Cannes Palme d’Or winning It Was Just An Accident, which was entered by France and has since made it to the final nominations list.
Zamani acknowledged that it was surprising that Iranian directors signed up to represent Iran under the current selection process, but that the tide was turning.
She suggested that few cinema professionals still wanted to cooperate with the government in the wake of the crackdown, pointing to a boycott of the recent Fajr Film Festival in Tehran, which in the past has managed to draw a smattering of directors and actors.
IIFMA followed the panel with a flashmob event on Berlin’s Potsdamer Platz reenacting the scenes of rows of body bags in the wake of crackdown and commemorating the dead.
IIFMA collated list of dead arts and culture professionals:
Dead
- Ahmad Abbasi – filmmaker
- Shokoufeh Abdi – photographer
- Melika Dastyab – musician
- Pouya Faragardi – musician
- Shabnam Ferdowsi – puppeteer, graphic designer
- Javad Ganji – filmmaker
- Sorena Golgoun – musician
- Yaser Modir-Rousta – musician
- Sanam Pourbabaei – musician
- Sahba Rashtian – painter and animation director
- Foad Safayi – musician
- Mehdi Salahshour – sculptor
- Zohre Shamaeizade – script supervisor and voice actor
- Mohammed ‘Shahou’ Shirazi – singer
- Mostafa Rabeti – filmmaker
- Reyhaneh Yousefi – actor
- Amir-Ali Zarei – musician, art student
Detained
- Dawood Abbasi – filmmaker and cinematographer
- Ghazale Vakili – actor
- Navid Zarehbin – filmmaker
- Kimia Mousavi – artist
