{"id":712713,"date":"2026-02-20T16:05:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-20T13:05:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/jafar-panahi-and-independent-iranian-directors-decry-state-violence\/"},"modified":"2026-02-20T16:05:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-20T13:05:10","slug":"jafar-panahi-and-independent-iranian-directors-decry-state-violence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/jafar-panahi-and-independent-iranian-directors-decry-state-violence\/","title":{"rendered":"Jafar Panahi and Independent Iranian Directors Decry State Violence"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\tOscar-nominated Iranian director Jafar Panahi (It Was Just an Accident<\/em>) used a rare public app<\/a>earance at the Berlin Film Festival to denounce what he described as an \u201cunbelievable crime\u201d unfolding in his home country, as independent filmmakers mounted a parallel campaign to spotlight artists killed and detained in a sweeping crackdown by the Islamic Republic.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn an on-stage discussion with The Hollywood Reporter<\/em>\u2019s European Bureau Chief Scott Roxborough in Berlin on Thursday, Panahi said the festival wanted to retroactively present him with the Berlinale Golden Bear honor he won in 2015 for Taxi<\/em> [the director, under a travel<\/a> ban at the time, was unable to attend in person]. He said he declined, wanting to keep attention fixed on the Iranian regime\u2019s violent repression of protestors, which has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThey wanted to give me the Golden Bear I had won for Taxi<\/em>, and I refused it, because of the situation in Iran,\u201d Panahi said. \u201cAn unbelievable crime has happened. Mass murder has happened. People are not even allowed to mourn their loved ones\u2026The regime is forcing them into these acts. People do not want violence. They avoid violence. It is the regime that forces violence upon them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tPanahi has long resisted the label of political filmmaker, even as his work and his life have been shaped by the state\u2019s response to dissent. The current moment, he suggested, has made silence impossible.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cArtists do not want to be politically active by themselves. It is the regimes and governments that force them into political engagement,\u201d he said. \u201cArtists try to avoid being politically active, but social<\/a>ly engaged artists cannot stay silent about what happens in society. That is why so many artists, actors and actresses, and superstars have stood with the people of Iran and now face consequences. We have many artists in prison \u2014 documentary filmmakers as well. During previous protests and demonstrations, filmmakers were arrested. When an artist is silent, they are complicit in violence.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tPanahi\u2019s It Was Just an Accident<\/em>, was written after the director spent seven months in Iran\u2019s notorious Evin Prison and was inspired by the stories of the political prisoners he met inside. The film follows a group of former prisoners who kidnap the man they believe to be their torturer, debating whether to kill or forgive him.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI did not know I wanted to make a film about this,\u201d Panahi said. \u201cBut when I left prison, when the doors opened and I walked out and looked back at the huge walls behind me, I thought about those still inside. It became a weight on my shoulders. After weeks and months, it grew heavier, and I decided to make a film about them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tTo render that world authentically, he enlisted several of his fellow inmates, including political activist Mehdi Mahmoudian, to co-write the screenplay. Mahmoudian was recently re-arrested for condemning the actions of Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei and is currently out on bail. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cMehdi Mahmoudian has spent nearly a quarter of his life in prison. He had more contact with people inside than anyone else. He knew the torturers very well \u2014 how they think, what their ideology is. That was a great help to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIn December, while touring with It Was Just an Accident <\/em>outside Iran, Panahi was sentenced, in abstentia, to a year in prison and another travel ban, for \u201cpropaganda activities\u201d against the government. He said following the Oscars \u2014\u00a0It Was Just an Accident <\/em>is nominated for best international feature and best original screenplay \u2014 he will return to Iran. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cHalf of my existence is in Iran \u2014 my family, my mother, my sister, my brother, my son, my friends, and the society I work for. If I did not return, I would betray what I believe. As a socially engaged filmmaker, my duty is to stand with the people I belong to. A doctor can save lives anywhere. But my cinema exists there. I must go back and make films there. That is the right thing to do. I will return, 100 percent, because of who I am and because of my beliefs.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tHis remarks in Berlin unfolded alongside a coordinated effort by the Iranian Independent Filmmakers Association (IIFMA) to draw attention to artists killed and detained in the latest wave of repression. The association, founded in 2023 in the wake of the Woman Life Freedom movement, returned to the Berlinale with a stand, a panel and a flashmob on Potsdamer Platz.<\/p>\n

\n\tAt a panel in Berlin, IIFMA board member Mahshid Zamani screened footage compiled from social media and material sent directly from Iran documenting the Jan. 8 and 9 crackdown.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cEach 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,\u201d he said. \u201cTens of artists were murdered while bravely standing up for their beliefs in the uprising of January 8 and 9.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tZamani then read aloud the names of musicians, filmmakers, actors and other arts professionals confirmed killed or detained, asking the audience to applaud each one. Later, IIFMA members staged a flashmob reenacting rows of body bags in Berlin\u2019s festival district in commemoration.<\/p>\n

\n\tAccording to IIFMA, the following arts and culture professionals have been killed:<\/p>\n

\n\tAhmad Abbasi \u2013 filmmaker
Shokoufeh Abdi \u2013 photographer
Melika Dastyab \u2013 musician
Pouya Faragardi \u2013 musician
Shabnam Ferdowsi \u2013 puppeteer, graphic designer
Javad Ganji \u2013 filmmaker
Sorena Golgoun \u2013 musician
Yaser Modir-Rousta \u2013 musician
Sanam Pourbabaei \u2013 musician
Sahba Rashtian \u2013 painter and animation director
Foad Safayi \u2013 musician
Mehdi Salahshour \u2013 sculptor
Zohre Shamaeizade \u2013 script supervisor and voice actor
Mohammed \u201cShahou\u201d Shirazi \u2013 singer
Mostafa Rabeti \u2013 filmmaker
Reyhaneh Yousefi \u2013 actor
Amir-Ali Zarei \u2013 musician, art student<\/p>\n

\n\tAnd the following detained:<\/p>\n

\n\tDawood Abbasi \u2013 filmmaker and cinematographer
Ghazale Vakili \u2013 actor
Navid Zarehbin \u2013 filmmaker
Kimia Mousavi \u2013 artist<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Oscar-nominated Iranian director Jafar Panahi (It Was Just an Accident) used a rare public appearance at the Berlin Film Festival to denounce what he described as an \u201cunbelievable crime\u201d unfolding in his home country, as independent filmmakers mounted a parallel campaign to spotlight artists killed and detained in a sweeping crackdown by the Islamic Republic….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":712714,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Jafar-Panahi-Ali-Ghandtschi.jpg?w=1440&h=810&crop=1","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[159983,124783,70984,139288,25023],"class_list":["post-712713","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-social-mediaa","tag-berlin-2026","tag-international","tag-iran","tag-jafar-panahi","tag-oscars"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/712713","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=712713"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/712713\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/712714"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=712713"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=712713"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=712713"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}