Iranian, Russian Film Directors Invited To Cannes

The Cannes Film Festival has called on Iran and Russia to let famous movie directors Jafar Panahi and Kirill Serebrennikov attend the event in southern France, from May 8-19.

The festivals director, Thierry Frémaux, said that the organizers were supporting a request to the Iranian government to allow Panahi to present his new film "Three Faces." A similar request was being made regarding Serebrennikov’s movie “Leto” (“Summer”).

Jafar Panahi, whose film "Taxi,” won the Golden Bear at Berlin in 2015, is banned from leaving Iran. His new film "Three Faces" is about three actresses at different stages of their career: one from before the 1979 Islamic Revolution, one popular star known throughout the country today, and a young girl longing to attend a drama conservatory.

In a response to his invitation to the festival, Panahi wrote in a letter that, "This year for the first time in the history of Iranian cinema, two films by Iranian filmmakers are in the main competition at Cannes. This is a sign that Iranian cinema is alive and dynamic," the Iranian PANA website reported on April 15.

Panahi was banned from making films and leaving the country after supporting protests against the 2009 Iranian presidential election results, which brought hardliner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad a second term.

Meanwhile, after the Festival director Thierry Fremaux’s invitation, Society of Iranian Film Directors wrote a letter to President Hassan Rouhani on April 15, requesting permission for him to attend the festival.

Iran's two-time Oscar-winner Asghar Farhadi (“A Separation” and “The Salesman”) will also compete for the Palme D'Or among 17 films at Cannes, with his Spanish thriller ‘Everybody Knows’, starring Penélope Cruz and Javier Bardem.

The Russian theatrical producer and film director Kirill Serebrennikov is another director who may not be able to present his work at Cannes. On April 12, the same day the Cannes lineup was announced, prosecutors requested that Serebrennikov’s house arrest be extended through July 19.

He has been invited to the festival in competition for the first time with “Leto” (“Summer”) about the life of Soviet rock star Viktor Tsoi and the birth of Russian underground music in the 1980s.

In May 2017, Serebrennikov's apartment and the Gogol Center’s facilities where he had been artistic director since 2012, were raided by law enforcement agencies in connection with an alleged embezzlement at the Seventh Studio, a non-profit organization established by Serebrennikov. He faces up to 10 years in prison on fraud charges.

According to the Russian media, the alleged embezzlement caused damage to the 2014 budget funds valued at several million dollars.

Earlier, Serebrennikov had criticized the annexation of Crimea. Some people accuse the Kremlin of punishing the filmmaker for his political views.