Iranian Cinema Wins Oscar, Worldwide Attention and
Repression in Iran

1.Iranian Cinema: Acclaimed Abroad, Under Siege at Home
2. Iran's `Separation:' Oscar Glow and Slap at Israel

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Iranian Cinema: Acclaimed Abroad, Under Siege at Home

by Hadi Ghaemi,
Executive Director, International Campaign for Human Rights
in Iran

Huffington Post
February 29, 2012

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/hadi-ghaemi/a-separation-movie_b_1310659.html

At a moment when millions of people -- including many
Iranians -- were watching to see what Iranian filmmaker
Asghar Farhadi would say in his Oscar acceptance speech,
Farhadi chose to talk about the concerns of the Iranian
people and "the dust of politics" that has overshadowed the
hopes and dreams of a nation.

Farhadi, director of the Iranian film A Separation that
received the Oscar for best foreign film, could have taken
the easy way out -- "I'd like to thank the Academy" and
thanked family and friends. Or, as a filmmaker who works in
Iran, he could have said a few words about the ongoing
repression of the country's film industry, widespread
censorship, and the difficulties of being an artist in Iran.
But Farhadi decided to use his podium to elevate the
millions of Iranian people who are being ignored in the
global discussions of Iran's nuclear activities that will
have significant effects on their personal lives.

Politicians look at Iran's nuclear program as a matter of
international security, throwing around threats of sanctions
or military strikes or even all-out war. But when it comes
to the threat of military action against Iran, we cannot
separate its government from its people.

The director of the masterpiece A Separation is not alone in
raising the voices of those who see a military strike
against Iran as an indescribable nightmare. This past July,
as international talk of a possible "military option"
against Iran intensified in the EU, Israel, and the US, the
International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran spoke to 35
leading and influential Iranian civil society activists,
lawyers, intellectuals, and artistic and cultural figures,
all of whom live in Iran.

In this report, "Raising Their Voices: Iranian Civil Society
Reflections on the Military Option," their unanimous opinion
was that any military attack would not only be a complete
disaster for Iran, but it would especially harm Iranian
civil society and the burgeoning pro-democracy movement.

In the words of one Iranian student activist quoted in this
report, "If war breaks out, democracy, human rights, and
civil society will be the main losers. The Iranian
government would militarize and such a militaristic
government has the potential to carry out widespread
killings of its opponents."

Farhadi is not a political person; he never talks about
politics, and his films do not deal with political topics.
However, Farhadi, like those who spoke with us last summer,
felt a responsibility to raise his voice about the issue of
the individuals and communities who live in a country that
is usually only referenced by its politics.

Farhadi's decision to highlight the cultural and human
aspects of Iran comes at a time when Iranian artists are
feeling the heat of government repression more than ever.
Iranian cinema in particular is under siege: just last month
the Iranian government shut down the biggest cinema guild in
the country, House of Cinema. Over the past two years, a
number of actors and filmmakers have been arrested on
various politically motivated charges.

Iranian officials want the film community to be an extension
of the propaganda arm of government, instead of a reflection
of the soul of their society. The government routinely
restricts many independent artists from contributing to, in
Farhadi's words, the "rich and ancient culture that has been
hidden under the heavy dust of politics."

Currently, some Iranian filmmakers are banned -- officially
and unofficially -- from making films in Iran. The Ministry
of Culture, a government entity, must approve scripts before
films can be made in Iran, a long process that is often used
to impede or even block many filmmakers, such as Bahman
Ghobadi, Mohsen Makhmalbaf and Bahram Beyzaie.

In 2010, Iranian authorities arrested prominent filmmaker
Jafar Panahi on charges of "propagating against the Islamic
Republic of Iran." An Iranian court sentenced Panahi to six
years in prison and a twenty-year ban on filmmaking. His
colleague, Mohammad Rasoulof, was also initially sentenced
to six years, though an appeals court revised his sentence
to one year.

Last fall, Iranian security forces arrested five documentary
filmmakers on accusations of collaborating with the BBC
television network; without ever being tried, the filmmakers
were released weeks later. Many filmmakers and other artists
have left Iran because they were unable to continue their
work.

It was momentous that an Iranian artist reflected the voice
of so many Iranians at a venue as important as the Oscars,
where millions of people watched his speech. The world might
not trust Iranian leaders for obvious reasons, but in an
attack, bombs will not differentiate between the government
and the people. It is very important to highlight the
consequences of these potential actions, and to bring the
Iranian people and their fate into the equation.

==========

Iran's `Separation:' Oscar Glow and Slap at Israel

by Nasser Karimi and Brian Murphy 

Huffington Post

February 27, 2012

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20120227/ml-iran-oscar-film/

TEHRAN, Iran - Iran hailed the country's first Oscar-winning
film as a triumph over arch-foe Israel on Monday after an
Academy Award race with its own subplots: Iranian officials
giving a grudging nod to cinema and Israeli audiences
flocking to see a made-in-Tehran drama.

Iran's state-spun praise for "A Separation," which beat out
an Israeli film and three others in the foreign language
category, was mostly wrapped in patriotic boasting as a
conquest for Iranian culture and a blow for Israel's
perceived outsized influence in America.

Yet the high-profile attention by the Islamic leadership
also represented a rare stamp of approval for Iran's movie
industry.

Iranian filmmakers have collected awards and accolades
worldwide for decades, but Iranian hard-liners often
denounce domestic cinema as dominated by Western-tainted
liberals and political dissenters. Some directors and actors
have faced arrest or fled the country. In January, a well-
known independent film group in Tehran, the House of Cinema,
was ordered closed.

Iranian hard-liners had already taken pot shots at director
Asghar Farhadi's film even as it racked up international
prizes and pre-Oscar buzz. The film explores troubles in
Iranian society through the story of a collapsing marriage.
Iranian conservatives were upset with the themes of domestic
turmoil, gender inequality and the desire by many Iranians
to leave the country.

The divide touches on much deeper fissures in Iran.

Iran's young and highly educated population - nearly half
born after the 1979 Islamic Revolution - feel increasingly
estranged from a theocracy that allows no room for political
opposition, has tried to muzzle the Internet and is growing
more isolated by its defiant nuclear policies.

Farhadi, in his acceptance speech Sunday in Los Angeles,
said he hoped the Oscar would raise awareness of Iran's
sizable artistic achievements and rich culture that has been
"hidden under the heavy dust of politics."

That has been the case in of all places, Israel, which feels
its very existence threatened by Iran.

The Iranian film has drawn tens of thousands of Israeli
movie-goers since it opened in mid-February. Some came to
see the Oscar competition for Israeli director Joseph
Cedar's "Footnote," the saga of a Talmudic scholar. But many
were drawn by a chance to glimpse inside Iranian society.

"It's very well acted, exceptionally well written and very
moving," said Israeli film critic Yair Raveh. "Ultimately
you don't think about nuclear bombs or dictators threatening
world peace. You see them driving cars and going to movies
and they look exactly like us."

After a Sunday screening in Jerusalem, 70-year-old Rina
Brick said she was surprised by the humanity of the Iranian
bureaucrats portrayed in the film.

"Our image of how Iran works is less democratic than we see
here," she said. "The judge, the police, everyone behaves as
if they are in a Western country."

Still, Iran's nuclear program was on the minds of some.
Israel has not ruled out military strikes against Iran's
nuclear facilities, which the West fears could be used to
develop weapons. Tehran insists they are for peaceful
purposes like energy production.

Moshe Amirav, a political science professor at Hebrew
University in Jerusalem, said he "didn't stop thinking about
the bomb the whole time" he was watching "A Separation."

"I said, what a contrast that we see this Iranian film with
such admiration, and then when we leave we think about how
they want to kill us," Amirav said.

Iranian cinema has reaped praise and prizes at top festivals
for decades. But while the government often highlights
sporting achievements and technological leaps as a source of
national pride, it is typically dismissive of international
cultural and entertainment awards.

However, taking the Oscar over an Israeli rival was too
powerful for state image builders to ignore.

A state TV broadcast said the award succeeded in "leaving
behind" a film from Israel. Javad Shamaghdari, head of the
state Cinematic Agency, portrayed the Oscar win as the
"beginning of the collapse" of Israeli influence that "beats
the drum of war" in the U.S. and elsewhere.

Still, Iranian artists and many fans did not try to score
any propaganda points and were simply delighted by the
country's first Oscar.

Tahmineh Milani, director of the acclaimed 2005 film
"Unwanted Woman," said the Oscar was a source of "national
pride" that "revived hope in the hearts of all Iranians."

"I feel fresh air in my lungs," said Erfan Khazaei, an art
student at Azad University, who watched the Oscar ceremony
on satellite TV with four friends. "Now we are more hopeful
about the future."

The Academy Awards were not broadcast live on Iranian TV,
and many Iranians watched via satellite dishes, which are
illegal but widely used. Clips of Farhadi's acceptance
speech were later aired on state TV.

"A Separation," tells the story of a couple heading for
divorce and dealing with domestic troubles, including a
young child and an aging parent. It portrays a husband who
is protective of his father, who is suffering from
Alzheimer's. He is in conflict with his wife, who wishes to
emigrate. Their daughter is torn between them.

While its themes are not overtly political, ultra-
conservatives denigrated the film as an indirect slap at the
country.

Prominent hard-line sociologist Ebrahim Fayyaz called it a
"black realistic film" that portrays the country as an old
man, a symbol of tradition and the past who is afflicted
with a mind-crippling disease.

He said the movie suggests emigrating to the West as a
solution. "The West awards movies that are in the direction
of their policies," he told the Nasim news agency.

Iranian authorities have long had an uneasy relationship
with the country's filmmakers. The leadership gives latitude
to explore many social topics, but draws a sharp line on
works with clearly anti-establishment overtones.

In January, the regime ordered the closure of the House of
Cinema, an independent film group that had operated for 20
years and counted Iran's top filmmakers, including Farhadi,
among its members.

Officials said it lacked the proper permits, but artists and
others contend it was a political decision because the group
often took liberal stands contrary to the government's
cultural policies. Last month, Farhadi proposed that Iranian
authorities allow a vote among artists about its fate.

Iranian cinema has for years been one of the nation's main
cultural exports, but also the target of political
crackdowns.

Last year, film director Jafar Panahi, who won awards at
Cannes, Venice and other major film festivals, was sentenced
to a six-year house arrest and a 20-year ban on filmmaking
after being convicted of "making propaganda" against Iran's
ruling system.

In 2007, the Cannes jury prize went to the animated film
"Persepolis" based on Marjane Satrapi's graphic novels about
growing up during the 1979 Islamic Revolution. She now lives
in self-exile in Paris, fearing possible arrest if she
returns to Iran.

===

Murphy reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Associated
Press writer Daniella Cheslow in Jerusalem contributed to
this report.

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