Former Team Oscar Member Arrested, Freed In Iran

I know I had said my last BH piece would be it. But I came across a tidbit of slightly older news in the June 19th issue of Daily Variety that perhaps finally brings into total focus and stark clarity all I had said in my Big Hollywood op-ed The Stoning Of Team Hollywood, regarding Team Oscar’s ill-advised soiree to Iran this past March. The fascist alligator has finally bitten one of their own.

It is a tale well worth returning to share with you, Dear Readers.

Documentarian James Longley, perhaps best known for his award-winning film Iraq in Fragments, was already filming in Iran in late February when Team Hollywood arrived. According to this March 2nd press release by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences website, Mr. Longley became part of the Team Hollywood crew in Tehran and participated in all activities.

When Team Oscar left Iran, however, Mr. Longley remained to complete filming on his current film project involving, ironically, the Iran elections, when an amazing thing happened: the Green Revolution. On June 16th, Mr. Longley became both a witness to history and a victim of it. I will leave you with Mr. Longley’s account of the events that transpired in the ensuing chaos of post-election Tehran, as told by Daily Variety. They are the only words that need to be spoken.

A transcription from the hardcopy June 19th issue of Daily Variety:

U.S filmmaker James Longley was arrested briefly this week while shooting scenes of his current project chronicling the Iran elections. In an email published on a blog, Longley described his experience at the hands of the security forces who beat his translator:

“It made me really question what I am doing in this country. It has become impossible to work as a journalist without the risk of physical violence from the government,” wrote Longley.

One Iranian filmmaker, who insisted on anonymity, said that German co-producers had insisted the director leave the country and complete post-production in Berlin.

“I was still in Tehran 48 hours ago, but my co-producers got worried about me being able to get the film out of the country. so I left,” the helmer said. “You never know what’s going to happen. There is a lot of pressure on Iranian filmmakers now because a lot of them supported Mousavi, and they’re scared Ahmadinejad will crush them if he wins.”

Here is an in-depth post-arrest interview I found with Mr. Longley. Well worth the read. No idea if he was party to the original 300 and the Wrestler punking when Team Oscar got off the tarmac, but if he was, that must suck. That means he got DOUBLE-punked! By punk I mean like Hitler and his Gestapo punks, not Marlon Brando or The Outsiders. Like Hitler punked Chamberlain? Stalin punked Trotsky? Like Ahamdinejad and Khamenei are trying to punk the Iranian people right now? Very different class of punks from American. But it’s still getting punked. Got all that now?

I hope and pray Mr. Longley has a long chat with his former Team Oscar compatriots if and when he returns to AMPAS HQ. The regime was no different in March than it is now.

The difference is, the world is watching now. And seeing the naked ruthless brutality of the regime as it really is. Just as I’ve know it to be for thirty long years now. From the Embassy Hostage Crisis in 1979 to Roxana Saberi today. Looks like the same old Islamist extremist terrorist regime to me. Didn’t the Khamenei-led Death To America rallies in response to Obama’s peace video strike anyone else as hopeless?

I also hope and pray for all the innocent Iranians now at the brink. As Drudge just reported, the Revolutionary Guard is now being brought in, and the harshest measures yet are expected to be applied to anyone protesting the vote in the streets. If it wasn’t serious before, it is now. This could be the tipping point one way or the other. If the people continue to oppose the government in the streets after this warning, it’s going to get a lot worse before it gets any better. If it gets better at all.

To understand the depth of the Nazi-like horrorshow being staged by the basiji militias on innocent Iranians, all you need do is watch this video. Funny thing is, you really can’t see anything happening. Worst part is, you really don’t have to. Besides all the screaming that is self-explanatory, the banging and car alarms you hear are of basiji militias on a neighborhood rampage.

Dictatorships will fight to the death to preserve their power, even if it means slaughtering their own people. Yet that is why I opposed Team Oscar’s trip in the first place. They’ve been slaughtering their own people by the bushel ever since the Islamic Revolution in 1979. Gays, women, bloggers, students, dissidents, even children. Whatever God or power in the universe you believe in, please pray for the safety of the Iranian people. I’m doubling down with both God and The Force.

Good Luck and Good Night. And peace. I hope.