“Roman Polanski is a French citizen, a renowned international artist now facing extradition. This extradition, if it takes place, will be heavy in consequences and will take away his freedom. Filmmakers, actors, producers and technicians – everyone involved in international filmmaking – want him to know that he has their support and friendship.” – From the petition to free director Roman Polanski.
Jafar Panahi
“Every possible way has been used for breaking his spirit. He is deprived of his basic and legal rights. Can all of this be called anything but torture? Does a regime have the right to treat one of its artistic elite so shamefully and inhumanely on the basis of a film that has not yet been made?” – Taherah Saeedi, wife of renowned Iranian New Wave filmmaker Jafar Panahi, on her husband’s arrest and imprisonment in Tehran.
On September 27, 2009, famed Hollywood film director Roman Polanski was arrested on arrival at Zurich Airport by Swiss authorities on a 31-year-old L.A. warrant for the 1977 drugging and raping of 13-year-old Samantha Geimer, now 45. A huge swath of the liberal leftist Hollywood establishment wasted no time in leaping into action over the Swiss authorities’ dismaying breach of social justice and inhuman treatment vis-a-vis director/child rapist Polanski. Over 100 well-known filmmakers and A-list celebrities signed a petition of outrage demanding Mr. Polanski’s immediate release.
Now, many of we mere mortals may not agree with the leftist Hollywood establishment’s unqualified support of Mr. Polanski given his crimes. Most Americans, and even most French, decidedly did not. The New York Times called the French divided on the issue, as they only supported Mr. Polanski’s extradition by a 70% margin. Larger point being, it is comforting to know that even for admitted child rapists, the leftist Hollywood establishment will always be there to raise a staunch defense of their film industry paisans in the face of rank injustice and gross violations of their basic human rights.
You might think that anyway. Perhaps that’s even what they want you to think. But then there’s the story of Jafar Panahi, the cutting-edge Iranian New Wave film director who has consistently pushed the envelope of Iranian film, all in the face of perhaps the worst censorship on earth as dictated by the Islamist regime’s Ministry of Islamic Culture and Guidance. And outside of child rape, directors Panahi and Polanski have a lot in common. Both have won the Golden Lion at Venice and the Silver Bear in Berlin, and have been showered with many other international awards and accolades for their cutting-edge films. And both have presided over prestigious international film festival juries.
Yet somehow that keen leftist Hollywood sense of moral outrage regarding the mistreatment of renowned film directors is curiously nonexistent with respect to the nightmarish situation now being endured by director Panahi and his family. The contrast is actually quite stark. As Polanski awaits a decision on his extradition from the luxury of house arrest at his ski chalet in Gstaad (where he was also allowed to wrap post-production on his latest film, The Ghost Writer), his Hollywood friends and admirers like Ewan MacGregor continue to speak out on his behalf, believing the drugging and anal rape of tween Samantha Geimer a bygone best forgotten.
Meanwhile, the 49-year-old Jafar Panahi is imprisoned in Tehran in what can only be called a crypt as the Islamist authorities attempt to break his spirit. Though they may not succeed on that front (and have not to date), they may yet break his body. His health has deteriorated in prison, and he is at great risk of a heart attack and premature death. His crime? Supporting the Green Revolution and planning a film on it. Mr. Panahi was first arrested last July as he and others laid flowers at the graves of Neda Soltan and other victims of the regime’s brutal post-election crackdown. He was released a few hours later, but continued to speak out on behalf of Mousavi and the Greens at great risk to himself. Like a dark Shakespearean tragedy, the outcome was inevitable.
On March 2, 2010, Iranian security forces conducted a sweep of Mr. Panahi’s residence in Tehran, arresting Jafar, his wife, his daughter and fifteen dinner guests present at the time. They also ransacked his home and seized many personal belongings. His wife and family went a month not knowing Jafar’s location or condition. Finally Jafar’s wife, Taherah Saeedi, was allowed to visit him in solitary confinement, where she found Jafar pale and weak. An attending physician told her Jafar had twice experienced severe chest spasms and was at risk of a major heart attack. That is the situation Mr. Panahi and his family endure today. A tragic outcome is all but a foregone conclusion.
Fortunately, many prominent voices in film around the world are speaking out loudly on Mr. Panahi’s behalf, even a few in Hollywood. Veteran actor Brian Cox, to his great credit, has not only signed onto a petition demanding Mr. Panahi’s release, he even added an eloquent statement and the prestige of his C.B.E on Mr. Panahi’s behalf. American filmmakers William Farley, Rob Nilsson, Tristam Powell, film critic Jonathan Rosenbaum and countless others from around the world have also signed on, as well as the Sarajevo Film Festival, the European Film Academy, Berlinale, APSA, NetPac and many others. Even fifty Iranian filmmakers have stuck their own necks out in protest. In fact, outside of the United States, unqualified support for Mr. Panahi’s release is near-universal.
And then there’s Hollywood. So where are all the big Tinseltown A-list names who couldn’t rush to Roman Polanski’s defense and sign a petition demanding his release fast enough? The Woody Allens? The Michael Manns? The Taylor Hackfords? The Martin Scorseses? Where is Whoopi Goldberg arguing on The View that laying flowers at the grave of Neda Soltan wasn’t “crime-crime“? Where is the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences? Or even one American film festival?
It’s not like they don’t know. Variety and WSJ entertainment writer Anthony Kaufman blitzed the industry in late March through emails, Twitter and Facebook, and has received only one response and petition signature to date, from writer-producer James Schamus. So here we are, over a month into renowned director Jafar Panahi’s interment in a crypt in Evin prison without charge, and with absolutely no support from the same A-listers who had a petition out on Polanski within 24 hours of his arrest. Mr. Kaufman wishes the industry were less apathetic, but I have a different word in mind.
Disgusting! And if you’re not as disgusted over this pathetic and inexcusable situation as I am yet, it gets a lot worse in Part Two. Keep a barf bag handy. You’re going to need it. In the meantime, please sign on to the petitions for Jafar Panahi’s release at Facebook and Petitions Online. It was concerted voices raised in outrage that freed Tahmineh Milani, Mehrnoushe Solouki and Roxana Saberi. They may yet again. Feel free to give AMPAS a heads up as well. They’ve done this before. And they have a lot to redeem themselves for regarding Iranian film artists. More on that in Part Two.
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