Since my scathing two-part Big Hollywood editorial on imprisoned Iranian film director Jafar Panahi nearly three weeks ago, I have found myself drawn neck-deep into the campaign to push for his freedom. In that cause I have email-blitzed the media, the Academy, all the major US film festivals and as many contacts in Hollywood as I know and could find. I sent out deep background on his case, petitions for his release, and heartfelt pleas for Hollywood voices to speak up on Mr. Panahi’s behalf, along with not-so-veiled threats of PR Armageddon should the deafening silence continue.
I also informed all parties involved that I would do the same for any of them under similar brutal and inhuman circumstances. Whatever it took, be it sweetheart pleas or promises of a nuclear PR war. I have since dropped the latter approach, as I have been informed by Iranians also campaigning for Mr. Panahi’s release that it was not helpful to his cause. So on Mr. Panahi’s behalf, I have traded in my sword for a plowshare for the duration. Not a problem. I’m not a total ideologue. Just mostly.
This past three weeks have also brought many valuable learning experiences as well. I have since found that Facebook, which I have avoided like the Plague because I have enough on my geek plate already, is an incredibly valuable social networking tool that reaches even into the heart of Iran itself. I have made many new friends behind the Islamist Curtain, among them a Panahi family member, by posting any good news I could find on the Jafar Panahi and Free Jafar Panahi Facebook pages.
You have no idea how badly ordinary Iranians are starved for good news from the outside world today, people. They long for it like a parched man in the desert longs for water. So I scoured the Internet for every Jafar Panahi rally, every screening of Mr. Panahi’s award-winning films in solidarity with the filmmaker, demands for his release by the French and German foreign ministers, and the big news of ten days ago: that Cannes was dedicating an empty jury chair in Mr. Panahi’s honor.
That empty chair is sure to loom larger as Cannes approaches, especially in light of the recent joint statement by many of America’s leading filmmakers calling for the release of Mr. Panahi from Evin prison. It was a bold and comprehensive PR salvo to the Islamist regime in Iran by Hollywood’s top filmmakers, dare I say far bolder than Comedy Central’s recent caving to jihadi wannabes living in their mothers’ basements in New York City. Full credit where credit is due. And I cannot tell you how excited ordinary Iranians were at that surprising news. Orgasmic would not be an understatement.
Speaking of credit, the Free Jafar Panahi campaign owes a great debt of gratitude not only to the many filmmakers who spoke in unison on Mr. Panahi’s behalf last Friday, but most particularly to entertainment writer Anthony Kaufman, who has been working tirelessly on Mr. Panahi’s behalf ever since his arrest on March 1. Mr. Kaufman was also a driving force on the NYC petition committee. He deserves our deepest gratitude for his journeyman work in Mr. Panahi’s cause. Please thank him at his Village Voice contact page. Mr. Kaufman has definitely earned the Egon Snickers bar on this one!
For the record, the campaign to free Jafar Panahi is not over. In point of fact, the Hollywood petition may only be the end of the beginning. Mr. Panahi is still being given the Winston Smith treatment in Evin prison, and the Ahmadinejad regime shows no inclination to release him right away. Just the opposite, in fact. As Mr. Kaufman himself just reported, the state Tabnak news agency responded with “West Meddles in Panahi Affair Again, This Time Using the Prestige of the Hollywood Greats.” The state-run Kayhan website went even further, calling the Hollywood petitioners “mofsed fel-arz” which translates to “moral corruption that threatens the social order,” a most severe crime in Iran.
But the international tide of support for Mr. Panahi is steadily rising. Despite steadfast resistance, mounting international pressure for Mr. Panahi’s release may yet have a profound effect on the regime. It is sure to be raised even higher with that upcoming empty jury chair looming ever larger at Cannes with each passing day. Even in today’s chaotic Iran, the regime will release Mr. Panahi if the PR heat becomes too great as it did for Roxana Saberi. The regime can ill afford to lose allies like France and Germany right now, and Mr. Panahi is fast becoming a diplomatic sticking point for both.
A note of bitter deja vu. Last week, as I drafted my latest oped on Mr. Panahi at Digital Journal, it occurred to me that a year ago today I was immersed in the same kind of relentless campaign for Roxana Saberi’s release from Evin prison, both here at BH and at the Digital Journal news blog. It was in fact Team Oscar’s Iran trip that drove me for the first time in my ten years as a screenwriter to openly attack and criticize Hollywood and the Academy over their incredible ignorance of the Islamist regime in Iran, especially with regard to the political persecution of filmmakers there. But Hollywood has finally spoken up on Iran, and in many ways my mission here at Big Hollywood is now complete.
Perhaps now that they all know the dire situation with Mr. Panahi, they’ll start taking a closer look at what’s going on there with other persecuted Iranian filmmakers like Mohammad Nourizad, never mind the thousands of innocents who suffer endlessly in the shadows outside of the public eye. For the first time in all this time, I feel like there’s hope yet. Statements such as the one last Friday carry far more weight than the sum of their parts. Hollywood voices do get a lot of press and attention, and that is a very good thing in this situation. I hope they continue to speak out as they have, which I am sure will accelerate in full measure at Cannes. I’ll be watching. But I see a lot of very good things upcoming that could lead to Jafar Panahi’s freedom. Here’s hoping for the best: a free Jafar Panahi!