Jafar Panahi Goes On Hunger Strike To Protest Continued Detention In Iran’s Notorious Evin Prison

Naman Ramachandran For Indian filmmaker Sreemoyee Singh, world premiering her Iran documentary “And, Towards Happy Alleys” at the Berlin Film Festival’s Panorama strand is the culmination of a journey that began in 2015. Singh completed a masters degree in film studies at Jadavpur University, Kolkata, India and went on to pursue a PhD on The Exiled Filmmaker in Post Revolution Iranian Cinema, with the objective of understanding the source of “impossible hope” in Iranian films. The filmmaker was also introduced to the poetry of Iran’s Forogh Farrokhzad during the course and “connected deeply” to her verses. A desire to read Farrokhzad’s verses in the original Persian led Singh to learn Farsi.

A UK-based Iranian TV channel has had to stop broadcasting from its headquarters in London, after British police warned staff that it could not protect them on UK soil. 

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent The Berlinale red carpet on Saturday became a protest platform against Iran’s repressive regime when a group of Iranian filmmakers and talents, joined by jury president Kristen Stewart, chanted “Women, Life, Freedom!” and demanded the release of imprisoned journalists and an Iranian rapper. Actress Golshifteh Farahani, who is also on the jury; “Holy Spider” actress Zar Amir Ebrahimi; and “The Siren” director Sepideh Farsi were among dozens of Iranian film professionals participating in the protests hosted by Berlinale co-directors Mariette Rissenbeek and Carlo Chatrian. Protesters with signs demanded freedom for female Iranian journalists Niloofar Hamedi and Elaheh Mohammadi who are behind bars, accused of “conspiring against national security” for being the first to report on Mahsa Amini’s death, and for the release of dissident Iranian hip hop artist Toomaj Salehi who has been accused of spreading propaganda and could face the death penalty.

Kristen Stewart joined Iranian filmmakers in a demonstration showing solidarity for Iran’s Women Life Freedom protests on the red carpet of the Berlin Film Festival on Saturday.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent The wave of protests sparked across Iran by the death of Mahsa Amini by Iranian morality police in September came amid a banner year for Iranian cinema.  But as 2023 kicks off, more than 500 people who have protested her death and called for justice have been killed while prominent members of the Iranian film industry were either arrested, put on trial or banned from making movies. The result being that the country’s cinematic community has largely ground to a halt.  Which raises the question: unless something changes, how many films actually shot in Iran will be surfacing on the international festival circuit going forward?  

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent LevelK has unveiled the trailer for “Dancing Queen,” Aurora Gossé’s coming-of-age film world premiering in the Generation section at the Berlin Film Festival. Penned by Silje Holtet, the dance-filled movie is produced by Thomas Robsahm, whose credits include the Oscar-nominated Norwegian romantic comedy “The Worst Person in the World.” Newcomer Liv Elvira Kippersund Larsson stars as Mina, a slightly overweight underdog who falls head over heels in love and sets off to become at hip hop dancer to win his heart. The movie also stars Anders Baasmo (“In Order of Disappearance”) and Andrea Bræin Hovig (“An Affair), among others.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent   When the Iran-Iraq war broke out in 1980, director Sepideh Farsi was a high school student in Iran. At age 16, she was incarcerated for being an anti-Islamic Republic activist. Farsi stayed in her country until 1984 and then moved to France, where she experienced the second half of the conflict.  In her first animated feature, “The Siren” — which opens Berlin’s Panorama section — the Paris-based director revisits this war through the story of a 14-year-old boy named Omid, who decides to brave the Iraqi siege of Abadan, the capital of the Iranian oil industry. After opting to stay in the city with his grandfather and a bunch of other diehards, Omid and the others take over an abandoned boat he finds in Abadan’s port, which becomes their ark.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Films Boutique has closed a flurry of deals on “Subtraction,” Mani Haghighi’s Iranian noir thriller which world premiered at Toronto in the competition Platform section. The Berlin-based company has closed deals in France (Diaphana in association with Kinovista), Russia and CIS (A One), Canada (Films We Like), Ex-Yugoslavia (MCF Megacom), Middle East (Fron Row), Poland (Mayfly), Taiwan (Proview Ent.), Australia and New Zealand (Vendetta), Switzerland (Trigon) and Benelux (September Films). The movie is headlined by Taraneh Alidoosti, the Iranian star of “The Salesman” and “Leila’s Brothers” and Navid Mohammadzadeh (“Leila’s Brothers”). Both Haghighi and Alidoosti have recently been targeted by Iranian authorities. Alidoosti was temporarily arrested, while Haghighi had his passport confiscated as he was about to board a flight to attend the BFI London Film Festival. 

Penn Badgley isn't holding back when it comes to romanticized portrayals of infamous serial killers on Netflix — even if he plays one.The 36-year-old actor, who plays fictional murderer Joe Goldberg in acknowledged the audience's growing fascination with serial killers amid portrayals of several notorious, real-life killers in TV shows and movies in recent years on the streaming platform.Badgley specifically singled out Ted Bundy and Jeffrey Dahmer, two serial killers who were given the Netflix treatment in the 2019 Zac Efron film,  and the 2022 Evan Peters series, though he never mentions the projects by name. Peters, for his part, won a Golden Globe for his performance as Jeffrey Dahmer.«You need to look at that, inside,» Badgley said when asked his thoughts on people admitting their attraction toward problematic men. «Now, to be fair, with our show you're meant to fall in love with him.

Penn Badgley might play a fictional serial killer in Netflix’s hit show You, but that doesn’t mean he’s Ok with the way real-life serial killers are romanticized in pop culture.

Dissident Iranian director Mohammad Rasoulof was released from prison over the weekend, according to Iranian news outlets.

Rachel Evan Wood (“Westworld, “Thirteen,” Running with Scissors”) will star alongside Josh Gad (“Frozen,” “The Wedding Ringer”) and Anthony Carrigan (“Barry,” “Gotham”) in Alex Winter’s murder mystery “The Adults.” Rocket Science will begin sales at Berline’s European Film Market.  “The Adults” concerns siblings (Gad and Wood) struggling in modern-day America when they discover a dead body in their parents’ basement.

Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi has been released from Evin prison in Tehran.

Sony Pictures Classics has taken North American on Maryam Keshavarz’s The Persian Version which won the Audience Award (U.S. Dramatic Competition) and The Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award (U.S. Dramatic Competition) at this year’s Sundance. Keshavarz is the first filmmaker to have two films win the Sundance Audience Award in the Dramatic Competition category.

Belgian directors Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, French filmmaker Alice Diop and Romanian director Cristian Mungiu have demanded that Iran’s Fajr International Film Festival remove their films from the line-up of its current edition, running from February 1 to 11.

Hello and welcome back, Insiders. Jesse Whittock here to guide you through another week in film and TV. Onwards to the weekend…

Holy Spider star Zar Amir Ebrahimi led a demonstration in support of the people of Iran and the artists who have been detained by the country’s political regime at the Göteborg Film Festival Tuesday evening.

The BBC’s Arabic radio service went off the air for the final time on Friday after 85 years of broadcasting.

The Sundance Film Festival returned to Park City after a two-year virtual hiatus and that means the in-person awards ceremony returned as well. Well, sorta.

Jafar Panahi’s wife Tahereh Saeedi issued a fresh appeal for her imprisoned husband to be released as his period of captivity entered 200 days, in an Instagram post on Thursday.