Amnesty International Media Release
For immediate release
22 February 2011

New Zealand film industry unites with Amnesty International for persecuted Iranian filmmaker

New Zealand’s film industry has joined Hollywood celebrities including Sean Penn, Martin Scorsese and Susan Sarandon in backing Amnesty International’s campaign to free an Iranian filmmaker who was unfairly convicted of “propaganda against the state”.

In December last year award-winning filmmaker Jafar Panahi and his collaborator Mohammad Rasoulof were each sentenced to six years in prison after being accused of making an anti-government film about Iran’s disputed presidential election in 2009. Panahi was also given a twenty-year ban on all of his artistic activities-including film making, writing scripts, travelling abroad and speaking with media.

Women in Film and Television NZ, The Screen Directors Guild of New Zealand, Actors’ Equity, The New Zealand Film Festival Trust, NZ-based Iranian filmmaker Faramarz Beheshti and Rialto Cinemas are joining forces with Amnesty International to raise awareness of the inhumane price the men are paying for exercising their human right to freedom of expression.

“We are pleased to see members of New Zealand’s film and television industry standing with Amnesty International to demand freedom for Jafar Panahi. The right to creative expression resonates closely with artists, and goes hand in hand with the rights Amnesty works to protect,” says Rebecca Emery, Deputy Director of Amnesty International Aotearoa New Zealand.

To highlight the plight of Jafar Panahi’s case, Amnesty International is hosting a screening of Panahi’s film Offside - which tells the story of women in Iran who are forbidden by law to attend a World Cup soccer match.

The Auckland screening coincides with The Academy Awards that will be held the following day, where Panahi supporters will wear white ribbons.

Attendees at the Auckland screening will also be given white ribbons and the opportunity to sign a petition calling on Iranian authorities to drop the unjust charges against Jafar Panahi and Mohammad Rasoulof. Brief speeches will precede the screening.

WHAT: Amnesty International screening of Jafar Panahi’s film Offside.

WHEN: 8pm, Sunday 27th February.

WHERE: Rialto Cinemas, 167 Broadway, Newmarket.

ENTRY: Koha donation with all proceeds going towards Amnesty International’s human rights work

ENDS