29 December 2010

Film makers protest Panahi jailing

A crowd of around 50 filmmakers and actors gathered on Monday in front of the Iranian embassy to protest against prison sentences handed out to directors Jafar Panahi and Mohammad Rasoulof.

Defying reezing temperature, the protestors watched one of Panahi's films on a huge screen erected opposite the Iranian embassy.

Where was this protest – Sadly it was not London but Sarajevo

Director Jasmila Zbanic, who won the Golden Bear at the Berlin Festival' Grbavica said ""It is terrible that in the 21st century there are fascist systems that do not allow freedom of speech, of expression, of art. I came to provide my support to my colleague Panahi who I have met in Berlin. I really feel bad because of what happened to him,"

Panahi's movie "White balloon" opened the first Sarajevo film festival in 1995,

The Bosnian film community put their counterparts elsewhere in the world to shame.

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