Latest news with #JafarPanahi
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Iranian Cannes Winner, Oscar Nominee Call for End to Israel-Iran Conflict
Iranian directors Jafar Panahi (It Was Just an Accident) and Mohammad Rasoulof (The Seed of the Sacred Fig) have signed an open letter calling for an end to the war between Iran and Israel and for the Iranian regime to shut down its nuclear program. Palme d'Or winner Panahi and the Oscar-nominated Rasoulof added their signatures to the op-ed published Wednesday in French newspaper Le Monde. Other prominent Iranian signatures included Nobel Peace Prize laureates Narges Mohammadi and Shirin Ebadi and human rights activists Sedigheh Vasmaghi, Shahnaz Akmali and Abdolfattah Soltani. More from The Hollywood Reporter Tourette Faker, Male Nanny for Rich Kids Comedies, Trans Dramedy Among Conecta Prize Winners BTS Is Back: K-pop Supergroup's Anniversary Ushers in Long-Awaited Reunion Russell Crowe's Nazi Thriller 'Nuremberg' Nabbed by Sony Pictures Classics 'We demand the immediate halt of uranium enrichment by the Islamic Republic, the cessation of military hostilities, an end to attacks on vital infrastructure in both Iran and Israel, and the stopping of massacres of civilians in both countries,' the open letter reads. Iran's enrichment of uranium has for decades been a cause of tension with the West and Israel. Israel justified its attacks on Iran last Friday, which sparked the current conflict, arguing Iran was close to building an atomic bomb, something Tehran denies. 'We believe that continuing uranium enrichment and the devastating war between the Islamic Republic and the Israeli regime neither serves the Iranian people nor humanity at large,' the Le Monde letter continues. 'Uranium enrichment is in no way in the interest of the Iranian people. They must not be sacrificed for the nuclear or geopolitical ambitions of an authoritarian regime,' they said. The signatories also called on Iran's supreme leader, the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, to step down. 'The current leaders of the Islamic Republic lack the capacity to resolve Iran's domestic crises or its external tensions. The only credible path to preserve this country and its people is for current authorities to step down.' In a post on his Instagram account, Panahi said he has been stranded in Australia since the invasion. The director was visiting the Sydney Film Festival when the conflict started. 'Since that day, I have been looking for a way to come back home [to] my family and especially my mother,' Panahi wrote on his Instagram post, according to the Farsi to English translation. 'This situation is deeply painful and deadly for me; not only because of the inevitable distance from home, but because of the feeling of incapability to face the suffering of the people who are sacrificed every day in the heart of this war. When the fate of a nation comes hostage to high-flying and power seekers, what is left for us is nothing but anger, grief, and the heavy responsibility of telling the truth to future generations.' Panahi returned to Iran last month after winning the Palme d'Or for It Was Just an Accident. He has been able to travel freely since 2023, when Iran's Supreme Court overturned an earlier travel ban. Rasoulof, who received an Oscar nomination for The Seed of the Sacred Fig, fled Iran last year and currently lives in Germany. The Israel-Iran conflict continues unabated, with Israeli media reports that Iran fired dozens of 30 ballistic missiles at Israel on Thursday morning. U.S. President Donald Trump has called for Iran's 'unconditional surrender,' but, so far, has not said whether the U.S. military will join Israel's ongoing attacks. Best of The Hollywood Reporter Most Anticipated Concert Tours of 2025: Beyoncé, Billie Eilish, Kendrick Lamar & SZA, Sabrina Carpenter and More Hollywood's Most Notable Deaths of 2025 Hollywood's Highest-Profile Harris Endorsements: Taylor Swift, George Clooney, Bruce Springsteen and More
Euronews
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Euronews
Iranian Palme d'Or winner Jafar Panahi calls for fall of Tehran regime
After winning Palme d'Or at Cannes for his stunning thriller It Was Just An Accident, one of Iran's most celebrated filmmakers Jafar Panahi has called for the fall of the Tehran regime, against the backdrop of escalating conflict between Israel and Iran. Panahi posted a powerful message on Instagram that appears to push for the toppling of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. In his impassioned appeal, Panahi urges the United Nations and the international community to "immediately and decisively compel both regimes to cease their military attacks and end the killing of civilians.' The filmmaker, whose current whereabouts remain unknown, goes further: 'The only possible way to escape is the immediate dissolution of this system and the establishment of a people's responsive and democratic government.' Une publication partagée par official jafar panahi (@ While strongly condemning the Israeli aggression, Jafar Panahi takes aim at the Islamic Republic: 'An attack against my homeland, Iran, is unacceptable. Israel has violated the integrity of the country and should be tried as a wartime aggressors before an international tribunal. This position in no way means that we should ignore four decades of mismanagement, corruption, oppression, tyranny and incompetence on the part of the Islamic Republic." He concludes by saying: 'This government has neither the power, will, nor legitimacy required to run the country or manage crises. Staying in this regime means the continued fall and the continuation of the repression.' The 64-year-old dissident director has been imprisoned twice in Iran and banned from filmmaking for his anti-regime stance and 'propaganda against the state'. He spent seven months behind bars in 2022 and 2023 for demonstrating against the imprisonment of his friend and fellow filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof. Panahi has continued to make films in defiance of the repressive authorities and is best known for films like This Is Not a Film, No Bears and Taxi Tehran, which won the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival in 2015. After winning the Palme d'Or on 24 May, Panahi returned to Iran, despite the threats against him. As he left the airport, he was greeted by supporters. One person was heard shouting "woman, life, freedom" as Panahi passed through the airport - a phrase that became the slogan for protests that broke out across Iran following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in police custody in 2022. Panahi recently travelled to Australia where he won the Sydney Film Festival's top prize on Sunday for It Was Just An Accident. The Palme d'Or winning film, which was inspired by his time in Iranian prison, focuses on a group of former political prisoners who kidnap the man they believe to be their former torturer. In our review of It Was Just An Accident, we said: 'Panahi signs a taut, gripping and utterly engrossing thriller that doubles as an indictment of the Islamist Republic and calls out the sins of state despotism. (...) Not only is it a richly deserved Palme d'Or, the last scene will make your jaw drop to the floor.' Check out our full Culture Catch-Up on Jafar Panahi and the politics of Iranian film. It Was Just An Accident will be released in France on 1 October. Mubi has acquired distribution rights to the film in the UK, Ireland, Germany and Austria, and Neon has bought the rights for North America. Release dates in these territories are TBD. Over the past two decades, the Caspian Sea level has dropped by more than two metres, putting local communities and ecosystems at risk. Scientists predict an even sharper decline in the years ahead. Ecologists point to climate change as a major reason, particularly its impact on the Volga River — which flows through Russia and provides around 85% of the Caspian's inflow. Experts stress the urgent need for regional cooperation, including the long-standing but largely inactive Tehran Convention, created to protect the Caspian environment and promote sustainable use of its resources. In response to the environmental crisis, the Kazakh government is launching the Caspian Sea Research Institute - a key step toward understanding the problem, protecting the endangered Caspian Sea, and preserving the region's fragile ecosystem.
The Wire
2 days ago
- Politics
- The Wire
Iranian Activists, Nobel Laureates Call For Ceasefire With Israel, Islamic Republic to Step Down
New Delhi: Days after Israel began its devastating air strikes across Iran, in which 224 people have reportedly been killed – and after Iran began its retaliatory strikes that have killed 14 in Israel – prominent Iranian activists, filmmakers and Nobel Laureates have urged for a ceasefire and the cessation of Iran's uranium enrichment programme, and demanded Iran's 'authoritarian regime' to step statement, shared on the X handle of the jailed Iranian human rights activis t and Nobel Laureate Narges Mohammadi, has been signed by Cannes-winning filmmaker Jafar Panahi, Nobel Laureate Shirin Ebadi, filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof, Iranian lawyers Sadiqeh Vasmaghi and Abdolfattah Soltani, and Mohammadi an op-ed in the French daily Le Monde and in Persian on X, the statement calls for an 'end to the devastating war between the Islamic Republic and the ruling regime in Israel – a war that not only destroys infrastructure and the lives of civilians in both territories but also poses a clear threat to the foundations of human civilisation.'فعالان مدنی ایرانی خواهان توقف غنیسازی اورانیوم توسط جمهوری اسلامی و توقف جنگ و حملات نظامی به زیرساختهای حیاتی هر دو کشور و کشتار غیرنظامیان شدند.ما، امضاکنندگان این بیانیه، با تأکید قاطع بر حفظ تمامیت ارضی ایران و حق حاکمیت واقعی مردم، خواهان توقف غنی سازی اورانیوم توسط…— Narges Mohammadi | نرگس محمدی (@nargesfnd) June 16, 2025The statement asserts that uranium enrichment is against the interests of the Iranian population and serves nobody except the 'ambitions of the Islamic Republic'.'Iran and its people should not be sacrificed for uranium enrichment and the ambitions of the Islamic Republic,' it activists called upon the UN and the international community to compel Tehran to give up its uranium enrichment programme and force both sides to stop military attacks 'on each other's vital infrastructure, as well as to end the killing of civilians in both territories.'Furthermore, the activists demanded an end to the Islamic Republic and suggested that it cannot resolve Iran's internal and external conflicts. The 'best path to save the people of Iran,' they said, 'is the resignation of the Islamic Republic's ruling establishment and the facilitation of a transition from the Islamic Republic to democracy.'Some Iranians and commentators on politics in West Asia have questioned the statement's timing and Mahsa Amrabadi, who was sentenced to two years in prison in Iran in 2009, noted that the statement makes no mention of who started the aggression and pins the blame on Iran.'The logical conclusion of such a statement is to accept the legitimacy of the attack, especially when civilian infrastructure and lives of ordinary Iranians are being targeted,' she wrote, calling such statements agents of Israel's hegemonic plans.'I am ashamed to have once known signatories on this list, who essentially call for Iran to subjugate itself to the demands of the most violent and powerful empire in world history. They have chosen a side, and it is the side of death and annihilation,' wrote law professor and legal historian Nina Farnia.'I have tremendous respect for Mohammadi and her co-signatories, but Iranian civil society leaders cannot in good conscience instrumentalise Israel's attacks to accelerate the end of the Islamic Republic,' wrote Esfandyar Batmanghelidj, adjunct professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Jafar Panahi Urges Swift Conclusion Of Israel-Iran Violence: 'Both Regimes Should Be Condemned'
Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi has urged the UN and wider international community to help end the current violence between Israeli and Iranian forces in an Instagram post, writing that both regimes must be condemned. Panahi shared the lengthy Instagram post yesterday. The post began with the filmmaker writing, 'An attack on my homeland, Iran, is in no way acceptable. Israel has violated Iran and should be tried in an international court as a war aggressor.' See the full post down below. More from Deadline Iranian National TV Headquarters Hit By Israeli Airstrike During Live Broadcast Networks Return To Special Reports On Iran's Retaliatory Strikes On Israel - Update Biden Blasts Trump Over "False" Claims That Aides Ran Country During His Presidency; Current POTUS Admits He Has No Proof For Allegation - Update The filmmaker continued to write that the start of Israel's military campaign in Iran does not negate the 'four decades of mismanagement, corruption, oppression, tyranny, and incompetence of the Islamic Republic.' 'This government has neither the power, will, nor legitimacy required to run the country or manage crises,' the post continued. 'Staying in this regime means the continued fall, the continuation of the repression, and the continuation of the flock! The only way to escape is the immediate dissolution of this system and initiate a people's responsive and democratic government.' Panahi added that 'Both regimes should be blatantly condemned for their persistence of violence, warfare, and absolute indifference to human dignity.' 'Missile attacks, bombardment of residential areas, and targeted killing of civilians are crimes. Morals, politics, and safety are none of the excuses for these crimes. Continuing this cycle of blood and hate will only bring more instability in the world and an expansion of disaster,' he wrote. The filmmaker ended his post by calling on the UN and the 'world community' to force the two countries to 'immediately halt military attacks and end the killing of civilians.' 'Continuing silence and inaction means participating in crime,' he wrote. After years of simmering tensions, Israel and Iran fell into direct conflict last Friday after Israel launched an aerial attack on Iran. Iran labelled the attacks a declaration of war and responded with its own missile campaign. The two countries continue to trade attacks. Panahi has been the most prominent and consistent artistic voice in Iran against the current regime. In 2010, the Iranian government handed him a six-year prison sentence and a 20-year ban on filmmaking for supporting anti-government protests and creating 'propaganda.' However, the filmmaker has continued to work, creating non-fiction and fiction features like his latest film It Was Just An Accident, which won this year's Palme d'Or. View this post on Instagram A post shared by official jafar panahi (@ Best of Deadline 'The Buccaneers' Season 2 Release Schedule: When Do New Episodes Come Out? 2025 TV Cancellations: Photo Gallery 2025-26 Awards Season Calendar: Dates For Tonys, Emmys, Oscars & More
LBCI
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- LBCI
Iranian Nobel laureates, Cannes winner urge halt to Iran-Israel conflict
Leading Iranian activists and filmmakers on Monday called for an end to hostilities between Iran and Israel, urging Tehran to stop the conflict by halting its enrichment of uranium. "We demand the immediate halt of uranium enrichment by the Islamic Republic, the cessation of military hostilities, an end to attacks on vital infrastructure in both Iran and Israel and the stopping of massacres of civilians in both countries," said the activists in an op-ed in French newspaper Le Monde. The signatories included Nobel Peace Prize winners Shirin Ebadi and Narges Mohammadi, as well as the winner of the top prize at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival, Jafar Panahi, and his fellow director, Mohammad Rassoulof. AFP
