Hussam Fahmy - Berlin
The Iranian director, Muhammad Ruslav, announced that he was prevented from traveling, as the Iranian authorities had activated a ban issued against him previously, in addition to the authorities' refusal to issue him a new passport. This announcement was made through the data of the press office of the Berlin International Film Festival in its current session, and according to personal conversations conducted by Raslav with the magazines "Hollywood Reporter" and "Freighty".
The famous Iranian director with his film "There is no devil" is participating in the official competition of the Berlin International Film Festival in its 70th session, held from February 20 to March 1.
His film will be shown for the first time next Friday, and the director was expected to attend the private show and the press conference that follows, as was the practice with all the films of the festival's official competition.
Silence or imprisonment
Raslav was prevented from traveling, following his announcement in a speech he addressed to the Hollywood Reporter that the Iranian authorities in Tehran refused to issue his passport, while his previous passport was confiscated in the summer of 2017 after returning from the Cannes International Film Festival. His previous film "a man of integrity" won the award for best film in the "What Look" section.
Muhammad Rasulaf also faced the risk of imprisonment, after he was sentenced to a one-year prison sentence for "spreading propaganda against the Islamic Republic", but the prison sentence was not implemented in the end, and the Iranian government was satisfied with preventing Raslav from working and preventing him from traveling as well.
There is no demon
But after more than two and a half years, Tehran was surprised by the new movie "Mohamed Rasoulaf" There is no devil "that was secretly released, and its events revolve within the framework of opposing the death penalty that is still applied inside Iran, through four interlaced tales of four Iranian figures arriving in The end to the death platform.
In an exclusive interview with the American magazine "Freeti", Russlav announced that he sees his new movie "No Devil" as a matter of fact not only about the death penalty, but rather about the cost of resisting the regime in Iran.
In his speech, Raslav also referred to his personal story, as he stresses that his resistance to the Iranian regime has cost him a lot on a personal and professional level, but in the end he still believes that the outcome is positive, which drives him to continue to resist against censorship of art and freedom of expression in Iranian society.
On the other hand, Raslav said that he is now awaiting the application of the prison sentence that was issued against him last year, as the Iranian director recently received a message from the Iranian government stating that the request for veto has been rejected, threatening Muhammad Raslav with a two-year prison instead of one year.
Ruslav is waiting for the day when the police come to take him to prison, while his films compete again among the most important film festivals in the world, to reflect Ruslav practically art born from the womb of suffering.