"Tori and Lokita", a Dardenne film which won a special prize at the 75th Cannes Film Festival last May, and "Saint Omer" by French director Alice Diop, Grand Jury Prize in Venice, are listed in the "festivals of festivals" of the Farj International Film Festival, according to the event's Farsi-language website.
"It is obviously impossible to conceive that my film could be screened within a film festival organized by a regime which for years has pursued a policy of violence and repression against its people and where directors are locked up for having had the courage to exercise their legitimate right to freedom," said Alice Diop.
"I demand that my film be withdrawn immediately from this programming and bring my support to the courageous movement of protest and revolt in Iran which, we all hope, will be able to shake this dictatorship", according to his declarations transmitted Friday to the AFP.
"We demand that our film be removed from the program of this festival which is the showcase of a dictatorial and murderous religious regime that we condemn. We stand in solidarity with those who fight against this regime and salute their courage", wrote on their side the Belgians Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, in a press release from their company Les Films du Fleuve.
French director Alice Diop, Grand Jury Prize for her film "Saint Omer", September 10, 2022 at the Venice Film Festival © Andreas SOLARO / AFP / Archives
Many film professionals and artists have denounced the repression in Iran in recent months and mobilized again on Thursday in favor of their fellow Iranian director Jafar Panahi, finally released on bail Friday afternoon after seven months in prison.
© 2023 AFP