Mohammad Rasoulof was one of two directors arrested on Friday by Iranian authorities, the country’s state media reported.
Rasuloff, owner of the Berlin Golden Bear, and his colleague Mustafa Alehmadi were arrested in May after a building collapse in the southwest of the country killed 43 people.
The tragedy provoked angry protests of solidarity with the families of the victims, with tear gas, warning shots and arrests of demonstrators. Rasoulof led a group of Iranian filmmakers in the publication of an open letter calling on the security forces to “lay down their arms” amid the “corruption, theft, inefficiency and repression” linked to the disaster.
According to the state news agency IRNA, the couple was arrested for “inciting riots and violating the psychological safety of the population”.
Rasuloff won the Golden Bear for Best Film at the Berlin Film Festival There is no evil in 2020 and also won Cannes and other festivals.
He returned to Iran in 2017 after being banned from making films and traveling outside the country after being accused of “anti-system propaganda” through his films.
Rasoulof’s two Iranian producers, Kaveh Farnam and Farzad Pak, have released a statement through distributor Kino Lorber condemning the arrests and claiming that the two directors are currently in an unknown location.
Source: Deadline
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