Taraneh Alidoosti: European film institutions and festivals join calls for release of Iranian actress

The Amsterdam-based International Coalition For Filmmakers At Risk (ICFR) issued a statement protesting the arrest of Iranian actress Taraneh Alidoosti and calling for her immediate and unconditional release.

The committee, which was established in 2019 to support politically persecuted filmmakers, was joined by the founders, the International Film Festival Rotterdam, the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam and the European Film Academy, as well as the German Film Academy and the Berlin Film Festival. .

“We declare our full and sincere solidarity with all those in Iran defending their basic human rights and freedom of expression, and call on the Iranian authorities to release Taraneh Alidoosti and her colleagues immediately and unconditionally,” they said. “We encourage all film and cultural institutions around the world to do the same.

Alidoosti, one of Iran’s most famous contemporary actresses, was arrested this weekend.

The actress whose credits include an Oscar-winning drama The seller and the title of the 2022 Cannes competition Leila’s brothersboldly voiced his support for the freedom protests sparked by the death of 22-year-old Kurdish-Iranian woman Mahsa Amini in police custody in September.

At the beginning of November, she posted a photo of herself without a headscarf on her Instagram account, followed a few days later by another photo of her shopping with bare hair.

Last week, she publicly condemned the execution of human rights activist Mohsen Shekari on her now-deleted Instagram account.

Iranian government-backed media said Alidoosti was arrested because she “failed to provide evidence to support some of her statements”.

Alidoosti’s arrest was widely condemned.

On Tuesday, Oscar winner Asghar Farhadi, who directed Alidoosti, stepped in The selleralso called for her release on Instagram, while the Cannes Film Festival also showed its support for the actress on her social media accounts.

Alidoosti joins a growing number of Iranian artists arrested by the authorities, first in a crackdown on freedom of expression and now in the protests.

Other prisoners from Iran’s arts and entertainment scene include filmmakers Jafar Panahi, Mohammad Rasoulof and Mostafa Al-Ahmad, singer Shervin Kapour and Kurdish rapper Saman Yasin from Tehran, who were sentenced to death after being accused of “enmity against God”. were accused because they were found guilty. . at a court hearing at the end of October.