On
Friday,
July
8,
2022,
Iranian
filmmakers
Mohammad
Rasoulof
and
Mostafa
Aleahmad
were
arrested
and
imprisoned
at
an
unknown
location
for
protesting
against
violence
against
civilians
in
Iran.
Mohammad
Rasoulof
had
already
been
deprived
of
his
freedom
of
movement
and
work
since
2017,
following
the
screening
of
his
film
A
Man
of
Integrity,
which
won
the
Un
Certain
Regard
Award
at
the
70th
edition
of
the
Festival
de
Cannes.
His
films
Manuscripts
Don't
Burn,
which
won
the
Fipresci
Prize
in
2013
and
Goodbye,
which
won
the
Best
Director
Prize
at
Un
Certain
Regard
in
2011,
had
also
been
screened
in
Cannes.
He
had
subsequently
won
the
Golden
Bear
at
the
Berlin
Festival
in
2020
with
There
is
No
Evil.
Today,
on
Monday,
July
11,
Iranian
filmmaker
Jafar
Panahi
was
also
arrested
in
Tehran.
The
director
presented
numerous
works
at
Cannes,
including
Three
Faces,
which
was
selected
in
Competition
in
2018
and
awarded
the
Prize
for
Best
Screenplay,
as
well
as
Crimson
Gold,
which
won
the
Jury
Prize
at
Un
Certain
Regard
in
2003.
Jafar
Panahi
also
won
the
Golden
Bear
at
the
Berlinale
in
2015
for
his
film
Taxi.
The
Festival
de
Cannes
strongly
condemns
these
arrests
as
well
as
the
wave
of
repression
obviously
in
progress
in
Iran
against
its
artists.
The
Festival
calls
for
the
immediate
release
of
Mohammad
Rasoulof,
Mostafa
Aleahmad
and
Jafar
Panahi.
The
Festival
de
Cannes
also
wishes
to
reassert
its
support
to
all
those
who,
throughout
the
world,
are
subjected
to
violence
and
repression.
The
Festival
remains
and
will
always
remain
a
haven
for
artists
from
all
over
the
world
and
it
will
relentlessly
be
at
their
service
in
order
to
convey
their
voices
loud
and
clear,
in
the
defence
of
freedom
of
creation
and
freedom
of
speech.