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Iran’s Panahi takes on Iran’s jailers in Cannes comeback

Dissident Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi made his first appearance at an international film festival in 15 years in Cannes on Tuesday, with a story about political prisoners trying to get back at their jailers.Panahi was banned from making films for 20 years and has been repeatedly detained since 2009 over his gritty, social dramas, considered subversive by the Islamic republic’s regime.His new feature, “It Was Just An Accident” — which is in the running for the top prize — risks causing new legal problems for a prize-winning director celebrated by fans for his defiance. The 64-year-old said his nearly seven months in the notorious Evin prison in Tehran until February 2023 had helped inspire his latest wry tale.”One of the characteristics of the Iranian people is their humour,” Panahi, 64, told Screen magazine.”This regime has been trying for over four decades now to impose on Iranians tragedy, tears and suffering but the Iranians always come up with humour and jokes.”The acclaimed director has repeatedly skirted the ban on him by shooting in secret, including 2022’s “No Bears”, which screened at the Venice film festival and won a special jury prize there while he was in jail.”Although I am not banned any more, it didn’t really change my actual situation. I still had to work illegally,” he told Screen.A source close to the filmmaker, who asked not to be named, told AFP Panahi’s latest film had been shot in secret and had no government funding. Cannes has a long history of supporting independent Iranian filmmakers, who often face legal problems and intimidation from Iranian authorities.- Assange appears -A second Iranian film is competing in the top Cannes competition this year — “Mother and Child” by Saeed Roustaee.Roustaee was sentenced to six months in prison for the screening of his film “Leila’s Brothers” in Cannes in 2022 but his latest production has drawn criticism from some exiled directors.The Iranian Independent Filmmakers Association (IIFMA) has called it a “propaganda film” but it is unclear if they have seen it in full. Fellow Iranian Cannes favourite Mohammad Rasoulof, who fled the country last year, defended Roustaee.He told Variety that there was a “clear distinction between the propaganda films of the Islamic republic and the films that are made under the constraints of censorship”.Wikileaks founder Julian Assange — who spent five years in prison over his leak of classified US files — is also in Cannes for the premiere on Wednesday of a documentary about him, “The Six Billion Dollar Man”. Its American director, Eugene Jarecki, was awarded the first ever Golden Globe for documentary at Cannes on Monday for his previous work, including his 2018 film about Elvis, “The King”. Ecuador’s left-wing former president Rafael Correa, who famously offered Assange asylum in the Ecuadorian embassy in London, was set to appear alongside the Australian at the premiere. – Denzel’s up and down night -Panahi and Assange’s presence comes at one of the most political Cannes for many years, dominated by protest over the war in Gaza, sexual politics and US President Donald Trump’s threat to impose tariffs on movies from “foreign lands”.Monday night featured a tense exchange with a photographer that took some of the joy from Hollywood star Denzel Washington’s lifetime achievement award.The surprise honorary Palme d’Or was handed to Washington, 70, at the premiere of his latest film with New York director Spike Lee, “Highest 2 Lowest” — the first time the actor has appeared at the festival.”It’s a total surprise. I’m so emotional,” Washington said, according to a member of the audience.The photographer had earlier appeared to grab the actor by the arm as he posed in front of a bank of cameras. Washington shook him off and then pointed his finger at him and appeared to say “Stop it” a number of times, videos showed.But despite the awkward incident, Washington’s mood was no doubt lifted by the rave reviews of his and Lee’s film.Loosely adapted from a Japanese master Akira Kurosawa’s 1963 classic, “High and Low”, the Hollywood Reporter said the film had “wit, high style and kinetic energy to burn”.The Guardian praised Washington’s “magnificent form” in the movie, saying he played a music mogul with “grinning monarchical assurance”. The Cannes film festival runs until Saturday.

PKK urges Turkey to ease imprisonment of ‘chief negotiator’ Ocalan

The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) has said Turkey should ease prison conditions for its founder Abdullah Ocalan, declaring him the group’s “chief negotiator” for any future talks after a decision to disband.A spokesman for the Kurdish group, blacklisted as a “terrorist” organisation by Ankara and its Western allies, told AFP in an interview on Monday that Turkey has not yet provided guarantees for a peace process, and expressed objection to exiling PKK members.In recent months, the PKK has made several historic decisions, starting with announcing a ceasefire and ultimately declaring on May 12 its dissolution, ending a decades-long insurgency against the Turkish state that cost more than 40,000 lives.The group’s moves followed an appeal by Ocalan, made in a letter from Istanbul’s Imrali prison island where he has been held in solitary confinement since 1999.Zagros Hiwa, spokesman for the PKK’s political wing, told AFP in a written interview that “as an organisation which has waged military struggle for 41 years, we have decided to dissolve and put an end to armed struggle.””By this, we give peace a real chance.””So from now on, we expect that the Turkish state makes amendments in the solitary confinement conditions” of Ocalan, and allow him “free and secure work conditions so that he could lead the process,” Hiwa said.”Leader Apo is our chief negotiator” for any talks with Turkey, he added, referring to Ocalan.- ‘No guarantees’ -The spokesman said that “only Leader Apo can lead the practical implementation of the decision” taken by the PKK congress earlier this month to disband, paving the way for a political settlement.The dissolution mechanisms are unclear yet, but the Turkish government has said it would carefully monitor the process to ensure full implementation.Hiwa said the implementation would be addressed in Ocalan’s negotiations with Turkish officials.Observers expect the government to show a new openness to the Kurds, who make up about 20 percent of Turkey’s population of 85 million.But negotiations have not started, according to Hiwa, although “there are contacts and dialogues… being conducted in Imrali” prison.Hiwa said that his group has shown “goodwill” and “seriousness and sincerity regarding peace”.But “till now the Turkish state has not given any guarantees and taken any measure for facilitating the process” and continued its “bombardments and artillery shellings” against the Kurdish group’s positions, Hiwa added.The PKK operates rear bases in Iraq’s autonomous northern Kurdistan region, where Turkey also maintains military bases and often carries out air and ground operations against the Kurdish fighters.Turkey’s military said last week it will continue acting against the PKK posts until it is “certain” the threat is removed.- ‘Integration’ – Most of the PKK’s fighters have spent the past decade in the mountains of northern Iraq.Turkish media reports have suggested that militants who had committed no crime on Turkish soil could return without fear of prosecution, but that PKK leaders might be forced into exile or stay behind in Iraq.Hiwa said that “real peace requires integration, not exile.””If the Turkish state is sincere and serious about making peace, it should make the necessary legal amendments so that PKK members would be integrated” into a “democratic society”, he added.The Kurds, an ethnic minority with a distinct culture and language, are rooted in the mountainous region spread across Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Iran.They have long fought for their own homeland, but for decades suffered defeats.Today, millions of Kurds live in relative safety in Iraq’s Kurdistan and under the semi-autonomous Kurdish administration in northeastern Syria.Both areas have been embroiled in the PKK insurgency against the Turkish state.In Syria, following the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad in December by Islamist fighters with ties to Turkey, the Kurds are left navigating an uncertain future.Turkey sees Syrian Kurdish forces, who make up the bulk of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), as an offshoot of the PKK.Hiwa said “we don’t intervene in the matters regarding the SDF.””The present process is between PKK and Turkey. No other party is involved”.But the process “will surely have positive implications for the solution of the Kurdish question in other parts of Kurdistan,” he said.

Mother of jailed Egyptian-UK activist returns to full hunger strike

The mother of jailed Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abdel Fattah announced on Tuesday that she was returning to a full hunger strike to protest against her son’s lengthy imprisonment in Egypt.Laila Soueif, 69, eased her strike in March after UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he had “pressed” for Fattah’s release in a call with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.She began consuming 300 calories a day through a liquid nutritional supplement but still went without food.With her son still languishing in jail two months later, Soueif said it was time to return to taking just rehydration salts, tea without sugar and vitamins.”I’m going to be on full hunger strike, which means I take zero calories,” she told AFP outside Downing Street, home to Starmer’s official residence.Soueif said she would also return to protesting outside Downing Street for an hour every day during the week, following a brief pause after Starmer’s intervention.The London-based mother began her protest on September 29, 2024, which she said marked the day Fattah was due to be released after completing a five-year sentence.Fattah, 43, a pro-democracy and rights campaigner, was arrested by Egyptian authorities in September 2019 and given a five-year sentence for “spreading false news”.He was a key figure in the 2011 revolt that toppled Egyptian autocrat Hosni Mubarak and was given UK citizenship in 2022 through his British-born mother.Fattah launched his own hunger strike on March 1 after hearing about his mother’s admission to hospital, which he continues, according to the campaign group.Soueif, a mathematician and activist, was in February admitted to a London hospital with dangerously low blood sugar and blood pressure, and given a glucose drip.

Iran’s Panahi pokes fun at Iran’s jailers in Cannes comeback

Dissident Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi makes his first appearance at an international film festival in 15 years at Cannes on Tuesday, with a story about political prisoners trying to get back at their jailers.Panahi was banned from making films and has been repeatedly detained since 2009 over his gritty, social dramas, considered subversive by the Islamic republic’s regime.His new film, “It Was Just An Accident” — which is in the running for Cannes’s top prize — uses humour to point out injustice.Critics clapped at the end — a rare occurrence in press screenings.The director said his own time in prison helped colour the wry tale.Panahi, 64, told Screen magazine: “One of the characteristics of the Iranian people is their humour. This regime has been trying for over four decades now to impose on Iranians tragedy, tears and suffering but the Iranians always come up with humour and jokes.”The acclaimed director has repeatedly skirted the ban on him by shooting in secret, including 2022’s “No Bears”, which screened at the Venice film festival and won a special jury prize there while he was in jail.”Although I am not banned any more, it didn’t really change my actual situation. I still had to work illegally,” he told Screen.A source close to the filmmaker, who asked not to be named, said Panahi’s latest film had been shot in secret and had no government funding. Cannes has a long history of supporting independent Iranian filmmakers, who often face legal problems and intimidation from Iranian authorities.- Assange appears -A second Iranian film is competing in the top Cannes competition this year — “Mother and Child” by Saeed Roustaee.Roustaee was sentenced to six months in prison for the screening of his film “Leila’s Brothers” in Cannes in 2022 but his latest production has drawn criticism from some exiled directors.The film’s screening in Cannes has been hailed by Iranian state media, including the state news agency IRNA. Fellow Iranian Cannes favourite Mohammad Rasoulof, who fled the country last year under the threat of an eight-year jail sentence, defended Roustaee, telling Variety there was a “clear distinction between the propaganda films of the Islamic republic and the films that are made under the constraints of censorship”.Wikileaks founder Julian Assange — who spent five years in prison over his leak of classified US files — is also in Cannes for the premiere on Wednesday of a documentary about him, “The Six Billion Dollar Man”. Its American director, Eugene Jarecki, was awarded the first ever Golden Globe for documentary at Cannes on Monday for his previous work, including his 2018 film about Elvis, “The King”. – Denzel’s up and down night -Panahi and Assange’s presence comes at one of the most political Cannes for many years, dominated by protest over the war in Gaza, sexual politics and US President Donald Trump’s threat to impose tariffs on movies from “foreign lands”.Tensions have even spilled over onto the red carpet with a ban on too-revealing “naked dresses” and “voluminous” trains that take up too much space.And on Monday night a tense exchange with a photographer took some of the joy from Hollywood star Denzel Washington’s lifetime achievement award.The surprise honorary Palme d’Or was handed to Washington, 70, at the premiere of his latest film with New York director Spike Lee, “Highest 2 Lowest” — the first time the actor has appeared at the festival.”It’s a total surprise. I’m so emotional,” Washington said, according to a member of the audience.The photographer had earlier appeared to grab the actor by the arm as he posed in front of a bank of cameras. Washington shook him off and then pointed his finger at him and appeared to say “Stop it” a number of times, videos showed.But despite the awkward incident, Washington’s mood was no doubt lifted by the rave reviews of his and Lee’s film.Loosely adapted from a Japanese master Akira Kurosawa’s 1963 classic, “High and Low”, the Hollywood Reporter said the film had “wit, high style and kinetic energy to burn”.The Guardian praised Washington’s “magnificent form” in the movie, saying he played a music mogul with “grinning monarchical assurance”. The Cannes film festival runs until Saturday.

Gazan twins in Cannes warn ‘nothing left’ of homeland

Twin Gazan filmmakers Arab and Tarzan Nasser said they never thought the title of their new film “Once Upon A Time In Gaza” would have such heartbreaking resonance.”Right now there is nothing left of Gaza,” said Tarzan when it premiered on Monday at the Cannes film festival.Since militants from Palestinian group Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, more than 18 months of Israeli bombardment has ravaged large swathes of the Palestinian territory and killed tens of thousands of people.Israel has vowed to “take control of all” the besieged territory of more than two million inhabitants, where United Nations agencies have warned of famine following Israel’s two-month total blockade.Israel allowed in several aid trucks on Monday but the UN said it was only “a drop in the ocean” of needs.The Nasser brothers, who left Gaza in 2012, said their new film set in 2007, when Hamas Islamists seized control of the strip, explains the lead-up to today’s catastrophic war.”Once Upon A Time In Gaza”, which screened in the festival’s Un Certain Regard section, follows friends Yahia and Osama as they try to make a little extra cash by selling drugs stuffed into falafel sandwiches.Using a manual meat grinder that does not rely on rare electricity, student Yahia blends up fava beans and fresh herbs to make the patty-shaped fritters in the back of Osama’s small run-down eatery, while dreaming of being able to leave the Israeli-blockaded coastal strip.Charismatic hustler Osama meanwhile visits pharmacy after pharmacy to amass as many pills as he can with stolen prescriptions, pursued by a corrupt cop.-‘Human beings’-Israel first imposed a blockade on Gaza in June 2006 after militants there took one of its soldiers, and reinforced it in September 2007 several months after Hamas took power.”The blockade was gradually tightened, tightened until reaching the genocide we see today,” said Tarzan.”Until today they are counting the calories that enter,” he added.An Israeli NGO said in 2012 that documents showed Israeli authorities had calculated that 2,279 calories per person per day was deemed sufficient to prevent malnutrition in Gaza.The defence ministry however claimed it had “never counted calories” when allowing aid in.Despite all this, Gazans have always shown a love of life and been incredibly resilient, the directors said.”My father is until now in northern Gaza,” Tarzan said, explaining the family’s two homes had been destroyed.But before then, “every time a missile hit, damaging a wall or window, he’d fix it up the next day”, he said.In films, “the last thing I want to do is talk about Israel and what it’s doing”, he added.”Human beings are more important –- who they are, how they’re living and adapting to this really tough reality.”In their previous films, the Nasser twins followed an elderly fisherman enamoured with his neighbour in the market in “Gaza Mon Amour” and filmed women trapped at the hairdresser’s in their 2015’s “Degrade”.Like “Once Upon A Time in Gaza”, they were all shot in Jordan.- ‘Gaza was a riviera’ -As the siege takes its toll in “Once Upon A Time In Gaza”, a desolate Yahia is recruited to star in a Hamas propaganda film.In Gaza, “we don’t have special effects but we do have live bullets”, the producer says in one scene.Arab said, long before Gazan tap water became salty and US President Donald Trump sparked controversy by saying he wanted to turn their land into the “Riviera of the Middle East”, the coastal strip was a happy place.”I remember when I was little, Gaza actually was a riviera. It was the most beautiful place. I can still taste the fresh water on my tongue,” he said.”Now Trump comes up with this great invention that he wants to turn it into a riviera after Israel completely destroyed it?”Hamas’s October 2023 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.Militants also took 251 hostages, 57 of whom remain in Gaza including 34 the military says are dead.Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed 53,486 people in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to Gaza health authorities, whose figures the United Nations deems reliable.Gaza health authorities said at least 44 people were killed there in the early hours of Tuesday. 

Cannes film shines light on secret life of migrant maids

Or Sinai didn’t have to go far to find the subject of her acclaimed debut film about the secret lives of the millions of women who support their families back home by being domestic workers abroad.She was chatting to the “wonderful Ukrainian woman” who looks after her mother, who has Parkinson’s Disease, when the housekeeper started telling her about the lover she had taken.”I realised that our view of migrant women is so wrong,” she told AFP at the Cannes film festival, where “Mama” is being shown in the official selection.”We think of them as poor women sacrificing themselves to do everything for their families.”But actually as I researched I realised they develop these temporary identities,” picking up a little comfort where they can.When the Ukrainian housekeeper “started working for my parents, they were embarrassed by her and tried to behave as if she wasn’t there. It was crazy,” Sinai said.”So I started talking to her and I immediately fell in love with her because she’s super funny.”She’s only three years older than me and she has such a dramatic life, which is an absurd contrast to how many people like her are in the shadows of our society” living their own hidden lives.- Israel govt ‘doing horrible stuff’ -It isn’t the first time Sinai has turned received ideas upside down. She won the Cannes Festival’s top prize for short films with “Anna” in 2016, where an overworked mother heads off looking for sex in a small town after getting an unexpected afternoon off from looking after her son.”Mama” is about a housekeeper who returns home from working for a rich couple in Israel to find her best laid plans for the family she has been bankrolling have been turned upside down in her absence.”In her attempt to give her daughter something meaningful, she actually lost all the years with her growing up and her ability to connect with her kids,” Sinai, 40, said.Instead she finds her passive, less-than-useless husband has supplanted her as her daughter’s confidant.Sinai’s own best laid plans were thrown up in the air by the outbreak of war in Ukraine, with the director forced to switch the story to neighbouring Poland.Belarus-born Evegenia Dodina, who plays the housekeeper — best known as Villanelle’s mother in “Killing Eve” — has been winning glowing reviews for her “carefully calibrated performance”.Screen magazine said: “It’s not merely that she conveys her joy and sadness, but how emotionally torn her character feels.”War closer to home in Gaza has cast a shadow over “Mama” and other Israeli films at Cannes.Hundreds of top film figures have signed an open letter condemning Israel for committing “genocide” in Gaza and the film industry for its “passivity”.With scores dying every day in Israeli strikes on Gaza since the festival began last week, Sinai said it was important to make “a clear separation between the government and the Israeli people”. “The government is doing horrible stuff” which many people were opposed to, she told AFP. “I wish the war would end immediately. I will always carry this on my back.”Between Ukraine and Gaza, “it’s really a miracle that we managed to make the film happen at this horrible time,” Sinai added.”The film is about wanting people to feel love for other people and that’s the only thing I can do, to spread love instead of war.”