December 13-2013
Iran’s censors have for the first time cleared for public release a film that was blocked from Iranian theaters during the Ahmadi-nejad Administration.
Culture Minister Ali Jannati indicated long ago that films and books banned under Ahmadi-nejad would be reviewed to see if they could now be seen by the Iranian public.
On Sunday, more than four months after President Rohani took office, the Culture Ministry cleared one film for screening in Iran.
The film is “Parviz,” a dark comedy that has won praise at some international film festivals.
Directed by Majid Barzegar, the film is about a man in his fifties who has lived his entire life in his father’s home and has never had a job. When his father decides to remarry, the aging son is ordered out and faces an entirely new life for which he is ill prepared.
The Culture Ministry earlier banned it from Iranian cinemas, saying it was “harmful to society.” It was released for foreign screening in September 2012.
No book and no other film banned from distribution by the Ahmadi-nejad Administration has yet been cleared for release, despite the frequent comments by Jannati that censors were overzealous under the old administration and that that would change.