last week, accused of making a movie without permission and inciting opposition protests, according to a statement released in Rome. Panahi, 50, was arrested in March and spent 88 days in detention, during which he went on hunger strike. American director Steven Spielberg and French actress Juliette Binoche were among the many movie luminaries who spoke up for him, to the embarrassment of then regime. In his statement to the court, released to Reuters by the organizers of “Giornate degli Autori — Venice Days,” a side event of the main Venice Film Festival, Panahi said he was a victim of injustice and called one of the charges against him “a joke.” Panahi said he had started making his latest film when his house was raided and his film collection deemed “obscene” and seized. “ I do not comprehend the charge of obscenity directed at the classics of film history, nor do I understand the crime I am accused of,” Panahi said in his statement to the court. “If these charges are true, you are putting not only us on trial but the socially conscious, humanistic and artistic Iranian cinema as well,” he said. It was not clear if anyone else was on trial with Panahi. The Iranian media have not reported the trial or the charges.
Panahi won the Camera d’Or prize in Cannes for his 1995 film “The White Balloon” and five years later took the Golden Lion for Best Film at the Venice festival with “The Circle,” which deals with the struggles of women living under the restrictions imposed by the Islamic state. Panahi also rejected the charge of incitement to protest, saying his films were social but not political. “My case is a perfect example of being punished before committing a crime. You are putting me on trial for making a film that, at the time of our arrest, was only 30 percent shot,” he said. Panahi said there was no law requiring government permission to make a film, “only some internal memos that change each time the deputy minister [of culture in charge of films] is changed.” Panahi said another charge—of not giving his actors a script—”sounds more like a joke that has no place in the judicial system.” Panahi said he was used to seeing films banned, but that his arrest showed the government was going further than it had in the past to intimidate independent film makers. “ It is unprecedented in Iranian cinema to arrest and imprison a filmmaker for making a film, and harass his family while he is in prison,” he said. “This is a new development in the history of Iranian cinema that will be remembered for a long time.”