Award-winning Iranian director Jafar Panahi has set a court hearing date to appeal his recent prison sentencing by the Tehran Revolutionary Court, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The filmmaker was sentenced in December to one year in prison in absentia, two-year travel ban, and a ban on membership in political and social groups or factions, for “propaganda activities against the regime,” in relation to his latest film, It Was Just An Accident, which won the Palme d’Or at Cannes. Panahi is currently in the United States promoting the film on the festival and award circuits. The project, a co-production of France, Iran, and Luxembourg, will serve as France’s submission for Golden Globe and Oscar consideration.
It Was Just An Accident follows a mechanic and other ex-political prisoners who kidnap a man they believe tortured them while they were in captivity, and debate on whether he should be killed or go free.
This is not the first time Panahi has faced legal trouble in his home country, having been a harsh critic of the Islamic Republic Regime. He was first charged in 2010 for attending the funeral of a student killed during the country’s Green Revolution and his attempt to film a feature set during that uprising. He was later imprisoned in 2022 for inquiring about two fellow filmmakers who had been arrested, Mohammad Rasoulof and Mostafa Al-Ahmad, and was released in 2023 after starting a hunger strike.
Despite the situation, Panahi still plans to return to Iran once his promotional tour has completed:
Although I was given the opportunity, even in the hardest years, I never considered leaving my country and being a refugee elsewhere…My country is where I can breathe, where I can find the reason to live, and where I can find the strength to create. The problems that Iran is facing these days are temporary problems, just like the problems that any society has faced.
UPDATE: Panahi’s appeal hearing was scheduled for January 4th, as of this writing.
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