Politics hits Cannes with message from jailed Iranian director
The Cannes Film Festival showed its political and diplomatic side on Saturday night, with French Culture Minister, Frédéric Mitterrand, reading out a message from the jailed Iranian film director Jafar Panahi.
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Mitterrand chose to make his gesture at the top of the famous red-carpeted stairs that lead up to the festival’s main venue.
Panahi, who is 49, declared in the message that he is innocent of the charges against him and that he has not made any film against the Iranian regime.
Panahi was detained in March reportedly because he was making a film about the disputed 2009 presidential election.
The festival had invited Panahi to be a member of the jury for the official selection which decides who wins the top prize.
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