The International Coalition for Filmmakers at Risk (ICFR) announced August 25 two initiatives it is arranging with Venice FF during the upcoming edition of the festival. A September 3 panel and a September 9 flash mob are designed “to demonstrate solidarity with the directors, filmmakers and artists who have been arrested or imprisoned around the world over the past year, with the purpose of raising awareness of their situation in the media, with governments and international humanitarian organisations,” writes ICFR.
The two initiatives are: Filmmakers Under Attack: Taking Stock, Taking Action, September 3, 15.30 CET, Palazzo del Casino (Lido di Venezia), an international panel debate that includes the Director of the Venice Film Festival Alberto Barbera; Vanja Kalurdjercic (Director of the Rotterdam International Film Festival); Nadir Öperli (Turkey, producer); Orwa Nyrabia (Director of the Amsterdam Documentary Film Festival), Mike Downey (Chairman of the European Film Academy) and an Iranian filmmaker.
The panel will look to provide updated “information on the situation of filmmakers who are currently being persecuted, arrested or incarcerated around the world; express solidarity and concern for their future; signal the need for the world of cinema to mobilise; and discuss possible actions that the international community could concretely undertake to help them.”
The themes to be addressed are:
- ICFR fund for Ukrainian directors (Vanja Kalurdjercic)
- the many cases of persecuted filmmakers that ICFR is working on in the rest of the world (Orwa Nyrabia)
- the situation in Turkey, with reference to the case of producer Cidgem Mater and her colleagues condemned along with her (Nadir Öperli)
- the situation in Iran, with reference to the recent cases of the filmmakers Jafar Panahi, Mohammad Rasoulof and Mostafa Al-Ahmad (Iranian director).
“[We] will not only give a round-up of our work in the past year, we will present ICFR’s brief on the Ukrainian filmmakers fund, and we will also offer a summary of other ICFR cases from around the world taking into account Turkey, Myanmar, Afghanistan and finally Iran – which is the crucial subject of the day. Finally we hope to propose ways in which the international film community can engage to help film makers at risk or imprisoned worldwide,” underlines Mike Downey, European Film Academy Chairman and ICFR co-founder and board member.
Flash mob
On September 9 at 16.30 CET, filmmakers, artists and other personalities from the film community attending the festival will be invited to participate in a flash mob on the red carpet of the Palazzo del Cinema (Lido di Venezia) to focus attention on the situation of the filmmakers arrested or imprisoned around the world, and in particular director Jafar Panahi and other persecuted Iranian directors.
The flash mob will be held before the screening in Sala Grande of the competition film No Bears (Kehrs nist, Iran, 107’), directed by Jafar Panahi, who was arrested in July 2022 after protesting together with colleagues against the arrest of two other directors, Mohammad Rasoulof and Mostafa Al-Ahmad, which occurred following the protests against the violence against civilians in Iran. Panahi was sentenced to six years’ imprisonment by the Iranian judiciary.
“The flash mob organized right before the screening of the film by Jafar Panahi intends to represent the strongest manifestation of maximum solidarity by the film world towards the director and all his colleagues who are in his same situation,” writes ICFR.
