Jafar Panahi

Arrested on March 1, 2010 at his home along with Mohammad Rasoulof and Mehdi Pourmoussa. Amongst detained were 15 others, including his wife and their daughter, but released 48 hours later. Panahi's arrest was confirmed by the government, but charges were not specified. Filmmakers Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, Oliver Stone, Steven Soderbergh, Paul Thomas Anderson, Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, Francis Ford Coppola, Jim Jarmusch, Ang Lee, Richard Linklater, Terrence Malick, Jonathan Demme, Curtis Hanson, Michael Moore, Paul Schrader, Ken Loach, Bertrand Tavernier, Agnès Varda, Frederick Wiseman, Jean-Pierre Dardenne and Luc Dardenne, Jon Jost, Walter Salles, Claude Lanzmann, Olivier Assayas, Romain Goupil, James Schamus, Amos Gitai, Patricio Guzmán, Danièle Thompson, Xavier Beauvois, Tony Gatlif, Abbas Kiarostami, Mohsen Makhmalbaf and Kiumars Poorahmad, actors Robert De Niro, Robert Redford, Brian Cox, Pierre Richard and Mehdi Hashemi, actresses Isabelle Huppert, Anouk Aimée, Josiane Balasko, Fatemah Motamed-Aria and Golshifteh Farahani, film critics Roger Ebert, Amy Taubin, David Denby, Kenneth Turan, Todd McCarthy, Lisa Schwarzbaum, David Ansen, Jonathan Rosenbaum, Jean-Michel Frodon and Angelika Artyukh, Federation of European Film Directors, European Film Academy, Asia Pacific Screen Awards, NETPAC (Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema), Berlin International Film Festival's director Dieter Kosslick, Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, Rotterdam International Film Festival's director Rutger Wolfson, Febiofest's program director Stefan Uhrik, FIPRESCI and Toronto Film Critics Association have called for his release. France's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Minister of Culture and Communications Frédéric Mitterrand, German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle, Canadian government, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have condemned the arrest. After more than a week in captivity in Ward 209 of the Evin Prison, Panahi was finally allowed to call his family. On March 17, 2010 Rasoulof and Pourmoussa were released. The next day, Panahi was allowed to have visitors, including his family and lawyer. On April 14, 2010, Iran's Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance said that Panahi was arrested because he "was making a film against the regime and it was about the events that followed the [2009] election." On May 25, 2010 Panahi was finally released on a $200,000 bail.

[observation, 2014] I'm really optimistic about the future of Iranian cinema because of all these young and talented filmmakers...What makes me hopeful is this pool of young filmmakers can use all-digital cameras to make their own movies. There was a time when the government had a monopoly on all the filmmaking equipment. But right now you don't have to go to the government to make your films.