[Reader-list] A Letter from Jafar Panahi, the Iranian Film Director

rehan ansari rehanhasanansari at yahoo.com
Sat Jun 16 23:06:24 IST 2001


I was shocked to read about how Jafar Panahi was
treated by immigration at JFK airport while his film,
The Circle, was showing in a theatre in the West
Village.

--- City Press <city_press at email.com> wrote:
> Date: Thu, 07 Jun 2001 09:31:36 +0500
> From: City Press <city_press at email.com>
> Reply-to: city_press at email.com
> To: Ajmal Kamal <aaj at digicom.net.pk>
> Subject: A Letter from Jafar Panahi, the Iranian
> Film Director
> 
> Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,
> 
> As the winner of the Freedom of Expression Award for
> my  film, The
> Circle, I would like to take your kind attention to
> what happened to me
> in your country, an incident that takes place
> everyday in  US. And  let
> me hope to see your reaction to these inhuman
> incidents. I believe, I am
> entitled to be curious about the response of the
> Board who  granted me
> such Award, a response proportionate to the behavior
> I and  many other
> people faced and will face.
> 
> You have considered my movie as a "wonderful and
> daring" film and I wish
> your  Board and the US media would dare to  condemn
> the savage  acts of
> American Police/Immigration Officers and may such
> condemnation would
> make  the people aware of these acts. Otherwise,
> what would  mean
> winning such Award for me? And what honor I would
> have to keep it? Then,
> I may return  this Award to you as you may find 
> another figure that is
> more in proportionate to freedom!
> 
> In the booklet  you kindly sent  me together with
> your Award, I read
> that a prestigious film personality like Orson
> Welles has already
> received this Award. Should  I be happy that this
> great man is not among
> us  now to hear  how the American  police behaves to
> the filmmakers or
> people who enter
> your country?  As a filmmaker obsessed with social
> issues, my films deal
> with social problems and limits and naturally I
> cannot be indifferent to
> racist, violent, insulting and inhuman acts in any
> place in the world.
> 
> However, I certainly do detach the acts of American
> police and
> politicians from  the cultural  institutions and
> figures as well as from
> the people of USA - as I was informed, the film
> critics and audiences in
> your country very well received  my  film.
> Nevertheless, I will inform
> the world media about my unpleasant experience in 
> New York and I hope,
> your Board, who strives in freedom of expression,
> would react properly
> in this respect.
> 
> On April 15, I left Hong Kong Film Festival to the
> Montevideo and Buenos
> Aires Festivals through United Airlines' flight 820.
> This  30-hours trip
> was via New  York JFK  airport and I  had to stay
> there  for two  hours
> and change  my flight  to Montevideo. Further to my
> requests, the staff
> of all the said  Festivals had already  checked if a
> transit  visa is
> required
> and  they assured  me there is no need for  such
> visa and moreover, the
> airliner issued me the ticket  visa NY. But, I
> myself did ask the United
> Airlines staff for the need for a transit visa at
> Hong Kong airport and
> I heard the same response.
> 
> As soon as I arrived at JFK airport, the American
> police took me  to an
> office and they  asked for finger-printing  and
> photography  because of
> my nationality. I refused to do it and I showed them
> my invitations of
> the Festivals. They threatened to put me in the jail
> if I would not  do
> the finger-printing. I asked for an  interpreter and
> to call. They
> refused. Then, they chained me like the medieval 
> prisoners and put  me
> in  a police patrol  and  took me to another  part 
> of  the airport.
> There  were many people, women  and men from
> different countries. They
> passed me to new police men.  They chained  my feet
> and  locked my chain
> to the others,
> all locked to  a very dirty bench. For 10 hours,  no
> questions and
> answers, I was forced to  sit on that bench, 
> pressed to the others. I
> could not move. I was suffering from an old illness,
> however, nobody
> noticed.  Again, I requested them  to  let  me call 
> someone in  New
> York, but they refused.
> They not only ignored my request but also  the
> request  of a boy  from
> Sri Lanka who wanted  to call his  mom. Everybody
> was moved  by the
> crying of the  boy, people  from Mexico, Peru,
> Eastern Europe, India,
> Pakistan, Bangladesh and... I was thinking that any
> country has its own
> law but I could  not just understand those inhuman
> acts.
> 
> At last, I  saw the next  morning. Another police
> man came to me and
> said that they have to take my photograph. I said
> never. And I showed
> them my personal photos. They said  no and that they
> have to take my
> photo (in the way the criminals are taken) and to do
>  the
> finger-printing. I refused. An
> hour  later,  two other  guys came to me and
> threatened  me  to  do  the
> finger-printing  and photography by computer and
> again I refused and I
> asked for a  phone. At last, they  accepted and I
> could call Dr.
> Jamsheed  Akrami, the Iranian film professor of
> Columbia University, and
> I explained to  him the  whole  story. I  requested 
> him  to convince
> them and as he knows me well, I am not a guy to do
> what they were
> looking for.
> 
> Two hours later, a police man came to me and took my
>  personal photo.
> They chained me again and took me to a plane, a
> plane that was going
> back to Hong Kong.
> 
> In the plane and from my  window, I could see New
> York. I knew  my film,
> The Circle, was released there for two  days and  I
> was told  the film
> was very well received too. However,  the audiences
> would understand  my
> film better  if they could know that the director of
> the film was
> chained at the same time. They would accept my
> beliefs that the circles
> of human limits do exist in any part of this world
> but with different
> ratios.
> 
> I saw the Statue of Liberty in the waters and I
> unconsciously smiled. I
> tried to draw the curtain and there were scars of
> the chain on  my hand.
> I could not stand the  other travelers gazing at me
> and I just  wanted
> to stand up and  cry that I'm not a thief! I'm  not
> a murderer! I'm  not
> a drug dealer! I... I am just an  Iranian, a
> filmmaker. But how I  could
> tell this, in  what language? In Chinese, Japanese 
> or to the  mother
> lanngues of those people from Mexico, Peru, Russia,
> India, Pakistan,
> Bangladesh... or  in  the language of that young 
> boy from  Sri Lanka?
> Really,  in what language?
> 
> I had not slept for 16 hours and I had to spend
> another 15 hours on my
> way back to Hong Kong. It was just a torture among
> all these watching
> eyes. I closed my eyes and tried  to sleep. But I
> could not. I  could
> just  see the images of those sleepless women and
> men who were still
> chained.
> 
> Jafar Panahi
> 
> 


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