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Comments (0)Exiled Iranian filmmakers are demanding that a film about Iran’s president be withdrawn from a film festival in Berlin.
The exiled filmmakers say “Letters to the President,” by Czech director Petr Lom, is propaganda from an anti-Semitic, inhumane regime. The film focuses on Iranian citizens writing to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
In their protest letter made public Monday, members of the Club of Iranian and European Filmmakers demanded that the film be withdrawn from the Berlin International Film Festival and that the festival’s director, Dieter Kosslick, resign after years of providing “a stage of ... propaganda” for the Iranian regime.
“The foreign policy of the Shiite Regime is based on anti-Semitism and the annihilation of the Jews in the world and in Israel,” read the letter in part. The film “tries to show a contemptuous president as ‘human and popular,’ ” when in fact critics of the regime “are constantly arrested and executed,” and religious minority groups, women, homosexuals and human rights activists are routinely persecuted, the writers emphasized.
According to the festival Web site, the film documents how “millions of Iranians, encouraged by state propaganda, write to their president. All too often these letters are indicators of the successful manipulation of public opinion by the state, which reinforces religious Muslims in their belief that they are the victims of worldwide persecution.”
The critics noted, however, that films critical of the regime that are approved for release outside Iran are prohibited to be shown in Iran.
“Letters to the President” was approved for release by the Iranian Ministry of Islamic Culture and Guidance. The 59th Berlin film festival runs Feb. 5-15.
E.U. Aid Chief: Hamas Responsible for Gaza
The European Union aid chief said that Hamas bears an “enormous responsibility” for what happened in the Gaza Strip.
Louis Michel, the European commissioner for development and humanitarian aid, added during his visit Monday to Gaza that “Hamas is a terror movement and needs to be treated as such and held responsible for its actions.”
While in Gaza, Michel announced more than $75 million in aid to vulnerable Palestinian populations through the European Commission’s 2009 Global Plan. Approximately $41.5 million will be earmarked to respond to the dramatic humanitarian situation in Gaza, and about $26 million will be for assistance to the West Bank. The rest will go to Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, according to a statement from the European Commission.
Michel was scheduled to visit Sderot and meet with Israeli and Palestinian officials.
He condemned Israel’s bombardment of the economic infrastructure of Gaza and called on Israel to open its border crossings to food and medicine, as well as building materials.
Hamas criticized Michel’s comments, according to reports.
Sky Joins BBC in Refusing to Air Gaza Appeal
Britain’s Sky News has joined the BBC in refusing to broadcast a charity appeal for the people of Gaza.
Sky News made the announcement Monday, citing its need to remain objective in its coverage of the conflict, two days after the BBC declined to air the appeal, claiming it would damage its impartiality.
Also Monday, BBC stars criticized the corporation for its refusal, with Oscar-nominated actress Samantha Morton threatening to never work for the BBC again if it did not broadcast the appeal.
Last week a group of charities, including Save the Children, Oxfam, Christian Aid and CARE, approached all British broadcasters with a request to air the Disasters Emergency Committee appeal for Gaza. The committee in Britain comes together for any major humanitarian crises that it judges requires joint action.
British broadcasters in the past often responded positively to such requests, but after the second Lebanon War the committee’s request was turned down.
Initially all broadcasters refused to broadcast the committee’s appeal for Gaza. By Saturday evening, however, following protests from politicians and activists, some changed their position.
On Saturday, demonstrators moved the starting point of their weekly anti-Israel demonstration to the front of the BBC building in central London. They called on the corporation to change its decision.