Iran summoned French envoys in Tehran to protest “inhuman” remarks made by the French foreign minister after the Iranian film director won the top award at the Cannes Film Festival.
Iranian director Jafar Panahi won the prestigious Palme de Orle for his films. It was just an accident on Saturday.
After the victory, French Foreign Minister Jean Noel Barott said Panahi’s victory was a “gesture of resistance to the repression of the Iranian regime.”
This sparked a diplomatic line, with Mohammad Tan Hai, a spokesman for Iran’s Foreign Ministry, calling the comments “inhuman statements and unfounded allegations,” state media reported.
According to the same report on Iranian PressTV, in a meeting with French envoy, Tan Hai called Barot’s comments in the country’s internal affairs “blatant interference.”
He described the congratulatory message as “irresponsible and provocative,” adding that France “has no moral authority” to comment on Iran, citing his failure to support the Palestinians in Gaza.
He demanded an official explanation from the French government, and the envoy said he would convey his message to Paris.
Panahi has been in and out of prisons in recent years due to outspoken criticism of Iranian facilities.
He spent seven months in prison for six years before being released in February 2023.
He had previously been sentenced to six years in prison in 2010 for supporting anti-government protests, creating “propaganda against the system,” and serving for two months on the occasion.
Like his prison conditions, he was given a 20-year ban on making films and traveling outside his country.
Nevertheless, he filmed it as a secretly, merely an accident in Iran.
The film follows five ordinary Iranians who stand up against a man who believes they tortured them in prison – Panahi is a character drawn from a conversation with fellow prisoners about “Iranian government violence and atrocities.”
During his acceptance speech, he urged fellow Iranians to “join strength.”
“No one should tell us what clothes we should wear, what we should do, what we should not do.”
Shortly after the ceremony, he first appeared at an international film festival in 15 years and told reporters he was returning to Tehran.
“I’ll be back to Iran as soon as I finish work here,” he told reporters in Cannes. “And I’ll ask myself what will happen to my next film.”
