Screenwriter of Oscar-nominated film "A Simple Accident" arrested in Iran
One of the screenwriters of the drama "A Simple Accident," Mehdi Mahmoudian, has been detained in Iran. The arrest occurred just weeks before the Academy Awards ceremony, where the film is nominated in two categories — for Best Screenplay and Best International Feature Film.
According to human rights activists, Mahmoudian was detained on Saturday, January 31. Official charges have not yet been announced, but the arrest is linked to the fact that a few days prior, the screenwriter, along with other cultural figures, signed an open letter. In it, the signatories sharply condemned the brutal suppression of protests in the country and called the actions of the Ali Khamenei regime "an organized state crime against humanity." Along with Mahmoudian, two other signatories of this letter were also detained.
The film's director, Jafar Panahi, who himself has been repeatedly persecuted and imprisoned, spoke out in support of his colleague. He called Mahmoudian "a rare moral compass." It was the shared imprisonment of Panahi and Mahmoudian during previous repressions that inspired them to create the screenplay for "A Simple Accident."
The film, secretly shot in Iran, won at the Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for an Oscar by France.
The plot tells the story of a former political prisoner who meets his tormentor and decides to seek revenge. The screening of the film is banned in Iran itself, and in Russia, the Ministry of Culture denied the film a distribution certificate, considering it non-compliant with local legislation.
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