Iranian cinema has acquired a mystically elevated status around the international festival circuit. Sceptics say, well, what the world sees is not what Iran sees. If Iranians don?t see the films that get acclaimed across the globe, including in Goa and Delhi, what?s the big deal? Isn?t the whole international circuit too elitist? The disingenuity of such attacks is laid bare as Jafar Panahi is arrested yet again, sentenced to six years in jail and barred from making films for the next 20 years. If home audiences see his films mostly on DVDs, that?s because Iran?s culture and guidance ministry won?t let them get to the theatres. Yes, some of those who routinely spring to Panahi?s defence belong to the beau monde?Martin Scorsese, Ang Lee, Steven Spielberg, Juliette Binoche et al. But he also has plenty of pedestrian folk supporting him, likely including many of the Iranians who have used used Twitter and YouTube to support the campaign for democracy.
In his earlier run-ins with paranoid Iranian authorities, Panahi had said that when a filmmaker does not get to make films, it is as if he is jailed even if he is freed from the actual jail. His story should challenge those who have grown blas? about the role of artists in the 21st century. Do they really matter? Can they actually effect change? Yes, they can. Panahi?s Offside is about six girls who disguise themselves as boys to sneak in to watch a football match. They are arrested. A guard discourages, ?There are lots of men in there… They?ll be cursing and swearing.? A girl replies, ?We promise not to listen.? President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad listened, and reversed the ban on women attending games. The country now boasts a women?s football team.