Saeed Roustaee: Martin Scorsese backs director jailed in Iran for Cannes screening

Martin Scorsese has lent his enactment to an Iranian manager who has been jailed for screening a movie astatine the Cannes Film Festival without authorities permission.

Saeed Roustaee, who premiered Leila's Brothers astatine the French festival successful 2022, was reportedly sentenced to six months successful situation by an Iranian court.

Festival organisers said it was "a superior usurpation of escaped speech".

Scorsese shared a petition calling for "justice" for Roustaee and the film's shaper Javad Noruzbegi.

According to Iranian media, the brace were convicted of "contributing to propaganda of the absorption against the Islamic system".

The movie is astir economical issues faced by a household successful Tehran. It had already been banned successful Iran aft it "broke the rules by being entered astatine planetary movie festivals without authorisation" and the manager refused to "correct" it arsenic requested by the civilization ministry, the AFP quality bureau reported.

However, the film-makers volition lone service one-twentieth of their jailhouse sentence, astir 9 days, portion the remainder "will beryllium suspended implicit 5 years", according to the Etemad newspaper, which said they could entreaty against the verdict.

During the suspension period, the defendants volition beryllium required to instrumentality a film-making people portion "preserving nationalist and ethical interests" and refrain from associating with different cinema professionals, the paper said.

The 34-year-old manager is besides not allowed to enactment for 5 years.

Leila's Brothers was successful contention for the Palme d'Or, the apical prize astatine Cannes, and won the event's International Federation of Film Critics (Fipresci) award.

Cannes organisers added successful a connection that this prohibition "constitutes erstwhile again a superior usurpation of escaped code for Iranian artists, film-makers, producers and technicians".

"The Cannes Festival expresses its enactment to each those who endure unit and reprisals for creating and distributing their works. The Festival is their home," it said.