Iranian producer to attend Jerusalem Film Festival

Interior Minister Silvan Shalom approved the participation of an Iranian filmmaker in the current Jerusalem Film Festival.

The guest producer is the son of Mohsen Makhmalbaf, an acclaimed Iranian filmmaker who visited Israel in 2013 for the premier of his film “The Gardner” at the capital’s annual 10-day festival.

The absence of diplomatic relations between Israel and Iran meant Shalom had to personally approve Maysam Makhmalbaf’s entry visa, Israel Radio reported Monday.

Shalom said Maysam’s participation reinforced the idea that culture could not be constrained within borders.

According to the Internet Movie Database, Maysam is a film producer, cinematographer and editor known for his work on a number of his father’s films.

Mohsen’s visit two years ago sparked outrage among activists in Iran who said his participation in the Israeli festival indicated a disregard for Palestinian human rights and the implicit support for what they called Israel’s apartheid policies.

At the time, Mohsen said he considers himself a supporter of Israel, and that cinema was a potent generator of social change.

Mohsen Makhmalbaf was banned from Iran over a decade ago, when his more than 30 books and films that address Western ideologies of democracy, freedom of religion and freedom from authoritarian dictatorship were marked as propaganda and banned by the Iranian government.

Since fleeing Iran, Makhmalbaf and his filmmaking family have shuffled around Afghanistan, Tajikistan and Paris, but he said he was driven out of each place because of terrorist threats against him.

The 10-day festival began on July 9 and is airing over 200 films ranging from popular movies, to documentaries and independent films.