Iran Cinema Organization asks film museum to remove Mohsen Makhmalbaf memorabilia

TEHRAN,July 16(MNA) -- Iran Cinema Organization Director Javad Shamaqdari demanded that the Film Museum of Iran (FMI) eliminate its section dedicated to London-based Iranian filmmaker Mohsen Makhmalbaf. He made the demand in a response to Makhmalbaf’s remarks in favor of Baha’ism during the Jerusalem Film Festival and also due to his presence at the event in Israel last week. “It is appropriate in this month (Ramadan), the last Friday of which will witness demonstrations by millions of Muslims against the Zionists, that the Film Museum of Iran is cleansed of the filmmaker’s memorabilia,” Shamaqdari wrote in a letter to FMI Managing Director Mohammad-Hassan Pezeshk on Sunday. “The Gardner”, Makhmalbaf’s docudrama that was shot at the Baha’i World Center in Haifa, was screened at the Israeli film festival. Mahkhmalbaf, a former revolutionary who has made over 20 films on various issues, left Iran in 2005 shortly after Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was elected president. No official comment has been made about Shamaqdari’s letter so far. However, Iranian filmmaker Fereidun Jeirani has criticized Shamaqdari for his decision to call for the removal of the Makhmalbaf memorabilia from the museum. In a letter to Shamaqdari, Jeirani asked him “not to mix the history of Iranian cinema with politics.” “Avoid making a hasty and emotional decision,” he wrote in the letter, which was published by the Persian service of ISNA on Monday. “The removal of the items will never lead to the removal of his name and his awards from the written history,” he added. “I request that you cancel the order and let the Film Museum (of Iran) eschew politics,” Jeirani wrote.