Panahi 'mentally imprisoned' as Iran blocks travel

Iranian director Jafar Panahi, who was released from prison in May after an outcry by filmmakers from around the world, is still not free to travel.

Panahi missed the screening of his work The Accordion, which was to open the short film section of the Venice Film Festival on Wednesday, because officials in Tehran have withheld his travel documents.

He also was absent from a retrospective of his films this week at the Montreal World Film Festival.

"Although I have been released from prison now, I am still not free to travel outside of the country," Panahi said in a statement to the Venice festival organizers.

'When a filmmaker is not allowed to make films, he is mentally imprisoned' — Jafar Panahi

"When a filmmaker is not allowed to make films, he is mentally imprisoned. He may not be confined to a small cell, but he is still wandering in a larger prison," said Panahi, 50.

Panahi was imprisoned earlier this year while filming street protests against the election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. He was released in late May after nearly three months of incarceration.

In his statement to fellow filmmakers in Venice, he said the support he had from directors such as Steven Spielberg, Michael Moore and Oliver Stone gave him hope.

"Although my imprisonment was a bitter experience, it bore sweet fruit for me when it helped me realize that we, the filmmakers and film lovers of the world ... are a united community," he said.

While in prison, Panahi missed serving on the Cannes Film Festival jury. The festival left a seat open for him to draw attention to his plight.

Panahi took the Golden Lion Award in Venice in 2000 with The Circle, about the lives of women in Iran. His eight-minute film The Accordion is about two young buskers in Tehran.