Iranian director rebuffs SLO Film Festival

Iranian filmmaker Hassan Akhondpour refuses to apply for a US visa to attend the San Luis Obispo Film Fest in March.

As New Times reports, when Hassan Akhondpour found out in June that his film, Fereshteh, Daughter of Ahmad, would be screened at the festival, he said he was happy and planned to attend the event. But when the travel ban was announced at the end of January, Akhondpour canceled his plans to travel to SLO. Although the ban is currently on hold and Akhondpour could technically travel to the U.S., he refuses to apply for a visa.

“The ban is coming from a clearly wrong attitude and vision,” Akhondpour told New Times via email. “He [Trump] wanted to humiliate the Iranian people, and I am not going to travel where a president insults my country for no reason."

SLO Film Fest Director Wendy Eidson said that the festival receives great films from all around the world, including Iran.

“We hope that sanity prevails and that he [Akhondpour] is able to come to our festival,” Eidson said. “We’ll greet him with the same warm welcome we give to all visiting filmmakers, plus an extra dose of warmth for what he and his fellow artists in Iran have been through lately.”

Akhondpour’s film centers on the dilemma of a young woman to hold on to her morality or to do whatever it takes to provide for her struggling family. The filmmaker said he hopes the story allows viewers to gain insight into the lives of Iranians, while also raising awareness that the current political climate could leave the U.S. isolated from the rest of the world.

Fereshteh, Daughter of Ahmad will show as part of the SLO Film Festival on March 16 at 1 p.m. at the Fremont Theater and on March 19 at 3:30 p.m. at Mission Cinemas.

RSH/RSH