Bani-Etemad slams West’s sanctions

Leading Iranian female filmmaker Rakhshan Bani-Etemad has condemned the United States and Europe’s sanctions against Iran during her speech at Venice film festival.

Bani-Etemad, who partook in the 71st International Venice Film Festival in Italy, criticizes the imposed sanctions during a press conference for her latest film Tales.

“Children with cancer and those who are suffering from very severe diseases like multiple sclerosis are the main target of the sanctions,” she said.

Bani-Etemad’s latest creation Tales is to contend for the Golden Lion Award with some 20 other productions at the Main section of the festival.

Tales is composed of seven short episodes, in which Bani-Etemad reveals the fate of some of the main characters in her previous films like The Blue-Veiled, Under the Skin of the City and Mainline.

The film along with 18 other participants of the Main section will experience their international premiere at this year’s edition of the event.

Best-known for addressing social problems in her films, Bani-Etemad has directed numerous feature-length and short films as well as documentaries, which have garnered many international and national awards.

“The characters in my films are real, [from among] the people whom I might meet every day,” she had earlier stated.

Widely considered as Iran’s premier female director, Rakhshan Bani-Etemad, has won numerous international awards and received an Honorary Degree for her contribution to World Cinema and the Iranian culture and society from London’s School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS).

She started her career in 1986 with Off-Limits and made an international breakthrough with The Blue-Veiled, which won her the Bronze Leopard of the 48th Locarno Film Festival.

The 71st annual Venice Film Festival kicked off in Venice, Italy, on August 27 and will run until September 6, 2014.

FGP/FGP