TEHRAN –- Iranian filmmaker Alireza Davudnejad wrote an open letter addressing U.S. President Barack Obama, on the occasion of the arrival of Hollywood team to Tehran.

In the letter released by the Persian service of ISNA, it said, “Please take my recommendations seriously. I have been working in Iran for 40 years as a writer, director and film producer.
“The source of insecurity in the world is rooted in the right of veto by member nations of the UN Security Council. This veto right allows the last word to belong to the one who kills the most and the fastest.
“As long as the earth is threatened by thousands of missiles with nuclear warheads, talking about peace, justice, and freedom is merely playing with words.
“My first recommendation to you is to relinquish the veto right voluntarily and dismantle all nuclear weapons unilaterally.
“Declare that the United States will never make use of the wild card right of veto during your presidency and present a schedule for destruction of the U.S. nuclear arsenal.
“My last recommendation is not to follow your previous cultural policies and avoid your Hollywood friends from playing any tricks to dominate the cinemas of Iran. The United States once removed Iranian cinema from the Iranian life with the help of the former dictatorship; and sacrificed our industry with the import of foreign films. The fallen cinema of Iran has once again regained its footing with the Islamic Revolution and has been fighting to survive for thirty years.
“We will not forgive the enemies of this cinema wherever they are. By the way, which is harder, to relinquish the veto right, or to forbear the domination of Iran’s cinema again?
“You have a hard path ahead. I pray for you. Only the right path has no deviation,” the letter ends.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences President Sid Ganis accompanied by a team from the Hollywood movie industry are currently in Tehran and have participated in several sessions with Iranian cineastes at the Iranian House of Cinema.
Frank Pierson, former presidents of the Writers Guild of America and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, member of the Board of Governors of the Academy actress Annette Bening, Special Events Programmer and Exhibitions Curator Ellen Harrington, as well as Tom Pollock, former Universal Pictures chairman are among the invited guests.
Photo: Iranian filmmaker Alireza Davudnejad talks to the cast of “The Rival Wife” during a location shoot in winter 2005. (Mehr/Heidar Rezaii)