TEHRAN -- An official of the Iranian Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance has said that Iranian auteur Abbas Kiarostami’s “Certified Copy” would not premiere in Iran due to the skimpy dress of the film’s French star Juliette Binoche.

“Juliette Binoche wears a certain costume throughout the film that hinders the film from being screened in Iran,” Deputy Culture Minister for Cinematic Affairs Javad Shamaqdari said on Tuesday in Haft, a weekly TV program reviewing Iranian film productions.
However he said that the film “is not bad” and added, “Perhaps, it may be screened in academic and certain circles.”
Binoche won the Best Actress Award for “Certified Copy” (“Copie Conforme”) at the Cannes festival on Sunday.
She accepted the prize, while holding a large sign bearing the name Jafar Panahi, Iranian director imprisoned allegedly for making a movie about the 2009 presidential election and released on bail on Tuesday.
During a press conference for the film at Cannes, She began weeping for Jafar Panahi, who was said to have gone on a hunger strike at Evin prison.
Shamaqdar described the press conference as “a political show”.
“The press conference was disrupted by a turncoat Iranian reporter, who gave a concocted report that the Iranian filmmaker (Panahi) was dying from a hunger strike and as a result, Juliette Binoche began sobbing,” he said.
During his visit to Cannes president Gilles Jacob in last week, Shamaqdarii censured the Cannes festival for its support for Panahi.
Cannes had joined with international filmmakers’ calls for Panahi’s release and left one seat symbolically vacant for Panahi on stage at the festival’s opening ceremony on May 5.