TEHRAN -- The director of “Red, White and the Green” said that he voluntarily pulled his film from the Beirut International Film Festival (BIFF).

“A month ago, I was abroad and I felt that the subject of the film was no longer topical. Thus, I sent an email to (festival director) Colette Naufal, asking her to remove my film from the festival’s schedule and said that I would not be able to participate in the event,” Nader Davudi told the Persian service of the Fars News Agency (FNA) on Monday.

“Organizers of the festival have announced that they pulled the film from the festival due to the objections raised by Iran, while… I personally pulled the film from the festival,” he added.

He threatened that he would sue the festival if the festival screens his film.

“Red, White and the Green” is a documentary about the great optimism that most Iranian people showed toward the 2009 Iranian presidential election.

Last week, FNA called Davudi’s film and exiled Iranian filmmaker Hana Makhmalbaf’s “A Dog’s Life”, a short film about the prohibition on keeping pets in Iran, the “anti-Iranian films” that will be screened in various sections of the BIFF.

Davudi said that “Red, White and the Green” is not about “sedition”, a title the Iranian government gave to the movement that challenged Iran’s 2009 presidential election results.

“When I made the film, I was in the reformist camp, but the film is totally fair,” he noted.

“I also voted for the reformist candidate, but it doesn’t mean that everyone who voted for him is a seditionist,” he added.  

“I made the film to show the world what a high level of freedom we were able to exercise during the election campaign,” Davudi stated.

On Monday, the Iranian cultural attaché in Lebanon announced that the BIFF organizers pulled two of the “anti-Iranian movies” from the festival’s schedule.

Hojjatoleslam Mohammad-Hossein Raiszadeh said that any insult to the officials of friendly governments is legally forbidden and added, “The Iranian embassy has discussed the case with the organizer of the festival and the two films ‘Red, White and the Green’ and ‘A Dog’s Life’ will not go on screen.” 

He went on to say that Lebanon’s General Security has assured them they would ban screening of the two films, however, “anything is possible in Lebanon and they might be forced by the media to screen the movies anyway.”

“I Love Tehran” by Sahand Samadian, “Mandoo” by Ebrahim Saeidi and several other Iranian films are scheduled to be screened at the BIFF that runs until October 13.

However, directors of the films have announced that they withdrew from the festival due to the political atmosphere dominating the event. 

MMS/YAW

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