Jafar Panahi: 'Now I am forced to make films in my dreams'

Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi, who was released on bail on May 25 after three months in prison, said he is now forced "to make films in (his) dreams" in an interview broadcast Wednesday on Arte.

"Sometimes I feel that the mere thought of writing a film can be a crime here, just the idea that to do so may be penalized. It may even be enough to go to jail" filmmaker said during the interview Sunday at his home in Tehran.

"But somehow I can not stop working or stop thinking about making films or stop to dream. We must let pass the time," added the director, close to the opposition to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

"I saw that when I make movies. Now I have to make films in my dreams, sometimes in my head, so we'll see what will happen," he added.

The 49-year-old filmmaker has been released on bail on May 25, nearly three months after his arrest, which had raised a wave of international outrage.

Many voices were raised in Iran and around the world demanding his release, at the Festival de Cannes, which had invited him to sit among the members of its board.

The Iranian Ministry of Culture was justified in mid-April the arrest of Jafar Panahi, accusing him of preparing "a film against the rules on post-election events" - events that followed the disputed re-election of Mr. Ahmadinejad in June 2009 - that Mr. Panahi has denied.

AFP