fri 29/03/2024

Freedom to Create Prize 2009: Filmmaker wins | reviews, news & interviews

Freedom to Create Prize 2009: Filmmaker wins

Freedom to Create Prize 2009: Filmmaker wins

Mohsen Makhmalbaf pleads for democracy in his country Iran

The second annual Freedom to Create Prize, which was presented in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London last night, has been won by Mohsen Makhmalbaf. The internationally renowned and prolific Iranian filmmaker, 52, downed tools earlier this year to become an official mouthpiece outside Iran for the presidential candidate Mir-Mossein Mousavi.
Makhmalbaf dedicated his award to Iran’s Green Movement and its spiritual leader, Grand Ayatollah Hossein-Ali Montazeri. “People of my country are killed, imprisoned, tortured and raped just for their votes," he said. "Each award I receive gives me an opportunity to echo their voices across the world, asking for democracy for Iran and peace for the world. I would like to dedicate this very important prize to Mr Montazeri, one of the bravest voices in Iran. It is vital that we continue to talk about the quest for freedom and democracy for the Iranian people.”

Makhmalbaf has had ample opportunity to echo those voices. His films have won awards all over the world. Most notable was Kandahar, a prescient, inquiring film about life under the Taliban in Afghanistan. Shot largely in Iran but also clandestinely in Afghanistan, the film had its premiere in Cannes four months before 9/11, after which it went on to achieve a wide audience and win for its director the Federico Fellini Prize from UNESCO.

Other films of his include Boycott, an early work from 1985 set in Iran before the Islamic revolution which swept the Shah’s regime from power. Based on Makhmalbaf’s own experiences, it chronicles the experiences of a young Communist sympathiser who is sentenced to death. Five years later Time of Love, a frank portrayal of marital infidelity, became the first of several films of his to be banned in Iran.

image002The Freedom to Create Prize was set up by Richard Chandler, an extremely wealthy philanthropist from Auckland now based in Singapore. Its task is to shine a light into those parts of the world where creative freedom is not a given. The prize is open to artists in all artistic fields and is awarded to "an individual or group that uses its creative work to promote social justice, build the foundations for an open society and inspire the human spirit".

This year there were more than 1,000 entrants from Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and Europe. Shortlists were chosen from each region. The five finalists presented work from all over the world, and across a spectrum of art forms. Sheenkai Stanizai created an installation piece about the traditional suicide method of abused Afghan women hurling themselves into wells. The Palestine-Israel conflict found balanced coverage in a compilation of photographs and interviews with combatants on both sides by Yemen-based Tunisian artist Karim Ben Khelifa. The plight of the Saharawi refugees in Western Sahara were highlighted in the banned songs of Aziza Brahim. And a Burmese refugee women’s group called the Kumjing Storytellers entered giant papier-mâché dolls in an installation piece designed to represent their stories of ethnic persecution in Burma.

This year’s judges included Daniel Barenboim, the human rights lawyer Geoffrey Robertson and last year’s inaugural winner, the Zimbabwean playwright Cont Mhlanga. The cheque for $50,000 was presented by Bianca Jagger, half of which must go to a casue of the winner’s choosing. Makhmalbaf announced that he will donate his fund to the Green Movement NGO to help the victims of the incidents following the election in Iran.

Freedom to Create Prize website.

Makhmalbaf protesting in Paris in June 2009



Explore topics

Share this article

Add comment

newsletter

Get a weekly digest of our critical highlights in your inbox each Thursday!

Simply enter your email address in the box below

View previous newsletters