Iranian government pressure can't stop Critical Zone from winning Locarno Film Festival

The Locarno Film Festival wrapped up in Switzerland this morning, heralding a new set of festival darlings—and potentially setting up international drama for the next several months of movie-going. Not least of which because the festival chose to give its top prize, the Golden Leopard, to Ali Ahmadzadeh’s Critical Zone—a film that Ahmadzadeh’s home government of Iran was pressuring him very hard to withdraw from competition.

Ahmadzadeh made his movie using hidden cameras and without the permission of the Iranian government, often filming real people as he told the story of Amir (Amir Pousti), a young drug dealer drifting through the nightlife of modern Tehran. Notably, while Critical Zone was in attendance at the festival, Ahmadzadeh was not, having been denied permission to leave the country by the government. Organizers at the festival have also alleged that Ahmadzadeh has faced a campaign of persecution and harassment as the Iranian government pressured him to withdraw his movie. In a director’s statement, Ahmadzadeh wrote,

Instead of actors, I worked with real people. In most situations, we had to hide the camera or find complicated tricks to work around the limitations. Making this film was a big rebellion. Showing it means an even bigger victory for us.

The win at Locarno will almost certainly raise the film’s profile, which will in turn almost certainly lead to more consternation from the Iranian government— which was been under fire and increased international scrutiny over the last year, after protests in the country were violently suppressed after the death of a young woman, Mahsa Amini, in police custody.

Critical Zone wasn’t the only winner at Locarno, now into its 76th year; Radu Jude won the fest’s Special Jury Prize for Do Not Expect Too Much From The End Of The World, while Ukranian director Maryna Vroda won Best Director for her film Stepne.

[via Variety]