‘My Favourite Cake’ Directors Deliver Powerful Message From Iran After Authorities Banned Travel to Berlinale: ‘Like Parents Forbidden From Looking at Their Newborn Child’
variety.comEllise Shafer Directors Maryam Moghaddam and Behtash Sanaeeh were banned by Iranian authorities from traveling to this year’s Berlin Film Festival, where their film “My Favourite Cake” is premiering in competition.
At the film’s press conference on Friday morning, actors Lily Farhadpour and Esmail Mehrabi delivered a powerful message from the directors in the form of a letter as a photo of the two was propped up besides their empty seats. “Today, a film which we have spent three years of our lives making will be shown here, unfortunately, without our presence.
We feel like parents who are forbidden from even looking at their newborn child,” the directors said in the statement. “We have not been allowed today to enjoy watching the film with you, a discerning audience of this important film festival.
We are sad and we are tired but we are not alone.” “My Favourite Cake” stirred up controversy in Iran because it shows a woman not wearing the mandatory hijab, people drinking alcohol and dancing.
Read more on variety.com