The producer of the film Leila’s Brothers and I, along with Saeed Roustaee, are still banned from working.
Javad Norouzbeigi, the producer of the film Leila’s Brothers, told the Etemad newspaper that around this time last year, an illegal version of the film Leila’s Brothers was released on social media and the internet, accompanied by widespread controversy. Now, a year has passed since this incident, and over the past year, the creators have gone through many events.
We have no place in the public sector, and the fact that social cinema has practically disappeared also inherently means being banned from working. Maybe not banned, but it means being confined to home. However, we are still banned from working, and I went to the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance. In fact, I went just two weeks ago, and the result was that they told me we have to wait for other responses.
The Cinema Organization, as the custodian and manager of cinema, did not take effective steps for us. At least for me, Saeed Roustaee, and the film Leila’s Brothers, they did nothing. We nearly ended up going to prison, and no matter how many rulings we sent them, they did not take effective steps. Ultimately, our expectation was that the Cinema Organization would do something to prevent us from going to court. I spoke with them step by step and kept them informed of the events. The Cinema Organization didn’t mind us being reprimanded; that’s my prediction, and I think that’s how it was.