Iran Regime Rounds Up Showbiz & Sports Personalities; Singer Shervin Hajipour, Soccer Player Hossein Mahini Among Detainees

Meghan Markle is showing her support for activists of women’s rights in Iran.

It appears Britney Spears has made an enemy of the the Iranian government.

Lily Moayeri “Protest art arises when the society is full of anger and the artist is part of the angry society.” That’s a statement made by Justina, an Iranian rapper, singer and songwriter, on the Oct. 15 episode of BBC program “The Cultural Frontline.” Justina and Iranian singer-songwriter and activist FarAvaz Farvardin were guests on the show, speaking about protest songs in Iran. Experts of sorts, their 2020 song, “Fatva,” was a protest song ahead of its time. Perhaps the most notable of the recent Iran protest songs is Shervin Hajipour’s “Baraye,” which was written in the wake of Mahsa Amini’s death after being arrested and beaten by Iran’s notorious morality police for not wearing a proper head covering. After receiving nearly 100,000 submissions, it is now the frontrunner for the Recording Academy’s new song for social change Grammy award.

Mani Haghighi is the latest film director who has been impacted by Iran’s ongoing restraint on filmmakers.

Iranian filmmaker Mani Haghighi will no longer attend the London Film Festival premiere of his latest film Subtraction after authorities stopped him from boarding a flight to London. 

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Iranian filmmaker Mani Haghighi had his passport confiscated at the airport as he was about to board a flight to attend the BFI London Film Festival. Haghighi was expected to present there the U.K. premiere of his latest film, “Subtraction.”  A BFI London Film Festival spokesperson confirmed the news to Variety and issued the following statement: “The Iranian filmmaker Mani Haghighi was due to travel to London today to support the UK premiere of his film Subtraction which is screening tomorrow at the BFI London Film Festival, but has been prevented from boarding his flight to the UK.  He was turned away by authorities in Iran and has his passport confiscated.  He has returned to his home in Tehran. We understand that no reason has been given to Mani Haghighi for the confiscation. The BFI London Film Festival supports Haghighi and all filmmakers in their freedom to make their films and present them around the world.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Japanese director Kawase Naomi will lead the international competition jury of the 44th Cairo International Film Festival (Nov. 13-22). Kawase won the Caméra d’Or for best debut feature film at Cannes for “Moe no Suzaku” (1997) and also won awards there for “Mogari no Mori” (2007) and “Hikari” (2017). In 2000, her film “Hotaru” won the FIPRESCI award at Locarno. Cairo festival president Hussein Fahmy said that Kawase has had a distinguished career and possesses great experience that qualified her to obtain prestigious awards from various international festivals.

A University of Miami fraternity has been shut down after a video surfaced purportedly showing its members saying an explicit chant at a party. In the video initially obtained by The Miami Hurricane, the Sigma Phi Epsilon members apparently chant about sexually assaulting a dead woman: "We dig her up every now and then, yo-ho, yo-ho.

Jem Aswad Senior Music Editor One of the new honors the Grammy Awards will introduce at their next ceremony is song for social change — a special-merit award that “recognizes creators of message-driven music that responds to the social issues of our time and has the potential for positive global impact.” While the honor is “curated by a blue-ribbon committee,” there’s little question that the number of submissions will have an impact — and according to the Recording Academy, 95,000 of the 115,000 submissions received have been for Iranian musician Shervin Hajipour’s song, “Baraye,” a protest song about 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who died in police custody after being arrested and beaten by Iran’s so-called morality police for not wearing a proper head covering, in line with the country’s Islamic law.

https://t.co/TxjviH4neK pic.twitter.com/8MBhDgmKgx— Ghoncheh (@GhonchehAzad) October 9, 2022The @EventimApollo in Hammersmith was evacuated this evening following a security alert. Officers are in the area to support staff and to facilitate the safe departure of those who were in attendance at the venue.

a United Nations report, Amini was arrested on Sept. 13 and taken to a morality «re-education center» in Tehran where, per Iranian authorities, she died of a heart attack three days later.

It’s Friday, you’re starting to think of the weekend, so it must be Insider time. Join me once again as the Deadline International team cast a critical eye over the big news stories this week. Read on.

Lorraine Kelly was joined this morning on her show by Elika Ashoori who spoke about the current protests in Iran after Mahsa Amini’s death - cutting her own hair live on the show, to show solidarity with the current female-led revolution. And viewers were quick to take to Twitter in support of the TV moment, describing it as "powerful".

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Award-winning filmmakers Alice Diop (“Saint Omer”), Audrey Diwan (“Happening”), Julia Ducournau (“Titane”), Michel Hazanavicius (“The Artist”), Jacques Audiard (“Dheepan”), and actors Juliette Binoche, Marion Cotillard, Isabelle Huppert, Lea Seydoux are among nearly 1,000 prominent French film figures who have signed an open letter to support Iranian women and civil rights activists in their revolt over the death of 22 year-old Mahsa Amini, as well as denounce the “murderous violence” of the Iranian regime. Amini, a Kurdish woman, died in custody on Sept. 16, three days after being arrested in Tehran because she allegedly breached the Islamic republic’s strict dress code for women. Her death has sparked protests across Iran, including in Tehran, Isfahan and Yazd, and in cities around the world, including in Paris, Istanbul and Los Angeles. Amnesty International said Iranian authorities have been “intentionally using lethal force against the protesters,” causing more than more 52 deaths (as of Sept. 30). The organization has urged international action “beyond statements of condemnation” to prevent more people from being killed.

Angelina Jolie and Dua Lipa have publicly expressed their support for the protesters in Iran. Protests broke out across the country earlier this month following the death of Mahsa Amini - a 22-year-old woman who had been detained by Iran's "morality police" for wearing her hair outside of her hijab. As the death toll from the protests reached 76 this week, demonstrations in support of Iranian activists have appeared in London, Los Angeles, Vancouver, Berlin, and Paris.

Variety‘s Power of Women dinner on Wednesday, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton spoke, and the former secretary of state took the Iranian government to task. “I could not stand up here tonight without also recognizing the brave women in Iran who are standing up for their rights, their freedom against a horrific regime who stays in power in large measure because they oppress women,” Clinton said. “And I could not stand here without thinking about the women in Afghanistan who are being deprived of education, or the women on the front lines in Ukraine who are trying to defend their country against the barbarity of Putin’s invasion.” “So we have a lot of work to do,” she continued. “It’s work in our own country to keep our progress going and not let the clock be turned back, and it’s also caring about the rest of the world.”

It has been over a week since the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman who was arrested in Tehran by the Islamic Republic of Iran's morality police for not wearing her hijab properly. Amini, who died in a hospital after falling into a coma, was allegedly beaten for not wearing a proper headscarf.

Manori Ravindran International Editor Imprison Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi’s “No Bears” has sold into North America, with Sideshow and Janus Films acquiring U.S. rights, and Films We Like buying the movie for Canada. “No Bears,” which premiered earlier this month at the Venice Film Festival, portrays two parallel love stories. “In both, the lovers are troubled by hidden, inevitable obstacles, the force of superstition and the mechanics of power,” reads an official synopsis. The film is written, produced, and directed by Panahi, and stars Panahi, Naser Hashemi, Vahid Mobaseri, Bakhtiar Panjei, Mina Kavani, Narjes Dalaram and Reza Heydari.