SAG-AFTRA Condemns Iran For Arrest Of Actors & Other Protesters

Iran’s Supreme Court has accepted the death sentence appeal for Iranian Kurdish rapper Saman Seydi Yasin, which was issued in connection with ongoing widespread anti-government protests, the country’s judiciary said Saturday as reported by Reuters.

SAG-AFTRA has condemned the arrest by the Iranian government of Taraneh Alidoosti, the internationally acclaimed actress who starred in the Oscar-winning film The Salesman.

SAG-AFTRA has implemented new protections for the self-taping of auditions for low-budget productions.  The move was made, the guild said, “to address members’ concerns about this common yet frequently challenging practice.” The new guidelines limit all low-budget projects to the reading of five script pages for a first self-taped audition, although additional pages can be requested for a callback or on zoom.

The body of an unidentified man was shockingly discovered in the undercarriage of a plane after it landed at an airport in London. Police confirmed the horrifying discovery was made in the early hours of December 8 when the TUI aircraft landed at Gatwick airport after travelling from Gambia to England, the Daily Star reports.

The Amsterdam-based International Coalition For Filmmakers At Risk (ICFR) has issued a statement protesting the arrest of Iranian actress Taraneh Alidoosti and demanding her immediate and unconditional release.

Iranian authorities have arrested Taraneh Alidoosti, one of the country’s best known actresses, after she expressed solidarity with anti-government demonstrators in a social media post.

SAG-AFTRA today applauded the enactment of the Respect for Marriage Act, which was signed into law today by President Joe Biden. The bipartisan legislation was passed in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade, and concerns that the court might next rule that states can make same-sex and interracial marriages illegal.

The SAG-AFTRA Foundation granted more than $800,000 in emergency financial assistance, Covid assistance, senior financial crisis aid, health assistance and disaster relief this year to members of the union, the foundation’s president, Courtney B. Vance, said in his year-end fireside chat. He also reported that the Foundation awarded another $300,000 in higher education scholarships to 106 SAG-AFTRA members and their dependents.

In a major victory for SAG-AFTRA and GLAAD, IMDb has agreed to allow industry professionals to remove their dates of birth, birth names and other demographic information from its IMDb and IMDbPro sites.

SAG-AFTRA is surveying its members about how they feel about the industry’s Covid vaccination mandate in advance of the January 31 expiration of the Covid protocols, per an oft-extended agreement between the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers and Hollywood’s unions.

SAG-AFTRA believes in free speech, but not hate speech. On Friday, the union took the rare step of condemning one of its own members – Ye, formerly known as Kanye West – for making antisemitic statements.

SAG-AFTRA is staffing up and gearing up to reopen its offices on January 30 after having been closed to in-person gatherings since the onset of the Covid pandemic nearly three years ago.

SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher is doubling down on her concerns about Hollywood’s Covid-19 vaccination mandate, saying that “Help is on the way!” for those who refuse to be vaccinated in order to work because of their religious beliefs or preexisting health conditions.

SAG-AFTRA, in partnership with the AFL-CIO, is offering new SAG-AFTRA Senior Benefit Plans for all Medicare-eligible members and their Medicare-eligible spouses/partners, which includes a $0 premium option. The new plans are available to all of SAG-AFTRA’s Medicare-eligible members, regardless of their qualification for the SAG-AFTRA Health Plan.   

“I always had a very specific sense of urgency with this idea,” said Holy Spider director Ali Abbasi of wanting to make a film noir based on the true story of the “Spider Killer” Saeed Hanaei, who saw himself as on a mission from God as he killed 16 women between 2000 and 2001.