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11/22/2024 12:18:11 am

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Iran’s Film Directors Launch Internet Campaign 'No2NoDeal' On Nuclear Program

Six of Iran's top filmmakers have launched an international campaign with the slogan "there is no deal that is worse than no deal" aimed at bringing an end to the decade-long deadlock over Tehran's nuclear program.

Among those spearheading the internet campaign are Asghar Farhadi, who won a Golden Globe in 2012 for Best Foreign Language Film for "A Separation," and Rakhshan Bani-E'temad, lauded as the "first lady of Iranian cinema, she won the Best Screenplay Award for her film "Tales" at the 2014 Venice International Film Festival.

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The campaign maintains that the crippling sanctions imposed against Iran have only functioned to hurt its people and not the nuclear program. It urged world leaders to deal with the issues rather than on "special interest."

The four other movie directors involved in the campaign are Iranian Alliance of Motion Picture Guilds Head M.Mehdi Asgarpour, internationally acclaimed director Abbas Kiarostami, 2015 Academy Award nominee Reza Mirkarimi and known humanitarian Majid Majidi.

The website No2NoDeal calls for an end to the nuclear crisis before the year ends, a direct reference to the Nov. 24 deadline set by Iran and six other countries to either reach an accord on the issue or scrap it altogether.

The six countries include China, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and the United States.

While previous negotiations in New York had not been promising, Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said Tehran was not looking to extend the deadline. Nuclear talks are expected to resume in two weeks and would be held either in Geneva or Vienna, he added.

Iran's film community has been widely supportive of President Hassan Rohani, who scored a major victory in the 2013 elections partly for his promises to pursue diplomatic resolutions to bring an end to the nuclear dispute.

For his part, Rohani reopened the House of Cinema after it was shut down two years prior during Mahmud Ahmadinejad's regime. Shortly after, screening bans and censors were lifted on a number of artistic films including Bani-E'temad's "Tales" which focuses on Tehran's economic mechanisms for coping with the sanctions.

For years, the West has alleged Iran's secret involvement in nuclear weapons development and atomic program.

Iran has denied the allegations and defended that its nuclear program is based on peaceful and non-violent initiatives such as medical isotopes and power generation.

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