Hollywood stars currently visiting the Islamic Republic on a cultural tour have been barred from meeting with state-controlled cinema officials.
The Iranian government has banned official meetings with visiting Hollywood film stars because of previous “insults,” according to Javad Shamaghdari, art advisor to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
“Cinema officials will only have the right to have official sessions with... Hollywood movie makers when they apologize to the Iranians for their 30 years of insults and slanders," he said. The art advisor mentioned "The Wrestler" and the war epic "300" as productions that “unjustly attacked” Iran.
The war film "300" depicts an Iranian ancestor as bloodthirsty, and "The Wrestler" included a scene of tearing the Iranian flag.
"We will believe [United States President Barack) Obama's policy of change when we see change in Hollywood too, and if Hollywood wants to correct its behavior towards Iranian people and Islamic culture then they have to officially apologize," Shamaghdari added.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ media director Leslie Unger said that the stars are visiting Iran on a non-political initiative.
Hollywood producer Sidney Ganis, who led the visitors, said they traveled "to communicate with our fellow filmmakers" in the Islamic Republic in "an exchange of ideas relating to the making and distributing of movies."
He told the Los Angeles Times, “We have an art form here that is universal and so very accessible around the world. That it is a good thing, to make use of that art form in expressing ideas.”
Ganis said he is prepared for further cooperation between Iranian and American filmmakers.