Internationally acclaimed Iranian film director Abbas Kiarostami was recently denied a visa to enter the United States, having applied in response to an invitation from officials at the New York Film Festival to attend this year’s event September 27October 13. After an appearance at the festival screening of his new film Ten, he was scheduled to lecture at Harvard and Ohio State universities.Kiarostami, 62, who won the prestigious Palme d’Or at the Cannes film Festival for his 1997 movie, A Taste of Cherry, has written and directed some 30 films. Ten is the fourth film by Mr. Kiarostami to have been selected for screening by the New York festival. A festival representative revealed that two Chinese filmmakers also had difficulty obtaining visas, but ultimately received them. The esteemed Iranian artist has visited the US without entry problems at least seven times in the past decade.Officials at the US Embassy in Paris, where Kiarostami had applied for the visa, told festival organizers that they would require 90 days to investigate the filmmaker’s background. According to festival spokeswoman Ines Aslan, organizers pleaded with the embassy to make an exception for the filmmaker whose background, both artistically and politically, is a matter of public record. “It wasn’t that they could not make an exception. It was that they did not choose to. It is very sad,” stated Aslan.

Website: http://www.wsws.org/articles/2002/oct2002/visa-o01.shtml