The campaign STOP THE BOMB supports the demands of the letter below and will participate at the protests against the policy of Dieter Kosslick and the propaganda of the Iranian regime.

The Berlinale makes a Forum for the Iranian Terror Regime out of itself

Open Letter of the Club of Iranian and European Filmmakers

To the Filmfestspiele Berlin GmbH and Festival Director Dieter Kosslick
To all International Film Festivals
To the Governing Mayor of Berlin
To the Senator of Cultural Affairs of Berlin
To all Fractions of the German Bundestag and the Länder Parliaments
To the German and the International Press

Dear Mr. Kosslick,

With great dismay we have noted the information about Iranian films in the program of the 59^th International Film Festival in Berlin. We are appalled by the fact, Mr. Kosslick, that in the name of the `cultural dialogue` you are going to show a propaganda film about the Iranian President and Holocaust denier Ahmadinejad. The Iranian-Canadian co-production film with the title "Letters to the President" tries to show a contemptuous president as `human and popular` to the audience.

In Iran regime critics, dissenters, artists and writers, actors, authors and cultural activists are constantly arrested and executed. The terror against religious minorities like the Baha `i, is pushed intensely and systematically. The women in Iran are publicly abased and humiliated. Gays and lesbians are pursued brutally. The arrest and torture of activists of human rights, trade unionists, teachers and students are a daily occurrence.

The foreign policy of the Shiite Regime is based on anti-Semitism and the annihilation of the Jews in the world and in Israel, implemented by the support of the Islamic-terrorist fundamentalism as well as by the atomic armament of the Iranian regime.

You are well aware of the fact that under the Islamic regime all films must obey the rigid political parameters of the Islamic censorship. You also know that only such films are promoted and are admitted which correspond to the parameters of the „Iranian Ministry of Islamic Culture and Guidance“.

Although the festival films approved by this ministry allow well-measured social criticism, they function just thereby as a necessary propaganda for the deception of the international cultural stages, because many of these films are only produced for the film festivals and it is prohibited to show them in the Iranian cinemas.

For many years the Berlinale under your management, Mr. Kosslick, has distinguished itself by a striking nearness and close ties to the official government agencies in Iran. Therewith you support a form of cultural exchange which is an important legitimization of this Terror Regime. The Iranian people are not thereby helped. On the contrary: Under the cloak of a „cultural dialogue“ a regime is flattered which pushes the Islamization politics in Iran and worldwide aggressively, and all non-Islamic elements of the Persian culture and civilisation, as well as in Iran living ethnic minorities, cultures and religions are repressed and annihilated .

Hence, we demand your resignation, Mr. Kosslick, because as the director you are mainly responsible for the fact that the Berlinale serves the Iranian Regime as a stage of its propaganda for years.

Moreover, we demand to take the films from Iran, as well as the Iranian-Canadian co-production "Letters to the President" out of the festival program, because they show no artistic contribution, but propaganda for the Iranian terror regime.

We will publicize our demands by protests during the Berlinale.

Arman Nadjm (Filmmaker and Script Editor)
On behalf of the Club of Iranian and European Filmmakers CIEF

Contact:
cief.berlin@googlemail.com