Russian authorities have suspended the theatrical release of an Iranian film selected at the Cannes Film Festival in 2022 and tracing the journey of a serial killer who preys on prostitutes, the film's distributor said Tuesday. Mashad Nights, directed by Danish-Iranian filmmaker Ali Abbasi, is inspired by the true story of a veteran of the Iran-Iraq war who killed 16 prostitutes in early 2000 in Mashad, one of the main holy cities of Shiite Islam.
The film was released in cinemas in Russia on May 11, but the Ministry of Culture revoked its distribution license less than a week later. The broadcast was canceled "due to the presence in the film in question" of elements whose dissemination is prohibited by the law of the Russian Federation, said the ministry without giving further details. "Unfortunately, this is true," Anastasiya Kruglyakova, a representative of distributor Exponenta Film, said in a written statement to AFP.
Read alsoUmami, Jeanne du Barry, Fast and Furious X... Movies to see or avoid this week
In 2022, actress Zar Amir Ebrahimi received the Best Actress award at the Cannes Film Festival for her role in Mashad Nights where she plays a journalist investigating the murders of prostitutes. Iran had protested to the France after the film was selected in official competition at Cannes, calling the decision "bad and totally political."
The director of Mashad Nights had not been allowed to shoot in Iran and had to fall back on Jordan. Russia's U-turn on Mashad Nights comes as Russia and Iran seek to strengthen ties in order to lift Moscow out of its growing isolation since the invasion of Ukraine in early 2022.