Iranian filmmakers defy regime to foreign acclaim

Iranian filmmakers defy regime to foreign acclaim

The 2011 Oscar win for the Iranian movie "A Separation" snapped the focus on what was coming out of the Islamic Republic. "Iran has strong art and cinema" that will thrive no matter the adversity, exiled Iranian director Mohsen Makhmalbaf told AFP as he presented his latest movie, "The President", about a Central Asian republic's dictator toppled in a revolution and running for his life. "There is hope for this cinema, more than for the life of the dictatorship in Iran. There is hope that one day we don't have this regime but we will have a good history of Iranian cinema." - 'Iran is in me' - "Taxi" by Jafar Panahi, a dissident director living in Tehran who is defying a ban by the government there on making movies for 20 years, is the latest big success.