"Serious, bro?"

Might be time for Jafar Panahi to quit his day job. The Iranian filmmaker was arrested in 2009 for publicly mourning protesters who were killed while demonstrating against presidential election results (psst… hey Iran. I also heard Brett Ratner was there). Now he’s being sentenced to six years in prison (not the sexy kind from cable television), and being banned from filmmaking for twenty.

Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, and Francis Ford Coppola have spoken out publicly in support of Panahi, and an appeal has been called for. Says Scorcese, “C’mon. It’s not like he directed Yogi Bear.”

Granted, this seems extreme to those of us in the western world. But is it really all that bad? He’s only banned from filmmaking, not film developing. And I heard FotoMat is hiring. Dude will be fine. (The Guardian)