“Night of Doubt” play, produced by prominent Iranian actor, banned

Amir Hossein Barimani, the director of the play Night of Doubt told Saba news agency, “We have been informed by the Evaluation and Supervision Council of the General Directorate of Dramatic News that if we remove Navid Mohammadzadeh’s name (as the producer of the play), we will be allowed to perform it again.”

“We do not consider removing Navid Mohammadzadeh’s name a moral act,” Barimani said, “If we have no other choice, we will stop performing the play.”

The Department of Performance Arts affiliated with Iran’s Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance said that the reason for stopping Night of Doubt was that it was made outside the legal framework and received a license for the trailer through illegal procedures.

There are speculations that the reason for the ban is Mohammadzadeh as the producer. He is a prominent actor in Iranian cinema who recently took part in the Cannes Film Festival with the movie Leila’s Brothers.

His participation involved a lot of controversies for some sideline issues, including kissing his wife Fereshteh Hosseini on the red carpet, which is considered rude in the Iranian mores.

The Cinema Organization of Iran announced that the license for screening Leila’s Brothers will not be issued due to “infringement and violation of regulations by the producer and director.”

Some sources have also said that Mohammadzadeh and his wife have been banned from Iranian cinema.

However, Yazdan Ashiri, the director general of the Public Relations Office at the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, rejected the ban as a rumor, and said, “This is a speculation solely based on hearsay and it is not true.”