The Iranian Independent Filmmakers Association (IIFMA) has stepped-up calls for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences ( AMPAS ) to reappraise its relationship with Iran ’s government-controlled Farabi cinema body.

Up until now, AMPAS has accepted Farabi as the official organization overseeing Iran’s entry to the Best International Feature Film category.

Dissident Iranian cinema body IIFMA, which was created in 2023 in the wake of the Woman Life Freedom movement, sparked by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in police custody on September 22, 2022 , says the arrangement is misguided.

“This practice raises significant ethical issues, particularly in light of the ongoing censorship enforced by the Iranian government,” IIFMA wrote in a letter sent to AMPAS this week and

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