Iranian movie cameras roll in US

James Reinl, UN Correspondent (Last Updated: September 13. 2009 10:53PM UAE / September 13. 2009 6:53PM GMT)

NEW YORK // As Washington and Tehran perform a diplomatic dance over Iran’s suspected nuclear weapons programme, one group of Iranian filmmakers has benefited from the apparent thaw in relations between the long-standing enemies.

Masoud Jafari Jozani, an Iranian director, secured a dozen visas to enter the United States and film a movie. “This would have been unheard of a year ago,” said Jozani, who is filming In the Wind’s Eye in California. He described his Iranian crew as the first such group of film-makers granted entry to the United States since the Islamic Revolution in 1979.

Philippe Diaz, the founder of Cinema Libre Studio, the Los Angeles-based film company that assisted the transatlantic shoot, said US movie moguls had previously balked at the idea of joining hands with a Tehran production.

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