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Cannes to Screen Films by Convicted Iranians

People walk in front of a poster showing Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi prior to the screening of the movie 'Offside' by Jajar Panahi at the International Film Festival Berlinale in Berlin, Germany, February 11, 2011

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Last updated on: May 06, 2011 8:00 PM

New films by two convicted Iranian directors, Jafar Panahi and Mohammad Rasoulof, will be shown at this month's Cannes film festival in France.

Festival organizers said Saturday that Panahi's In Film Nist (This is Not a Film) will be screened on May 20.

Rasoulof's Be Omid-e Didar (Hope to See You Again) will be shown on May 14.

An Iranian court in December sentenced both filmmakers to six years in prison on charges that included making propaganda against Iran's Islamic regime. Both were banned from making movies for 20 years. They are free on bail pending an appeal, but forbidden to travel abroad.

Cannes officials did not say how they received the films, only that they had arrived in recent days.

They described the films as having been made in "semi-clandestine conditions."

The festival on the French Riviera runs May 11-22.

Some information for this report was provided by AP and AFP.

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