Iranian Director and Producer Each Sentenced to Six Months in Prison Over Film ‘Leila’s Brothers’

A well-known Iranian film director and Iranian producer have each been sentenced to six months in prison for creating and screening their film Leila's Brother, a movie about an Iranian family struggling to escape poverty in Tehran, according to The New York Times.

Saeed Roustaee, the director, and Javad Noruzbegi, the film's producer, were sentenced by the Islamic Revolutionary Court in Tehran for "participating in the opposition's propaganda against the Islamic regime," according to the Etemad, an Iranian reformist newspaper, which was obtained by The New York Times.

"The defendants aligned with the oppositional media, under the influence of propaganda, in line with the counter-revolutionary (anti-regime) forces,” the announcement reportedly read.

The film, which was screened at last year's Cannes Film festival, reportedly did not have permission from Iran's Ministry of Culture to screen the film, which urged the director to censor some of the film's scenes.

According to the outlet, the creative duo will only serve nine days of their sentence, with the remainder suspended for five years.

Additionally, both Roustaee and Noruzbegi will be required to complete a 24-hour course about "creating movies aligned with national interests and national morality," the NYT reported.

"Roustaee's sentence has concerned many in the Iranian cinema community," an Iranian filmmaker, who remained anonymous, told the outlet. "We believe that this indicates that a new wave of limitations and restrictions has emerged."