WANA (Oct 18) – Iranian documentary filmmaker Heyman Khaledi and several members of his production team were denied visas by the Swiss Embassy, preventing their participation in the Zurich Film Festival.

 

Delays in processing Khaledi’s UK visa also led to the cancellation of his planned trip to the United Kingdom.

 

According to the project’s public relations team, which issued a statement to the media, the Swiss Embassy refused to grant visas to Khaledi despite his recent achievement of winning the Best Documentary Award in the Asia section at the Busan Film Festival just two weeks earlier.

 

As a result, “Singing Wings”, the only documentary representing Iran at the Zurich festival, was screened without the presence of any of its creators.

 

The Swiss Embassy reportedly justified the visa denial by citing concerns over Khaledi and his wife’s potential failure to return to their home country.

 

However, the couple did not bring their two children under the age of three, making prolonged stays abroad impractical, highlighting the weakness of the embassy’s reasoning.

 

Last week, Khaledi traveled to Turkey to apply for an expedited UK visa for participation in the London Film Festival, even offering to pay an additional fee, but the visa was again refused, preventing his attendance.

 

“Singing Wings” was scheduled to compete in the Grierson Documentary Competition at the London Film Festival, one of the most prestigious sections of the festival.

 

Named in honor of Scottish pioneering filmmaker John Grierson, known as the father of modern documentary, the section awards the Grierson Award to the best feature-length documentary.

Singing Wings. Social media/ WANA News Agency

Singing Wings. Social media/ WANA News Agency