Filmmakers prevented from boarding planes following US visa ban

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Copyright 'The Salesman'

Following President Trump’s executive order to ban immigrants from several countries including Iraq, Libya and Iran, filmmakers seeking to go to the US have been forced to abandon their travel plans affecting businesses, award ceremonies, festivals and other upcoming industry events in the US.

Kurdish filmmaker Hussein Hassan had planned to attend the screening of his film “The Dark Wind” in March at the Miami Film Festival, but withdrew his visa application following Trump’s executive order. Miami Film Festival director Jaie Laplante confirmed that the drama was “one of the most timely, moving and important films” to be screened at this year’s festival and it was a considerable blow for the filmmaker not to be able to attend.

Iranian actress Taraneh Alidoosti who stars in Oscar nominated film “The Salesman” is also boycotting this year’s ceremony following the ban on immigrants by the US from several countries.

The ban will also affect director Asghar Farhadi who had planned to attend this year’s Oscar ceremony after his film “The Salesman” was nominated for Best Foreign Language film. The new visa restrictions will remain for the next 3 months and will still be in force when the 89th Academy Awards ceremony takes place.

There are also separate reports indicating that dual nationals and green card holders from countries including the UK and Canada are not being allowed back into the US. The short-term restrictions are likely to affect film productions, upcoming film events and award ceremonies. The impact is also causing disruption in other sectors of the economy from hotels to airlines and tech giants. Companies like Facebook, Microsoft and Netflix have voiced their concerns.

Netflix CEO Reed Hastings issued a blunt statement regarding the new visa restrictions and that it was directly affecting employees worldwide.

“The lives of over 600,000 Dreamers here in a America under imminent threat. It is time to link arms together to protect American values of freedom and opportunity.”

Google also urged its employees to immediately return to the US while Apple raised its concerns about the immigrant ban among a host of other tech companies.

Are you being affected by the new visa restrictions?

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