One of the Middle East and North Africa’s largest film festivals is openiong in Morocco, drawing actors and directors from throughout the world to present 70 features from 32 countries.

Sean Baker’s “Anora,” a comic but devastating Brooklyn odyssey about a sex worker who marries the son of a wealthy Russian oligarch, has won the Cannes Film Festival’s top award, the Palme d’Or.

Mohammad Rasoulof was facing eight years in prison and likely more considering the uncompromising nature of his latest film, “The Seed of the Sacred Fig,” when he decided to flee Iran.

After being sentenced to eight years in prison, the award-winning Iranian director Mohammad Rasoulof says he’s fled to Europe shortly ahead of the Cannes Film Festival premiere of his latest film.

The Cannes Film Festival rarely passes without cacophony but this year’s edition may be more raucous and uneasy than any edition in recent memory.

The award-winning Iranian director Mohammad Rasoulof has been sentenced to eight years in prison and lashings ahead of his planned trip to the Cannes film festival, his lawyer tells The Associated Press.

A pro-reform newspaper says Iran has relased an award-winning filmmaker more than six months after arresting him for criticizing the government.

After being arrested for creating antigovernment propaganda in 2010, the Iranian director Jafar Panahi was banned from making films for 20 years.

An award-wining Iranian filmmaker says authorities have raided the offices and homes of several filmmakers and other industry professionals and arrested some of them.

FILE - In this Saturday, Feb. 29, 2020 file photo, Berlinale heads Mariette Rissenbeek, left, and Carlo Chatrian, right, attend the award ceremony of the 2020 Berlinale Film Festival in Berlin, Germany. A six-member jury of former winners has been chosen to allocate the prizes at this year's Berlin International Film Festival, which is taking place in a revamped form because of the coronavirus pandemic. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn, file)BERLIN – A six-member jury of former winners has been chosen to allocate the prizes at this year's Berlin International Film Festival, which is taking place in a revamped form because of the coronavirus pandemic. An online event for the industry, with the jury choosing the winners, is to be held March 1-5. The festival said Monday that it is also taking a new approach to the international jury this year.