Mania Akbari is not a name you will likely recognize immediately, but if you’ve seen the late Abbas Kiarostami’s “Ten” then you know who she is.
Akbari appears in “Ten” for a good half hour of screentime, she’s the lead actress of the film. She’s now published an op-ed in the Greek media LadyLike where she accuses Kiarostami of not only raping her, but having not even directed “Ten.”
She accuses Kiarostami of plagiarism, stating that he edited her own shot footage shot into the film without her permission.
“Contrary to his claims, Kiarostami didn’t direct the film nor did he write it. All the footage used in the film was my own, which I began filming as a private project after discussions with my therapist. Kiarostami saw these rushes and was greatly impressed by them. He asked to borrow them so that he could write the screenplay. No screenplay was ever produced. Instead my rushes were edited together by Kiarostami and presented as “Ten” at Cannes.“
“At Cannes, I was a young and unknown Iranian women sitting next to a world renowned and powerful filmmaker watching in disbelief as he lied and stole my work in front of me. This was the first but by no means the most painful or traumatic act in a campaign of lies, manipulation and intimidation which was sustained for years to come.“
Akbari says she is no longer comfortable with people screening the film and had to break her silence. Then Akbari claims that Kiarostami raped her twice in the ensuing years. She was 25, he was 60.
“Through lies and manipulation, my own art was co-opted by Kiarostami into his own canon. In short, I am no longer willing to accept the screening of “Ten” as part of the legacy of the man who abused, raped and harassed me physically and mentally.”
“I have been carrying the pressures of this film since my childhood, and I am here asking you to reveal the truths of the film yourself about how it has been created and stop it’s distribution with immediate notice.”
Whether this is a legitimate claim or not is up to courts, which is where this will surely be going. Kiarostami died in 2016, so he has no way to defend himself, but his estate has already rebutted Akbari claims.