Jafar Panahi will be recognised with the Carrosse d'Or (the Golden Coach) at Cannes next month, it has been reported.The filmmaker was jailed for six years last December for supposedly making propaganda against the ruling regime. He was also banned from making films for 20 years.According to The Hollywood Reporter, Panahi will be given the prize from the Société des Réalisateurs de Film (SRF) at a ceremony on May 12, the start of the Directors' Fortnight independent selection held in parallel to the main Cannes Film Festival.The following day a public press conference will be held to address Panahi's situation.More than 17,000 people involved in film have signed a petition in support of Panahi and his countryman Mahamad Rasoulov, including last year's Palme D'Or winner Apichatpong Weerasethakul as well as David Cronenberg, Jonathan Demme, Guillermo del Toro, Terry Gilliam, Michel Gondry, David Lynch, Gus Van Sant and Lars Von Trier.The Cannes Director's Fortnight will screen Panahi's 2005 movie Offside. A chair in the orchestra will be kept empty in the Croisette theatre throughout the festival to mark his absence.Past winners of the Carrosse d'Or have included Cronenberg, Clint Eastwood and Jim Jarmusch. The award was founded in 2002 for "innovative qualities, courage and independent-mindedness".According to The Guardian, the SRF said: "Because no film-maker, no author can remain indifferent to the violence of such a decision, the SRF has promised to break the silence imposed on Panahi, for freedom of expression."
