VOA interviews Iranian Democracy Video Challenge Winner

Farbod "Fred" Khoshtinat's video, ATTN: Mr. Democrat, is one of six winners of the 2010 Democracy Video Challenge.




Click through for wide screen.

Farbod "Fred" Khoshtinat shakes hands with Hillary Clinton

U.S Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton quotes Farbod Khoshtinat 4min. into the video and presents the award to him at 6min 18sec into the video. Khoshtinat's ATTN: Mr. Democrat video is one of six winners in the Democracy Video Challenge.

Don't let corporations become dictators

by Julie Jigsawnovich

The ATTN: Mr. Democrat video by Farbod Khoshtinat states that, "Democracy is not choking the voices so that no harsh word could aggrieve your ears." This video has drawn a worldwide enthusiastic response online. Iranians and non-Iranians alike are leaving glowing comments for it on YouTube. And the analytics map under the video shows world nations growing greener with each ATTN: Mr. Democrat view.

Although the dictatorial regime running the Islamic Republic diligently tries to block Iranians from watching YouTube, the color of Iran on the map proves that many Iranians are finding proxies to access the full internet.

Unfortunately, there's an even bigger threat to internet freedom--not from governments, but from corporations. Corporations could be even more effective than governments at preventing users from choosing what to view.

As Megan Tady wrote in the Huffington Post,"While the Internet allows people to create and share their work with the world without anyone's permission, phone and cable companies like Comcast and AT&T want to control the Internet - deciding which content loads fast, and which doesn't load at all. They could effectively silence artists and media makers everywhere, and you, too."

In addition to the strong grassroots support ATTN: Mr. Democrat received through social networks and private emails--Iranian, Azerbaijanian, French and American writers have embedded the video in their blogs. Plans by Comcast and AT&T to control the internet particularly endanger bloggers and small website owners who support democracy.

As the internet has become a central form of communication, internet freedom/net neutrality is vital to democracy. Don't let corporations become dictators. This issue is urgent, and the impact would be international. Please contact the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) and President Obama, strongly urging them to protect free expression on the Internet--so that we can keep using the Internet the way we want to.

People living in the U.S. can

sign this petition to the FCC.

People living outside the U.S. can

contact the FCC through email here.

Everyone can contact President Obama.

Everyone can thank these Senators for their support.

I recommend the following advocacy group for this issue: www.savetheinternet.com


This article was republished at: www.savetheinternet.com/story/30631

Iranian and Israeli Filmmakers in close competition

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Farbod Khoshtinat's short film, ATTN: Mr. Democrat, has been selected by judges for the Democracy Video Challenge to represent Iran in the final round of this competition. Khoshtinat's short is competing with videos from Israel and Algeria in the Near East category, one of six geographic divisions. Winners will be decided by "thumbs up" votes cast by signed in YouTube users who view the video via www.youtube.com/democracychallenge. One vote per video may be cast each day through June 15, 2010.

How to vote for ATTN: Mr. Democrat

Sign In to your YouTube account
Go to www.youtube.com/democracychallenge
Click on VOTE, search for ATTN: Mr. Democrat
Click on green thumbs up to vote

YouTube Google analytics maps under the videos reflect the countries from which votes for the videos are cast. Countries grow greener as more votes are cast. The map for Khoshtinat's video (at www.youtube.com/watch?v=KI6oOgG-HRg ) shows far broader geographic support. Although some of the votes credited to the US and Canada could be due to proxy servers helping Iranians to access full internet despite the Iranian government's blockade against YouTube, voters in Russia, Scandinavia, Africa and Israel are also showing support for ATTN: Mr. Democrat. Wide support should come as no surprise because it is an exceptionally well written, highly artistic and beautifully scored short film--and because there are people all over the world who support freedom and fair elections.

Thousands of Iranians have risked imprisonment, torture and death for demanding freedom and democracy, especially when they question the outcome that the Islamic Republic proclaimed regarding the June 12, 2009 Iranian presidential election. In a biographical statement submitted with his video, Khoshtinat wrote, "I am an artist, an Iranian film maker and a twenty one year old freedom fighter. I believe that one of the greatest things about art is that it gives us the ability to see, imagine and feel things in a certain way. This belief was the main reason I wanted to participate in this challenge, to give the opportunity to the people around the world to see how democracy is practiced in my country, so I visualized it through art; I wanted them to see it through my certain way of visualizing. As a young student who is studying abroad, this was the least thing I could do for my people since we all are in the quest for democracy."

Khoshtinat is no mere student. He edited the music video sequences for the Cannes award-winning film, No One Knows About the Persian Cats. And the music video Khoshtinat made for Iranian rapper Hichkas' Ye Mosht Sarbaz has received over 200,000 views on YouTube. Khoshtinat was a teenager in Tehran when he made Hichkas' video under the pseudonym "Fred" in hopes of evading arrest for promoting Western music in violation of Iran's strict Islamic laws.

As of June 13, 2010, 3:19am, Khoshtinat's upload of ATTN: Mr. Democrat has received 10,912 views on YouTube. But because several thousand of those views took place before the May 15th beginning of the final round of this competition, many of those views could not be counted as votes. The closest competitor, Democracy Is… video by Israelis Tomer Zemel, Maria Levitin and Orit Englander received 7,042 views as of 3:19am June 13, 2010. But at least 5,000 of these views took place after the video was embedded on Russian websites www.newsru.co.il, www.newsru.com, www.sem40.ru, and was covered by Israeli journalists online and in Israeli newspapers.

The winner of this competition will receive an all-expense-paid trip to Washington, D.C., New York and Hollywood, gala screenings of the winning videos in Hollywood, New York and Washington, exposure to filmmakers and the U.S. film and television industry, and meetings with democracy advocates from government, media and civil society.

How to vote for ATTN: Mr. Democrat

Sign In to your YouTube account
Go to www.youtube.com/democracychallenge
Click on VOTE, search for ATTN: Mr. Democrat
Click on green thumbs up to vote

For additional information about ATTN: Mr. Democrat and about director Farbod Khoshtinat please contact Media Advisor Julie Jigsawnovich at Jigsawnovich1 (at) gmail.com

Votes Turn Map Green

Share this! Each time you vote for ATTN: Mr. Democrat, the country you are in turns slightly greener on the Google analytics map. Here's how to vote:

1.) Sign in to YouTube.

2.) Go to  http://www.youtube.com/democracychallenge

3.) Click on VOTE button.

4.) Search for ATTN: Mr. Democrat and click on it when it comes up.

5.) Enjoy the video and click the green "thumbs up" button.

Vote once a day. Tell your friends! Competition ends June 15th.

Watch the world turn green! ATTN: Mr. Democrat Google analytics map http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KI6oOgG-HRg&feature=player_embedded

To help promote the video, LIKE the page at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Vote-FREDs-video-to-victory/124935710859617?ref=ts , and suggest it to friends.

  

If you have time, also support the video from Azerbaijan, "Democracy is…POSSIBLE"! It's great too, and Azerbaijan is in Europe/Eurasia--not in competition with ATTN: Mr. Democrat, from the Near East.

Top Picks for Democracy Video Challenge

Top pick for each category in the Democracy Video Challenge:
(click through for widescreen)

Near East 

ATTN: Mr. Democrat
Europe Eurasia
Democracy is... POSSIBLE

East Asia Pacific
Democracy is....struggle of freedom desire!

Western Hemisphere
Democracy Is...The Right of Life

South & Central Asia
Democracy is the message by the people

Africa
Democracy Is...

How to vote:
1.) 
Sign in to Youtube.

2.) Go to http://www.youtube.com/democracychallenge
3.) Click on "VOTE" button.

4.) Search for the video you want to vote for, and click on it when it comes up.
5.) 
Enjoy the video and click on the green "thumbs up" button. 
(You will know your vote was counted because you will see the red thumb turn gray.)



Vote once a day until midnight of June 15th, when the final judging round closes. Tell your friends.

ATTN: Mr. Democrat video

I had the honor of editing the English subtitles for Farbod Khoshtinat's video, ATTN: Mr. Democrat, which is short-listed for the final round of the Democracy Video Challenge. This video is competing against Israeli and Algerian videos in the Near East Category. Six winners from world geographic regions will receive an all-expense-paid trip to Washington, D.C., New York and Hollywood--with gala screenings of the winning videos, exposure to filmmakers and the U.S. film and television industry, and meetings with democracy advocates from government, media and civil society.

Now that Khoshtinat has released "ATTN: Mr. Democrat," returning to his home country of Iran would surely be dangerous.

How to vote for this video:

1.) Go to http://www.youtube.com/democracychallenge .
2.) Sign in to Youtube. (If you don't have a youtube account yet, it's easy to create one http://www.youtube.com/create_account?next=%2F .)

3.) Click on "VOTE" button.

4.) Search for ATTN: Mr. Democrat, and click on it when it comes up.

5.) Click on the green "thumbs up" button. (You will know your vote was counted because you will see the red thumb turn gray. Everyone can vote once a day until midnight of June 15th, when the final judging round closes.)

Please forward this information to friends and colleagues.