Ghobadi awaits Saberi's release because...

...they are a couple!

Bahman Ghobadi is an internationally acclaimed Kurdish-Iranian film director, whose films painfully portray the plight of Kurds in Iraq, Iran, and Turkey while applauding their resilience despite years of facing adversity. Roxana Saberi is an American journalist born to Iranian and Japanese parents, who was sentenced to eight years in prison for espionage in a closed one-day trial last week in Tehran (read the story below).

Ghobadi's new film has gone to the Cannes, but he now says he has no desire to go. He is staying put in Tehran waiting for the outcome of Saberi's appeal.