Video: Iran gay film in fundraising challenge

Illustrated rainbow pride flag on a white background.

A New York filmmaker has less than a month to raise $100,000 (£61,910) so he can produce a film about Iran’s systematic persecution of its LGBT citizens.

Wajahat Ali Abbasi plans to depict the story of a gay teenager in Iran who was killed by public hanging, along with his partner, and has released a trailer of the film in order to raise awareness.

Filming of SIN, which is based on real life events, is scheduled to start early next year and Mr Ali Abbasi is currently running a fundraising campaign on kickstarter.com.

The money is needed to pay for production costs.

Mr Ali Abbasi hopes the film will put pressure on the country’s president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, to abandon his barbaric homophobic views.

Last Saturday, Mr Ahmadinejad was interviewed on Piers Morgan Tonight, and equated homosexuality to stealing and told the presenter that being gay is ugly.