I have to credit my good friend Bilge Ebiri for letting me know there is indeed an Iranian film version of J.D. Salinger's classic novel "Franny and Zooey".
The film "Pari," made in 1995, by director Dariush Mehrjui (we couldn't find an image of that film, so we are using the poster for "Gabbeh," which is one of my favorite Persian films) was adapted from the novel and it was screened internationally until it was set to be shown at an Iranian film festival at the Lincoln Center in New York in 1998.
It was then that the reclusive author's lawyers said showing the film was a copyright violation (one of the reasons the film was able to be made in Iran is because the country has no formal copyright laws).
Richard Pena, the programming director of the festival, told "The New York Times" in 1998 that Salinger's intervention caught him off-guard:
"It was assumed there was no prohibition on the film," Pena told reporter Jesse McKinley of the "NYT," "It's been around for a while."
Mehrjui said he was also stunned by what happened:
"This reaction is really quite bewildering." the director said. "I don't want to distribute the film commercially. It's a kind of cultural exchange. I just want to let the film be seen for critics and the people that follow my work."
Mehrjui is best known for his 1969 film "The Cow," which is considered to be a landmark film in Iran. His most recent film is "Santoori" (2007). Like "Pari," it is not available in the United States, but we presume that's for different reasons.
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