Scores of prominent filmmakers and intellectuals are urging Iranians to vote for his moderate and reformist rivals in the June 12 presidential election and to put an end to the hardliner's four-year rule.

For decades Iran has vetted artistic productions and publications before their release. Several films, such as by art house favourite Jafar Panahi, have been banned.

But the number of banned books and movies is said to have reached a record high under Ahmadinejad.

"In these four years censorship reached a peak. Vetting has created so many problems for publishers and put the private sector on the verge of bankruptcy," prominent publisher Amir Hossein-Zadegan told Etemad Melli newspaper.

Artists enjoyed a period of relative freedom during the 1997-2005 reformist presidency of Mohammad Khatami, who came under fire from Islamic conservatives who accused his culture officials of promoting "decadence."

Ahmadinejad's government came to power with a pledge to revive revolutionary and Islamic values, and it appointed an editor of the hardline daily Kayhan to head the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance.

In April 2008, amid complaints of arbitrary vetting and blurred red lines, Culture Minister Mohammad Hossein Safar Harandi urged writers to self-censor their books if they wanted to be published.

He said writers were expected to avoid the "excessive portrayal of a man and woman's private relationships" and "making fun of religion".

His ministry has banned scores of titles, including works by one of Iran's greatest living authors, Sadegh Hedayat, and the latest novel by famed Colombian writer Gabriel Garcia Marquez, "Memories of My Melancholy Whores."

Several times, vetting officials have revoked the permits of books which they had previously authorised, such as "Scorpion on the Platforms of Andimeshk Railroad," a novel set during the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s.

It was banned after two reprints.

"The censorship has become much worse," its critically-acclaimed writer Hossein Mortezaian Abkenar told AFP.

"I was inspired by my own experience of national service, but apparently only certain people are allowed to talk about the war," he said, adding that the authorities had suddenly found his work "anti-war".

"They have a fear of the realism of the arts. An artistic work can be revisited even after 100 years and mirror an era," he said.

Iran is very sensitive about the portrayal of its "sacred defence," the term used for the conflict with Iraq that claimed a total of one million lives on the two sides.

Most directors who have made movies about the war, including comedies, served as volunteers at the front.

Filmmakers have praised the government for building and restoring movie halls across the country and curbing the distribution of bootlegged DVDs which seriously damage box office sales.

But culture officials have also faced criticism in artistic circles for a proliferation of generic "spiritual" films and sugary comedies.

"In this government ... there has been more restriction on several subjects such as women's issues," Tahmineh Milani, who directed "Two Women," told Sarmayeh newspaper.

Milani has sought in vain for the past two years to revoke a ban on her movie "Settlement."

On May 23, several filmmakers and actors attended a rally at Tehran's Azadi (Freedom) stadium on the anniversary of the 1997 election triumph of Khatami, who has thrown his weight behind war-time premier Mir Hossein Mousavi.

In a passionate letter released this month, celebrated director Mohsen Makhmalbaf backed Mousavi, while also praising Mehdi Karroubi, the reformist former parliament speaker who is also running for the presidency.

Prominent director Darioush Mehrjoui has appealed to young voters to go out and vote for either Mousavi or Karroubi.

"In the bad current situation, there is no room for sulking away. We should not forget the good times," Mehrjoui wrote in the popular youth weekly Chelcheragh.

"This election could be the most special one for you and I who are craving for change," said Mehrjoui, who has enchanted generations of Iranian moviegoers with his dramas.

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