An Iranian filmmaker, refused permission by Tehran to renew his passport, is now stuck in northern Iraq, effectively barred from visiting Japan to promote his award-winning film about Iran's underground music scene.

Bahman Ghobadi, director of "No One Knows About Persian Cats," which won the special jury prize in the Un Certain Regard (A certain view) section at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival, said via an Internet phone interview from Tokyo that the refusal by Iranian authorities to issue him travel documents is "a clear example of the rights violations I set out to portray in the film."

With his passport pages full of entry and exit stamps from his frequent travels overseas, Ghobadi, a 42-year-old Iran-born Kurd, is unable to use it.