December 19, 2022
Iranian filmmakers are secretly filming dual versions of scenes from their movies in anticipation of a regime change after months of protests against hard-line Islamic rule in their country.
The hijab-free scenes – where actresses are portrayed without the head covering that is mandatory for women in the country – are part of a widespread protest movement in Iran sparked after Masha Amin’s death in police custody in September.
The 22-year-old woman had been arrested by Iran’s controversial ‘morality policy’ after being told she was not wearing her head-covering correctly. Iranian authorities claim she died of natural causes related to a heart condition; critics say she died after being beaten.
Her death sparked a wave of widespread protests that Iranian authorities have sought to suppress through an increasingly violent crackdown. At least 469 people, including 63 children and 32 women, have been killed by Iranian security and law enforcement officials, according to a new report published Dec. 17 by the Iranian Human Rights Organization.
Iranian director Hana Makhmalbaf, who is currently living in London in exile along with her filmmaker parents Moshen Makhmalbaf and Marzieh Meshkini, told Variety that many directors are convinced change is coming to Iran, and are already making changes to productions that are underway.
“I heard that everyone who is making a movie is making two copies — one without the hijab and one with it — because they believe so much in the revolution that they think that when their film is done after post-production, they will by then need this version without hijabs,” she said.
Kaveh Farnam, of the Iranian Association of Independent Filmmakers, also confirmed to Variety that “some directors” have shot scenes without hijabs, even though they’re doing so at tremendous risk.
“The Ministry that controls cinema announced that if they find out that somebody is doing this they will be punished,” said Farnam. “The most important matter is they try to shoot as much as possible without [the] hijab, without a head covering.”
Speaking to Variety at the 16th Eurasia film festival in Almaty, Kazakhstan, on Dec. 17, Makhmalbaf’s comments came as Iranian authorities announced the detention of Iranian actor Taraneh Alidoosti, after she criticized the use of the death penalty against protestors.
Makhmalbaf fled Tehran in 2009 after authorities issued an arrest warrant following the Venice premiere of her film “Green Days,” about the protests of that time. She said that many people are currently going to film sets without their hijabs.
“When asked to put them on, women say, ‘We are giving blood for this hijab, we are not going to put it on.’ This is what the regime is scared of — that nobody is afraid any longer. Taking the hijab off is a symbol. It is a symbol of saying, ‘We don’t want you [Islamic authorities].’”
Hopes are high today that the protests will result in a change of regime, she said.
“During the last few years this is the fourth time we’ve had protests in Iran – but this is the first time that people around the world are really hearing about them.
“The power of the current protests was evident in the anger people felt at the killing of Masha Amina – and all the subsequent killings. That girl was a symbol of how innocent people are going in the street… she was not even fighting with the regime and they killed her for nothing.”
Makhmalbaf was arrested on numerous occasions before she fled Iran.
“Now it is so different from last time — they don’t want this regime even if they make some changes. For every person they kill, they bring a thousand more onto the streets.”
Protestors want governments around the world to recognize their cause and impose stricter sanctions on the governments of the Islamic Republic – not the general sanctions that have only hurt ordinary people, she added.
Still, Makhmalbaf sees signs that change is coming. Recently, the niece of the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, 83-year-old Ali Khameini, was sentenced to three years for her outspoken opposition to the government, and earlier this month, his sister (Badri Hosseini Khamenei, mother of the imprisoned niece Farideh Moradkhan) also declared her opposition to her brother’s regime.
Iranian Director Vahid Jalilvand Says Protests Have Led to a Change in Spirit That Is ‘Irreversible’: ‘People Are Fighting for Their Inalienable Rights’
December 11, 2022
Iranian director Vahid Jalilvand’s psychological thriller “Beyond the Wall,” which premiered in competition at the Venice Film Festival, was described in the Variety review as a “morbidly violent allegory for the effects of state-sponsored trauma on the individual that places contemporary Iranian society somewhere on the map between the sixth and seventh circles of hell.”
Since the film’s premiere, protests in Iran have raged following the killing of Mahsa Amini, and have been met with savage violence from the state. Jalilvand tells Variety via a videolink from Tehran it is difficult to say what the outcome of the tumult will be, but, he adds: “The thing I am sure of is Iran will not return to how it was three months ago, before these protests started. It won’t go back. People have gained a spirit of fighting for their inalienable rights, and this won’t go back – it is irreversible now. But at the end of the day, whether there is a huge transformation or positive outcome, it is hard to say.”
When asked if a direct line can be drawn between the film’s storyline and the situation in Iran, he responds: “As [French philosopher] Lucien Goldmann says, ‘No text that a writer writes can be considered without considering the context in which the writer is living, and the surroundings of the writer, so naturally this film as well was influenced by my surroundings. But what I was striving to do was to send this message to everyone. I was looking more for a universal message through which anyone anywhere on Earth who is experiencing that type of despair could be encouraged to save themselves through their dreams, and the hope they might have.
“But naturally in a country like Iran, where we have a totalitarian regime, it is more tangible for someone living in such a society, and one can’t overlook the realities of living in such a society. So, I was naturally influenced by that in writing this, but what I hoped to do was that this could be universal, and not just related to Iranian society.”
The film begins with Ali (played by Navid Mohammadzadeh), having given up on life, attempting to commit suicide. His method seems reminiscent of a torture chamber – he wraps a soaking T-shirt around his head, ties a plastic bag over that, and shoves his hands down behind the shower pipe. But he is brought back from the brink by hammering on the door of his apartment.
When Ali tears off the bag and staggers to the door, the concierge informs him that a woman is on the run from the police, and may have hidden in the apartment block. When the man leaves it becomes evident to the viewer that the fugitive, Leila (played by Diana Habibi), has managed to enter the apartment. Ali, however, does not see her as he is almost totally blind. Eventually, he discovers Leila, but decides to help her.
Leila has been traumatized after she attended a gathering of workers who were demanding their unpaid wages. The protest had turned into a riot, which was brutally suppressed by the police. In the chaos, Leila, who is prone to epileptic seizures when stressed, became separated from her little son Taha, and was subsequently arrested. Hysterical with worry for her abandoned child, Leila causes an accident and runs from the police, who are now determined to reclaim her.
When Jalilvand was writing the screenplay for the film, he wrote on a board: “The only thing that can help us to tolerate this prison is love.” Ali and Leila are imprisoned by circumstances. However, through their relationship, they are able to achieve some form of redemption.
Jalilvand sees this as a story that audiences everywhere can identify with. “Modern humans are confined to a cell of their own world, and at any moment, with the different types of pressure that we have, we might think to ourselves what an unfortunate situation, an unfortunate life we have, and we might think: why are we living this life, why are we in this situation? But it’s only love that can rekindle that hope and recreate a sense of hopefulness to continue.”
Jalilvand says he has heard almost unanimously from viewers that they were able to identify with Leila, and this is what he intended. He wanted members of the audience “to feel her suffering so they could suffer alongside her,” he says.
The audience’s identification with the character may have been achieved through the form of acting that was adopted. Jalilvand didn’t want Habibi to act in the film, but instead to “become” Leila. “Sometimes it is not really possible to become the character because of mental or physical limitations, but here what I saw was that Diana was both intelligent enough and instinctive enough to truly become that character, Leila,” he says.
Over a year and a half, the director instructed Habibi to complete a series of exercises through which she adopted the persona of Leila. “Through that time, she had the capacity to fully become that character; she became another human being in fact,” he says.
“It was a risk, and it caused a lot of suffering to her and to the team in general. It was a bizarre experience and throughout this whole time from when it started until a month after filming ended there was constantly a therapist on set with the team to make sure that Leila stayed in character – to make her stay as Leila throughout the span of the story.
“And luckily there was no harm done to Diana herself. And on screen we see the result – it’s really like it is another person. It is not Diana we are seeing.”
Jalilvand’s method stems from his experience as a documentary filmmaker. “I realized that no matter how good the acting is a lot of the time the audience knows that it is an actor that is acting, and the character does not interact with people as a different human being, as a real human being,” he says. “But, on the other hand, in documentaries, I always felt it was so easy for a real person to interact with the audience. The connection was very real and for me that past in documentary filmmaking made it interesting to see if I could truly create such a real person in a story who could connect and interact with the audience.”
The film cannot be shown in Iran, although it isn’t officially banned. “Unfortunately the current cultural officials in Iran are not even brave enough to ban the film,” he says. “They are not even brave enough to sit and watch the film, and find the points with which they disagree, or critiques they might have of the film.
“At the moment, everything is going forward in silence. They are not giving permits for films to be shown, nor are they banning the films. This shows their cowardice somehow. They are not brave enough to say anything officially, so officially nothing is said about the movie, but they send messages by indirect channels that this movie cannot be shown right now.”
He doesn’t have a new movie planned at present. “I have a few synopses from the past that I might want to work on, but I don’t want to write something as a reaction to the current situation in Iran. I want things to settle in my mind, and then to start working on something new.”
Iran assures that contacts continue with Borrell to reactivate 2015 nuclear deal
December 19, 2022
Iranian Foreign Minister Hosein Amirabdolahian stressed on Monday that they are in contact with EU High Representative for Foreign Policy Josep Borrell, also mediator for the reactivation of the 2015 nuclear deal, and thus rejects speculations about the paralysis of the negotiations.
Amirabdolahian pointed out that Borrell and Mora will visit Amman, the Jordanian capital, to participate in the Second Baghdad Conference on December 20 and noted that an Iranian delegation will also be present.
"The Amman conference is an opportunity to negotiate the reactivation of the 2015 nuclear agreement," said the Iranian Foreign Minister, who expressed optimism "despite the attitude of the United States in the last three months."
Iran has announced the withdrawal of its commitments on several points of the 2015 nuclear agreement after the United States unilaterally withdrew from the pact in 2018, although Iranian authorities have defended that these steps can be reversed if the United States withdraws sanctions and returns to the agreement.
Iran says Jordan summit 'good opportunity' for nuclear talks
December 19, 2022
Iran's foreign minister said Monday that a summit to take place this week in Jordan will be a "good opportunity" for negotiations aimed at restoring the 2015 nuclear accord.
On-off talks to revive the deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), started in April last year directly between Iran and Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia, and indirectly with the United States.
But the indirect talks between the Washington and Tehran, mediated by the European Union, have stalled for several months with Iran facing protests over the September 16 death in custody of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian of Kurdish origin.
"Jordan is a good opportunity for us to complete these discussions," Iran's top diplomat Hossein Amir-Abdollahian told reporters in Tehran.
His comments come a day before Jordan hosts the "Baghdad II" conference on Tuesday, bringing together key Middle East and international players -- including rivals Iran and Saudi Arabia -- in a bid to defuse regional tensions.
Amir-Abdollahian and EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell are both expected to attend.
No comments:
Post a Comment