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| Iranian film festival loses its lustre | Iranian film festival loses its lustre |
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| With an Oscar win last year for Asghar Farhadi's The Separation, you'd be forgiven for thinking that these are golden years for Iranian cinema. But ramped up censorship has sent several of the country's most famous film-makers into early retirements or off to western Europe and north America. | With an Oscar win last year for Asghar Farhadi's The Separation, you'd be forgiven for thinking that these are golden years for Iranian cinema. But ramped up censorship has sent several of the country's most famous film-makers into early retirements or off to western Europe and north America. |
| A look at the listings for this week's annual Fajr (Dawn) film festival, which commemorates the 1979 revolution and is one of the most important in the Middle East, shows another anaemic year for Iran's film industry. The number of new indigenous productions has dropped, leaving older Iranian films and foreign movies to pick up the slack. Film festival movies, which in the 1980s and 1990s were the only way Iranians could view foreign cinema, this year include Finding Nemo, Kung Fu Panda 2 and Harry Potter 7. | A look at the listings for this week's annual Fajr (Dawn) film festival, which commemorates the 1979 revolution and is one of the most important in the Middle East, shows another anaemic year for Iran's film industry. The number of new indigenous productions has dropped, leaving older Iranian films and foreign movies to pick up the slack. Film festival movies, which in the 1980s and 1990s were the only way Iranians could view foreign cinema, this year include Finding Nemo, Kung Fu Panda 2 and Harry Potter 7. |
| Art-house director Nasser Taghvai, a household name in Iran, gave up making films in 2005, the year that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's administration took over from Mohammad Khatami's reformist government. Bahram Beyzayi, another famed filmmaker here, has left for the US, while Jafar Panahi spent time in prison and under house arrest for trying to make a film about the post-election tumult in 2009. He faces a 20-year ban on writing scripts, directing films, giving interviews or leaving the country. Despite this, he has co-directed a film, Closed Curtains, opening at the Berlin film festival this week. | Art-house director Nasser Taghvai, a household name in Iran, gave up making films in 2005, the year that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's administration took over from Mohammad Khatami's reformist government. Bahram Beyzayi, another famed filmmaker here, has left for the US, while Jafar Panahi spent time in prison and under house arrest for trying to make a film about the post-election tumult in 2009. He faces a 20-year ban on writing scripts, directing films, giving interviews or leaving the country. Despite this, he has co-directed a film, Closed Curtains, opening at the Berlin film festival this week. |
| "I used to love the festival but the films are low quality now," says a passerby being handed a flyer for Fajr outside the Azadi cinema in midtown Tehran. "I have never heard of any of these directors." Another says that Iran's classic directors are staying away as they don't want to be affiliated with the government-run festival. | "I used to love the festival but the films are low quality now," says a passerby being handed a flyer for Fajr outside the Azadi cinema in midtown Tehran. "I have never heard of any of these directors." Another says that Iran's classic directors are staying away as they don't want to be affiliated with the government-run festival. |
| The ministry of culture and Islamic guidance (known as Ershad) has come under criticism by Iranian directors for "sanitising" the industry, only allowing the mildest of political films to be screened. | The ministry of culture and Islamic guidance (known as Ershad) has come under criticism by Iranian directors for "sanitising" the industry, only allowing the mildest of political films to be screened. |
| Fewer popular art-house movies are being made and a merry-go-round of officials heading up Fajr – three since 2009 – betrays political meddling at the top or dissidence in its ranks. Probably both. The only sure bet for political film-makers are those that depict the Holy Defence (Iran-Iraq War), a genre of its own in the Islamic republic. Javad Shamaghdari, the head of cinema at Ershad, is an old hand in the genre. | Fewer popular art-house movies are being made and a merry-go-round of officials heading up Fajr – three since 2009 – betrays political meddling at the top or dissidence in its ranks. Probably both. The only sure bet for political film-makers are those that depict the Holy Defence (Iran-Iraq War), a genre of its own in the Islamic republic. Javad Shamaghdari, the head of cinema at Ershad, is an old hand in the genre. |
| This week, in response to a journalist's question about the festival eschewing playing sensitive films, the head of the festival said that "technical and conceptual standards" had been raised, causing a reduction in Iranian-made films being shown. | This week, in response to a journalist's question about the festival eschewing playing sensitive films, the head of the festival said that "technical and conceptual standards" had been raised, causing a reduction in Iranian-made films being shown. |
| In contrast to cinema, TV films are booming. Commissioned, financed and supervised by IRIB, the state TV behemoth, hundreds of movies about chador-clad hostage negotiators or virtuous government officials substitute for independent film. | In contrast to cinema, TV films are booming. Commissioned, financed and supervised by IRIB, the state TV behemoth, hundreds of movies about chador-clad hostage negotiators or virtuous government officials substitute for independent film. |
| Ultimately it's the Islamic republic's poor treatment of its national assets that has put the industry on the rocks. A few years ago, director Nasser Taghvai refused a voucher for half the price of an Iranian-built Peykan car as a prize, joking that he could not afford the other half. This year, he explained his eight-year hiatus from film-making: "Until the day comes that I do not have to get permission to make films, I will not make any." | Ultimately it's the Islamic republic's poor treatment of its national assets that has put the industry on the rocks. A few years ago, director Nasser Taghvai refused a voucher for half the price of an Iranian-built Peykan car as a prize, joking that he could not afford the other half. This year, he explained his eight-year hiatus from film-making: "Until the day comes that I do not have to get permission to make films, I will not make any." |
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