Filmmakers in Iran - obey regime, or face jail (Feature)

By Farshid Motahari Feb 2, 2011, 10:28 GMT

Teheran - It has always been difficult for dissident filmmakers in Iran to run the bureaucratic and ideological gauntlet to get Cultural Ministry approval for their productions so that they finally reach the big screen.

But all of that has become much worse since the June 2009 presidential election and the subsequent protests against alleged vote fraud and the re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Iranian director Asghar Farhadi, whose latest movie is part of next week's Berlin Film Festival's main competition, attempts to articulate it diplomatically. 'What used to be not very easy has now become rather tedious.'

Many Iranian filmmakers would say the same thing, albeit not nearly so diplomatically. But they refrain from doing so, lest they wind up like another filmmaker, Jafar Panahi, who was sentenced to a stiff prison sentence.

Panahi has been invited to be a member of this year's Berlin Film Festival jury.

'In a country with censorship, you can only express what you want to say by saying nothing,' famed Iranian filmmaker Naser Taghvaei explained the situation in recent years.

Before the election, Panahi had been critical of Ahmadinejad, had supported the opposition and promptly landed on the establishment's black list. Then he was arrested for a production which allegedly was critical of the regime.

His case ended up before a revolutionary tribunal which normally hears only cases involving national security. He received a six-year prison term and a 20-year ban on making any films, writing screenplays, giving any form of interview with Iranian or foreign media or leaving the country.

'Not writing or shooting anything, that I can understand. But not being able to leave the country for 20 years or speak to the press, now that is indeed egregious,' said one filmmaker who preferred to remain anonymous.

Panahi's lawyers have appealed the sentence. Iranian Minister of Culture Mohammad Hosseini is said to have announced that the court decision can be held in abeyance 'owing to cultural open-mindedness in this nation'.

But he went on to say: 'Now he must promise to alter the content of his films.'

Hosseini's deputy and head of the Culture Ministry's film department, Javad Shamghadri, has accused some movie makers of still not having learnt that 'critical films of cultural treason are even more insidious than espionage'.

Many filmmakers are unsure how to make of such remarks.

'Some (of our officials) believe that pressure brings positive results, but that is wide off the mark,' says Taghvaei. 'With pressure you can certainly eliminate artists, but you definitely cannot bring about creativity.

And yet, even when movies are ideologically in order, filmmakers can still come in for trouble.

Farhadi, whose film About Elly won the Silver Bear for best director at the 2009 Berlin Film Festival as well as best picture at the Tribeca Film Festival, merely expressed the hope in a speech last September that some Iranian exile filmmakers might soon be permitted to come home.

The Iranian Culture Ministry did not like those remarks the least bit.

He was promptly told to halt production of his latest film, Nader and Simin - A Separation and the shoot only resumed after repeated assurances by Farhadi that he had intended no political or ideological criticism. The film is in the race for the Berlinale's coveted Golden Bear for best picture.

Between 50 to 60 movies are produced annually in Iran. Epic war films and frothy comedies with all-star casts not only get the fulsome blessings of the Ministry of Culture but also fulsome budgets which used to be allotted to more serious, high-brow filmmakers.

To avoid financial fiasco, even independent producers maintain a hands-off attitude towards potentially controversial productions. For even if a screenplay is approved, it is uncertain whether production approval might actually ensue.

And even if a production is 'a wrap' and 'in the can', it may never actually be approved for theatrical release - meaning no return on investment.

'Filmmakers must either be obedient or they will be in trouble. So they either go into foreign exile or they get in trouble with the system - like poor Pahani,' said one Iranian journalist.

Bahman Ghobadi is one of those exile filmmakers, now making his home in Berlin. In contrast, Panahi was unable last year to attend the Berlin Film Fest. And despite his membership of the festival jury, it is unlikely he will be able to attend the Berlinale.

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