Hope for Iranian Cinema | DesPardes.com

LONDON, Dec 16 - Iran's film censors may be sharpening their scissors, but one of the Islamic republic's most popular actresses insists the country's internationally acclaimed industry cannot be written off, according to AFP.

"Iran is a magical country and you can't say what is coming next, and I can't say whether change will come in cinema in the near future or not," Fatemeh Motamed Arya said in an interview.

(Editor's Note: Fatemah received the "Best Female Actor in a Leading Role" award at the 5th KaraFilm Festival held in Karachi this month.)

"But I have not lost the hope for a better Iranian cinema," she told AFP at the KaraFilm festival in the southern Pakistani city of Karachi, which finished at the weekend.

Fatemeh Motamed Arya

The actress, in her mid-40's, plays the mother of a soldier injured in the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war in the recent movie "Gilaneh", and said that strict rules imposed after the 1979 Islamic revolution had left directors with little room for maneuver.

"There is complete censorship on films showing sex, violence or the use of alcohol -- there are limited topics left for the filmmakers," she said.

"Iranian cinema post-revolution is not very commercial, particularly for the outside world."

Under Iran's former reformist president Mohammad Khatami, a mild-mannered cleric and a lover of all things cultural -- the Iranian film industry experienced something of a boom.

But pressure has been mounting again on filmmakers and other artists since the shock presidential election win in June of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad,an outspoken hardliner on a mission to restore "revolutionary values".

State movie censors have been purged for being too soft. Now also being blocked are any works deemed "feminist", "secular", pro-American, or indeed anything that runs against Ahmadinejad's vision of a "Koranic culture".

Iran's film industry has emerged from such challenges before, including the post-revolutionary period when "Westoxication" was outlawed and propaganda films were in.

Centered in Tehran, the capital, many movie makers have since then produced more inward-looking, existential works -- a trend that has led to a series of critically admired pieces and festival winners in recent years, such as Abbas Kiarostami's recent film 'Ten'.

"It was not easy for them (the directors), but they found topics like family problems and social issues caused by a prolonged Iran-Iraq war," Arya said.

"There were more films on human relations which are very strong in the eastern society like ours," she said. "There are also films on women issues but keeping the censorship in mind."

This is the first time for five years that Iran has taken part in the KaraFilm festival, even though the two countries are neighbors, and Arya hopes that "Gilaneh" will touch a common chord with international audiences.

She said that at first it was difficult to make films that would interest the outside world, but now carefully crafted dramas like "Ten" and "Gilaneh" are winning fans.

"Its a film which showed impact of war on the Iranians and how a mother lived with her handicapped son," she said.

But she stressed that even if there were increased freedoms, Iranian cinema, like the auteur-driven films produced by Europe, will always have an individualistic streak.

"Don't expect Hollywood or Bollywood from Iranian cinema. The world has to accept it as it is," she said.

(Content Source: IranMania)

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