The Rock of Sisyphus

This year for the first time at the Berlinale, six Iranian films were shown. Igal Avidan spoke with directors Mani Haghighi and Nassar Refaie about their films, the difficult production conditions they faced, and censorship in Iran

Four Iranians, old friends, make a pit stop on their return from a ski vacation. They discover a phallic-looking rock on a cliff and get the idea to push it into the abyss below. Their rather helpless attempts and the problems of well-off Iranians in mid-life crisis are the subjects of the film "Men at Work."

Director Mani Haghighi chooses his words carefully when he says that a political film lurks behind the grotesque plot. "I can't say that my film is apolitical," Haghighi admits, "I can only say that politics does not play the main role. If the film has a political effect on viewers, that would not bother me. You can't separate social films from political films. How would that be possible?"

Quick production, no red tape

Haghighi leaves it to viewers to interpret the rock symbol. Getting permission for "Men at Work" and producing it went surprising quickly, with no red tape. The film was shown a few weeks ago at the Fadjr Film Festival in Tehran and won the prize for best screenplay. Its start in Iranian cinemas will be in just a few months, say Haghighi. Getting permission to make the film only took a single day. The film was shot soon thereafter when the producer quickly agreed to the idea and granted a small budget.

Even the process of going through the ministry of culture was no problem, Haghighi tells: "My producer brought the manuscript to the cultural ministry and they approved it within two days. Ten days later we were already filming. Then we presented the completed film at the ministry. It lay there on a desk for a while because the new president had just replaced the ministry's staff. As soon as the new officials saw the film, they gave the green light."

In contrast, Haghighi's first film, "Abadan," was shot in 2003 without permission. The shooting in Tehran proved very complicated and time consuming. The censors forbid the film when it was finished because it was shot without permission. They were probably also disturbed by the many bad words and references to the Iran-Iraq war.

Mani Haghighi lived in Canada for seventeen years and only returned to Iran in 2000. Limitations and censorship were a part of Iranian culture before the Islamic revolution too, he says.

"There are many stories I would like to tell but am not allowed to tell. The law forbids scenes with obvious violence or sexuality, as well as certain political issues. Certain historical periods in Iranian history are also taboo. You could tell many good stories about all these, but we aren't allowed to. Of course there is censorship in Iran. But we have learned to find stories that are permitted and which we also want to tell."

One element of this "schizophrenia" of censorship and freedom in Iran are the millions of satellite dishes and the flourishing market of pirated copies. Wandering DVD peddlers bring Hollywood films into Iranian living rooms, sometimes even before their world premiere.

Of thieves, DVD peddlers and junkies

One such peddler is depicted in Nasser Refaie's film "Another Morning." The film's hero is a quiet widower who meets many people on the streets of Tehran, including a DVD peddler who offers pornography as "DVDs for singles," a drug addict, a thief and an adulterer. For Nasser Refaie, it was an obstacle course to get permission to make the film. "After I presented the screenplay, it took eight months and a lot of discussion to convince the authorities that the film is good and documents an important moment in Iranian society, in order to get the permission for it," says Rafaie.

The final edit was finished just in time for the Berlinale. He himself saw the final cut in Berlin for the first time. Refaie also needed permission to show the film at the Berlin festival. "The way it happened is that a few people from the committee saw the film and told the others that it was unproblematic and that it could be shown abroad," Refaie explained. "Anyone can get around the different kinds of limitations imposed by the authorities, that goes for me and for every Iranian who wants to watch banned DVDs."

"Men at Work" by Mani Haghighi is considered an art film in Iran, not a potential box office hit. This means it is unclear if the film will run in Iranian theaters. It is often easier to get permission for art house films that will most likely be shown abroad but not necessarily in Iran.

The "Men at Work" film crew, however, were not able to accompany the film to Berlin. Because of a demonstration against the caricatures of Mohammad, access to the German embassy was blocked in Tehran. The film crew's passports and visas were unfortunately lying on a desk inside.

Igal Avidan

Translated from the German by Christina White

Qantara.de

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