Strict censorship laws have not quashed the fighting spirit of Iranian cinema and filmmakers
Iran has been making headlines every day for the wrong reasons as far as recent memory goes. Nuclear ambitions and a potential war are painting the Persian nation in a bad light, but two weeks ago, Iran had some good international attention for a change.
A Separation won an Oscar for best foreign film, breaking new ground for Iranian cinema as it was the first to win such an award. Director and screenwriter Asghar Farhadi’s acceptance speech was not politically charged, but did refer to Iran as a “rich an ancient culture that has been hidden under the heavy dust of politics.” The statement doubled as commentary on the present situation of cinema and arts in Iran.
Iranian cinema is considered among the best in the world, its filmmakers often praised at international film festivals from Venice to Berlin. This is possibly the only upside to the screening ban of international films in the country following the 1979 revolution. It reached its golden age in the ‘80s and ‘90s, with war, women’s rights, social issues, and more recently, drug abuse, forming important themes with Iranian cinema.
Movie genres central to Western pop culture, such as the romantic comedy, family comedy, and drama, are popular in Iran as well, though Iranian filmmakers are pressed to find new techniques to create excitement and convey feeling — the religious government mandated a ban of overtly sexual themes and gratuitous violence, which makes the mood and pace of Iranian cinema strikingly different from Western movies.
But life is hard for the creative class in a country whose media laws are curled up in the iron fist of the theocratic regime. Those involved in film must tread a fine line between making a political statement and jail. Even as Iranian cinema blossomed in the 1980s, any films with controversial or critical messages drew immediate attention from religious leaders. As the Iran–Iraq war raged, several cinematographers created harrowing depictions of the conflict that would take the lives of over one million Iranians. Movies that were supportive of the war effort were embraced, but the many which portrayed the gritty reality of war did not receive the support they may have deserved.
Barzakhiha (“The Imperiled”), a film following the story of three escaped prisoners who get caught up into the frontline of the war, was not banned like other anti-war pictures, but it created such controversy that it led to the dismissal of the minister of culture and Islamic guidance, and effectively ended the careers of its three main actors. This was 1982.
More recently in 2001, renowned feminist filmmaker Tahmineh Milani came under fire for Nimeh-ye Panhan (“The Hidden Half”), which had scenes detailing the early days of the 1979 revolution, for which Milani was arrested on charges of being an anti-revolutionary, though backlash from the international community led to her release. This arguably ended her publicly political streak — Milani’s latest picture, Yeki Az Ma Do Nafar (“One of We Two”), is a romantic comedy similar to the ones found in Western theaters.
The issue of censorship was brought to the forefront of the public mind late last year, when six documentary filmmakers working for the BBC Persian Service were arrested on accusations of conspiracy in relation to a critical documentary on the life of the current supreme leader of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Unfortunately, the arrests are nothing out of the ordinary. Iran is the largest jailer of journalists, documentary filmmakers, and cinematographers. Two world famous Iranian directors, Abbas Kiarostami and Jafar Panahi, are currently living abroad and in jail respectively. Kiarostami has forcefully come out against the arrests of Panahi, his former protegé who was arrested in late 2010 on charges of intent to jeopardize national security and creating propaganda against the Islamic Republic.
Even in triumph, there’s no escaping censorship. A line in Asghar Farhadi’s Oscar acceptance speech was changed in a report by the Iranian state TV, from referring to the Iranian people as one that “respects all cultures and civilizations and despise hostility and resentment,” to that “the Iranian people respect all cultures despite the Western hostility towards the Iranian nuclear program.” Farhadi originally made no mention of the Iranian nuclear program.
It is unfortunate that those in power seemingly do not wish it to happen, but as long as Iran has people like Asghar Fahradi and Abbas Kiarostami, its cinematic library will continue to grow and impact the world, one film at a time.
