Ahmadi at the Movies
Oct 6th, 2009 by pedestrian
With things like this, I guess going to the movies should be our last concern …
But just to let you know, Ahmadinejad is taking over the movie business.
Khabaroline reports that in the inauguration ceremony for Javad Shamaghdari yesterday, who will be the “deputy of cinematic affairs” at the ministry of culture and Islamic guidance [the body in the ministry which is responsible for harassing filk makers and manipulating all their work] Shamaghdari gave a very interesting bit of news.
There is a new council underway in the ministry, “High Council of Cinema” (sounds very similar to “High Council for Cultural Revolution”) that will overlook all cinematic matters and Ahmadinejad will be the chair of this council.
WTF?!
The Iranian movie industry , which has never been very strong, has taken a considerable blow in the past few years to a point where, I don’t keep count, but I don’t think we have more than 2 or 3 presentable films every year.
Ahmadi & Co may go on and on about “Islamic Values” but they have single handedly buried the Iranian movie industry under a sea of profanity in the past four years.
Unforgettable movies like the Glass Agency
have given way to things like “The Mouse” and “The Promise”
Because it’s simply impossible to get permits for anything remotely decent with a real story these days.
Ahmadi & Co. should be tried for cultural corruption.
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As I was writing this, I read that Ebrahim Hatamikiya’s much awaited movie, “The Color Purple” (yes, let’s hope the movie is more original than the name) which has been seized by the ministry for the past 3 years, has gotten a permit to be shown in the 26th Fajr Film Festival in February.
Kudo’s for using a EVIL DEAD2 pic! Most influential movie ever!! Pakistan recently made a horror film. I would love to see a Iranian horror film as i see on horror blog flag counts the Iranians always crop up.
But not content with destroying Iranian music (of the challenging kind) they run the movie industry into near extinction except for feel good Islam preaching government approved shite which makes bargain bins look like block busters.
Shiraz used to be a haven for the avant garde before the regime and now, well all the still performing ones live abroad as their art is viewed as a ‘threat to Islamic values’. Yep, the regime once again prove themselves to be the equivalent of bland wallpaper with sharp rusty nails sticking out or something to that effect. Dogshit sums them up too.
There was a semi-horror film called “the girls’ dorm” a few years ago, but that’s the only one that comes to mind in recent years.
Bumrack, I wish it was at least “feel good Islam preaching” – like I said, it is utter profanity. Guys and girls with a shitload of plastic surgery and Dior sunglasses in really shiny cars chasing each other down the road making eye contact. What is also REALLY disgusting is that all sorts of sexual hints are ALLOWED so long as the movie ends with a “the basiji was right all along”. That is, ordinary film makers with good stories are banned for the smallest hints of this stuff – and loads more of it is OK as long as it follows a certain ending.
@Bumcrack: There’s no horror genre in Iran outside of a handful of films. If you like Evil Dead, you’re going to be severely disappointed by a movie like Girls’ Dormitory.
@Pedestrian: You say, “The Iranian movie industry, which has never been very strong, has taken a considerable blow in the past few years to a point where, I don’t keep count, but I don’t think we have more than 2 or 3 presentable films every year.”
What do you mean by “presentable”? If you mean having a film industry largely subsidized by European intellectuals, well yes that seems to be slipping away but I don’t think that’s as much on Ahmadinejad as it is on the Europeans growing bored of Iranian films and moving on to the next hot new thing. And I wouldn’t hold my breath on Hatamikia’s latest. A general rule to follow with post-revolutionary Iranian cinema: if it’s got a color or a piece of fruit in the title, it’s going to be a snoozefest.
By the same token, and this also predates Ahmadinejad, we have had in Iran a real resurgence of cinema-going in recent years. I think a film has broken all the box office records every year since Marmoulak in 2004 (Atashbas, Tofigh-e Ejbari, Ekhrajiha, Ekhrajiha 2). Don’t know what’s going to happen now with all the blacklisting but this is the longest sustained period of commercial success for the domestic cinema since the early 1970s. And all this despite the fact that everyone has a tv now.
Ped,
Ahmadinejad had mentioened last week, i think, that he needs to ready for “media war”.
This is not surprising me at all.
Ahmadinejad has been using Shamghadari to direct his campain clips, has also been associated with stupid box office hist like “ekhrajiha” by the THUG (of Ansaar) Masood Dehnamaki!
Ahmadinejad’s copying a page out of Hitler’s book! But, the cheap shot that he is, he cannot pull off a decent peace of propaganda! He may try Majid Majidi in his “Council”, but what is he gonna do, have poor kids run and fish flow in water fro Ahmadi’s propaganda?!
This is another bulshit out of this megalomanic! SAd truth is he is so unaware of his roughness (makes me think of what pirouz said, the “class” superiority complexes oozing out of me now) that this too will fall in the category of circus!
supp, my cousin is a documtary film maker in Iran, and since you have to get the approval of about a dozen different places for each 5 minute movie, I get a sense of the atmosphere year by year looking at the ups and downs of her work.
Irrespective of Europe, the 4 year Ahmadinejad cultural ministry has been a catastrophe for a lot of film makers. EVEN to the IRI’s standards. The only movies that get permission are the cheesey “film farsis” which have have come a long way since the days of “ganj-e gharoon” and must now always feature a Mercedez and a couple of BMWs.
As for Hatamikiya, I found his last movie (be nam-e pedar) particularly disappointing, and this one has a plagiarized name too, so I’m not holding my breath or anything.
Naj, that scared me b/c Ahmadinejad’s films were GOOD, they were VERY, VERY conniving and for people who have no access to other voices, they could in fact be convincing too.
Ped,
propaganda film has a formula. If someone has read enough on Russia’s Eisenstein, Montage theory, and has watched enough German films, one can produce them easily–look that is how Hollywood has become the second greatest export out of America–second to weapons only.
You may recall that during the Iraq war and Bush, there was a notable increase in what I call “fascist-films”, like Lord of the Ring, V for Vandetta, King Kong, Superman, Batman, Spiderman and etc. These films become see-through after a while! Let Ahmadinejad take over the film industry–this in fact doesn’t make me too unhappy! Cinema is an expensive adventure–let him invest in it; we need technology and equipment for it–in due time, we will take it back!
That’s what my cousin told me: it’s not hard at all to make a film like this. But if it’s not, why didn’t the other 3 do it too? ( I know it’s a nasty enterprise to engage in, but they were dealing with one nasty opponent!) The other movies were informative, but nowhere near as influential or convincing.
Lord of the Rings too? But that was my favorite childhood book :-/
You see the bright side to everything! I’m just scared of all the minds he may screw with. If he’s going to take over the movie industry, the greens REALLY need a medium of their own.
I think Mousavi had very nice and “convincing” video–he convinced me
. In fact, Ahmadinejad started making his films AFTER Mousavi did! He just copied!
And look, Ahmadinejad can convince people with the “right message” … but he ACTS against the message of his videos; and that’s where he falls in the pit! So let him dig his grave deeper–teaching people to stand-up for truth; that’s what he preaches, right? Let people learn!
He cannot “convert” Iranians who already “hate” him; he wants a media war? Let him bring it on, baby!
re LOTR: it was yoru favorite “book”, I was talking about the movie!
I really liked Mousavi’s movie too, it wasn’t “in your face” … it was soft, and subtle. But after everyone kept saying how “convincing” Ahmadinejad’s film had been in the provinces, if it was indeed, I kept thinking why didn’t Mousavi make one like that too?
But you really are on an optimistic note today, won’t argue
I know! I meant that I loved the book so much that I never placed the movie in the category of “spiderman/batman/fascist films”. But I guess you could put it there very well.
I have the luxury of having a lot of personal time on my hands, and I’ve been devoting a portion of that to international film watching. Basically, I use movie lists drawn from Wikipedia entries, such as academy award nominations, Iran cinema, intl films of specific genres, etc. Also, whenever, Iranian films are shown on cable TV, which is very infrequently, I watch them. However, I totally avoid the “film farsis” genre. I can’t stand almost everything that comes out of Hollywood today, so why in the world would I watch those? So anyway, as I was saying, I acquire suggestions from these lists and go straight to YouTube. If something that interests me isn’t there, I check my local library system, which actually might be one of the best systems in the world. I know, that’s a bold claim, but everything I’ve suggested they’ve purchased. A great setup! In fact, I’ve yet to find the need for Netflix.
I’ve been working off of the Wikipedia entry “Cinema of Iran”, which has a “Timeline of Iranian films” section containing lists of films by decade. The two decades I’ve focused on are the 1990s and 2000s. I’ve seen some good films, like “Secret Ballot” , “Son of Maryam”, “Children of Heaven”, White Balloon”,”Baran”, “Offside”. Unfortunately, the last two films I watched, “Taste of Cherry” and “The Wind Will Carry Us”, I didn’t really care for, particularly the former title. I’m still plugging away on the Wikipedia lists.
I drew a blank for complete YouTube uploads of “The Glass Agency” and “Minoo Watch Tower” (which were not on the Wikipedia lists) and they’re unavailable at Netflix. Oh well.
So Mahmoud wants to be directly involved in art and culture. A hardly reassuring endeavor for a trained engineer (I’m joking here, Ped!) with a zealous religious bend. There’s already a shortage of well produced films for people capable of independent thought. I guess there will be just that many fewer.
Pirouz, you gotta watch Hatamikiya’s “the glass agency” and “red ribbon”. Him and Ahmadreza Darvish are pretty much the only decent storytellers of war. I liked the Taste of Cherry! Have you seen Bani Etemad’s “zireh poosteh shahr” or “khoon bazi”? Boutique and “beh hamin sadeghi” were among my other favorites.
What an exciting project!
Pirouz,
How about films of Mehrjooyee, Baizayee, Kimiyayee, Shahid Sales, ALi Hatami, Ebrahim Golestan in the pre-revolution era?
Ahmadinejad is most capable of film-farsi–which will have its audience; but who cares, those kind of audience are ineffective in any event; they are not the ones who are ready to “stand up” for ANY cause!
Naj, I think Mehrjooyi has got to be my favorite Iranian director. And what’s up with Kimiyayee post-revolution? I’m just one audience member, so this is a personal opinion, but he seems to be going downhill.
Hey! I like Film Farsi!
“Ganj-e Gharoon” is one of the most important Iranian movies ever made!