16 Sep 2011 | Iran, Middle East and North Africa
With the strict supposedly “moral” codes imposed on Iranian society with increasing conservatism in recent times, this latest directive – banning ‘love triangles’ and ‘half naked men’ — issued to television programme directors this week, strikes me to be of little significance. It was more than 10 years ago that I reported in the Touch issue of COLORS magazine that even if married in the story, couples were not allowed to be filmed touching in any way. This distortion of every day living is pursued in all depictions of life in television and film and is known to be a distortion and deliberate by those imposing it. This was transparent in this latest ordinance because the wording was such:
“The unnecessary mingling of men and women in scenes including weddings, family parties, work situations and celebrations must also be strictly avoided.”
I use the word ordinance because such directives come from Iran’s Supreme Leader in however a round about way. It is Khamenei who carefully chooses the head of the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcaster, and by law all channels are owned and controlled by the state.
This gross misrepresentation of us as a people, within a culture that celebrates community and family values, respect for elders and warmth and understanding in interpersonal relationships — now replaced by an imposed monstrous utopia — is a tragedy and consequential. In essence all it promotes is a parallel existence, lies and false conformity and very questionable moral codes. The fact that weddings and other family gatherings are as good as banned on television because men and women would necessarily be seen to be mingling, presents a view of society to a generation of children that does not match their daily experiences and therefore establishes the double life idea, instilling a sense of an unfamiliar model on-screen life and the other real one.
The Washington Times reports that this may all be a backlash to the popularity of an Iranian soap opera Forbidden Fruit that posed a threat to public morality. But given that half naked men amount to a fantasy concept on Iran’s state television, does this mean the directive could be aimed at sports too? The tradition of wrestling matches in Iran is normally broadcast despite the dominance of scantily-clad men. Watch this amazing clip for an insight:
Too Young The Hero
Entitled ‘Too Young The Hero’, it’s a primer for a proposed documentary following three young lads as they prepare for the World Wrestling Championships in Hungary. The project needs $4000 to go ahead and has opened up a fundraising initiative to the public, where a $10 donation will get you a 1000 Toman note with the film’s title stamped on it, and more for more. There are 9 days to pledge.
13 Sep 2011 | Iran, Middle East and North Africa
Tomorrow, the Cinema Office of Iran’s Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance must decide on the country’s submission for the Best Foreign Language Film for the 2012 Oscars. The obvious choice would be A Separation, director Asghar Frahadi’s latest film that screened worldwide this year with overwhelming success. In An Iranian Movie ‘Masterpiece’…And why it may not make it to the Oscars, Ali Chenar presents the convoluted issues and politics at play, exposing a whole new dimension to censorship of film in Iran.
Of course the impact on any artist attempting to pursue their work in this industry is manifold. This month saw the US release of the controversial Circumstance (winner of Sundance Audience Award 2011), a film exploring lesbian love in Iran, and director Maryam Keshavarz felt compelled to make a “goodbye” trip to the country as soon as the work was complete, on the clear understanding that she would become a target of the regime once it was released. The official trailer ends with “Let no love fall victim to circumstance. Freedom is a human right.” And circumstance is exactly what filmmakers must constantly overcome — in the choices that they make and the reality that ensues.
Award-winning director Jafar Panahi under house arrest since December 2010, with an imposed 20-year ban on making films, has bravely played with the limitations of this ban by collaborating on This Is Not A Film, a film poignantly showing the banality of Panahi’s life under house arrest. The film was smuggled out of Iran on a USB pen and screened at Cannes this year. The reels keep turning.
15 Aug 2011 | Iran, Middle East and North Africa
The sight of children too young to be working, is sadly too familiar on the streets of Iran. Selling flowers and washing car windscreens at traffic lights are frankly the less disturbing of chores bestowed upon them. (View everyday scenes in Yunes Khani’s photographs here.)
Last Thursday afternoon 100-150 young people gathered on Vali Asr Road in Tehran. Well dressed, with an average age of 20, the Iranians set to work with their cloths and chamois to reach out to drivers and passengers — privileged people like themselves — taking the initiative to talk to them about the children who normally wash their car windscreens. For two hours they washed and sold chewing gum and fortunes, giving the street children a break and the income from their time while drawing attention to their plight.
I’ve translated the Persian script under the photographs for non-Iranians. Their message to the children working on the streets was this:
“We understand and respect you. There is little we can do, but perhaps by talking to your customers we may influence a different view of you. We tell them that you are human beings too, with a right to living and a childhood, and that this wasn’t your choice, working on the streets. It is a reflection of us all and we have a responsibility towards you.”
Here in London responsibility for our community and the new generation has emerged as the most pertinent discussion following last week’s devastating riots. There has been a plenitude of articles in their wake, with two standing out among them. The first was written by the founder of Kids Company, Iranian-born psychotherapist Camila Batmanghelidjh.
In this article Camila writes “The individual is responsible for their own survival because the established community is perceived to provide nothing” and illustrates the damage from a system that alienates these children with the observations that “It’s not one occasional attack on dignity, it’s a repeated humiliation, being continuously dispossessed in a society rich with possession” and “Savagery is a possibility within us all. Some of us have been lucky enough not to have to call upon it for survival; others, exhausted from failure, can justify resorting to it”.
The second, (ignore Adult content warning) reached me this morning via a fellow journalist in Tehran. A must read. In it, the writer, a school teacher in London, makes the following call for action:
“If you think you are an idealist, get off Twitter, put down your placard, stop gazing at your navel to examine your privilege. Put your money and time where your mouth is. Go and volunteer in a primary school and sit with those who are struggling to read, go and become a school governor, go and do a bit of training to become an adult advocate so that when one of these kids goes through the judicial system and their parents can’t or won’t participate in the process, you can be called on to speak to and for them.”
“Unlike gesture politics, these acts will make a difference”, he says.
I throw my summer hat off to the Iranians on Vali Asr last Thursday.
11 Aug 2011 | Index Index, minipost, News
On 2 August, a Pakistani police station supervisor allegedly beat a female curator for “indecent behavior”. The incident occurred in Nairang Art Gallery, a well-known gathering place for left-leaning intellectuals in Lahore. According to the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), the officer “brutally assaulted” the woman and entered the premises without a warrant. Hina Jilani, a prominent activist and human rights lawyer, told the Daily Times that the attack on one of the few remaining cultural and intellectual hubs of Lahore was an example of increasing religious extremism in the region.
