Trust cinema – Ali Oji, who produced Masoud Kimiyai’s latest film (Treason) and released it to the general public on Friday, December 16, has acted in many films, serials and comedy series in recent years, but despite the fact that in recent years He is one of the most prolific film producers, he has not produced a comedy film yet. In these years, he produced films such as “Rozi Roozari Abadan” by Hamid Azarang, “Motherless” by Morteza Fatemi, “2888” by Kivan Alimohammadi and Ali Akbar Heydari, “Summer of the same year” by Mahmoud Kalari, “6 o’clock in the morning” by Mehran Madiri, “Solouk” by Abbas. Rafei, Masoud Kimiyai’s “Treason”, “Pigeon Killing” by Amir Hossein Thaghafi and a number of other social films. and has also played a role as an executive producer in many Iranian films.
He, who these days is preparing Ibrahim Irajzad’s new film called “Star Husband” to appear in the Fajr Festival, at the same time as the movie “Traitor” will be released in cinemas, which was unveiled three years ago at the Fajr Festival, in an interview with Isna He talked about the latest situation of his unreleased films and also about the crisis that Iran’s social cinema has faced in these years and the damage of some policy makers’ decisions on this kind of cinema.
The path I’m on was planned
At the beginning, Oji, in response to whether, since he entered the field of production, he intended to produce films that are not made solely for entertainment and sales at the box office, or did he accidentally find himself on this path? He said: I was and am always interested in social cinema and I wanted to follow a path in cinema to produce important and influential films. My work situation was such that this was achieved, so the path I’m on was planned and I tried to move on the basis of the cinema I’ve always loved.
He explained how he evaluates this path after several years and despite the changes in cinema and the dominance of comedy films at the box office and how much he wants to continue working in it. The fact is that efforts for non-comedy cinema in the private sector are very It is difficult. I expected and expect cinema policymakers to make more efforts to support social cinema. Our job is to make movies and of course to make good movies, but the issue of the screening is entirely up to our friends who are active in the field of policy and decision-making. This issue is not only about my films, but I think that in these few years, all the works produced in social cinema did not get their due.
Oji added: We should not forget that a social film takes a longer time to reach the audience and needs more time to be shown, but what happens in the screening is that when they see, for example, a social film sold 500 million and a comedy film sold 1 billion 500 million, They take the screenings of the 500 million film and make it a comedy film. If each of them does their work correctly and good comedy cinema needs more attention, this current procedure is not correct because in the end we will get here, for example, the movie “Rozi Roozari Abadan” by Hamidreza Azarang starring Mohsen Tanabandeh and Fatemeh Motamed Arya has had a high satisfaction among the audience who have seen the work both in the festival and in the screen, and it has a good score in terms of technical and games, only 2 billion at the box office. It sells and this means disaster.
Thoughtful and stream-making cinema has been left out in a strange way
He stated that “independent cinema and the private sector in the field of social productions were under a lot of pressure in these years” and continued: With these interpretations, my assessment of the process of my productions in the cinema is that I have put in a lot of effort so far and the expectation from the sale of films My social status was not fulfilled; This is despite the fact that our social cinema is the same cinema because of which I fell in love with cinema. This is the kind of cinema with which we can create a flow, address families, raise problems, talk about people’s problems, show the issue of women, children, war, or political, social, and cultural concerns from an artist’s point of view. but this thoughtful and trend-setting and audience-friendly cinema was strangely abandoned in these years.
In the current situation, if you make a non-comedy film, you will be crushed
About how serious he considers the role of imposing screening conditions and changing the audience’s taste on the failure of non-comedy films to sell, he said: Everything that happened seems to have caused the genre in Iranian cinema to practically disappear or at least to be destroyed. It would have been better if the situation had progressed in such a way that all genres would be presented in a basket in a proper manner as is happening everywhere in the world. Maybe, for example, Mr. Scorsese doesn’t expect that his movie will sell tickets as much as “Barbie” or Tim Burton, who makes a fantasy movie, doesn’t expect that it will sell as much as “Mission Impossible”, but nevertheless, each of them is in its place and will be released. But here, except for the issue of comedy films, organizations whose job is not to make films and should not produce works as decision-makers in the field of culture and especially cinema – because the geography of cinema They don’t know and they disrupt the economic order of cinema – they make several genres with the model they like, if you shout in the middle that you want to make a historical film or a police film, or a film about women, children or youth problems, the result will be you don’t reach Of course, not in the sense that you can’t build at all, you build but you get crushed.
Our force does not reach organic films, but let independent cinema breathe
Oji further stated: The remarkable thing is that a film produced by an organ, for example, for which they have spent 50 to 60 billion, they consider it a proud work (it certainly is), but the question is whether the production method and economics of these films are correct. Even in a situation where, for example, it sold only 5 billion tomans at the box office. Is it an honor? Of course, in the private sector and among important and committed filmmakers, these films could be made with a lower budget and would turn out to be a better film. This is despite the fact that when I, as a producer in the private sector, make a film with the money of the private sector and a few sponsors, I have to put myself on fire in order to get the money for the film with a thousand tricks and be able to continue my work, but my friends persistently make dozens of organic films. Even if you check many of them and look for them, you don’t know what fate they have found and where they are now in which drawer and closet. However, we are not only interested in such productions, I say that they should make them too, our strength is not enough, but let the independent social cinema and the product of the private sector breathe. Accept that these films do not have a directional view, let them have their say, if the cinema owner does not allow the screening, support that cinema owner so that a series of films that can be included in the intellectual, thought and emotional basket and activism of the family and society can be produced and screened.
He continued: For example, the movie “Rozi Roozari Abadan” is a different movie and it is considered to be a multi-genre movie. I say not as a producer but as a movie fan that “Once upon a time in Abadan” is a delightful movie and I have seen many times the audience who came out of the movie theater who had enjoyed the acting and the story of the movie and expressed their satisfaction with This is a frequent saying that there was no place for such a work in the cinema, but it is really a question why such a film should sell only two billion tomans? Isn’t a workplace lame? Did this movie have no actors? Wasn’t it a good story? Was he not feeling well? Why should a movie that has family, love, war, peace, happiness and sadness together reach such sales?
We are not going to be silent about any insult
With all the tips that I have shared for attracting funds, advertising, presenting and broadcasting movies in the independent sector, the saddest part of the story is that with all the additional difficulties, you produce films like this and only when a film makes its way to a festival, they make headlines that money The film or the capital of the film was given by this festival or this country! What do these words follow? Why do they write lies for a headline? It is strange to us why such lies should sometimes be published in the official media! For example, in the recent case of the Red Sea Festival, all our films, like other films from Iran that apply to participate in foreign festivals, are accepted or rejected based on the opinion of the selection committee of a festival. Every festival is a way for cultural discourse and we welcome your participation. Recently, we also screened the movie “Motherless” in the festivals of Bangalore, Dhaka, Screen Mirror and Wales etc., which won the best film award. Abbas Rafei’s film “Seluk” was also shown at the China Silk Road Festival and won the best actress award (Narges Mohammadi) or for example the film “Traitor” which was accepted in Rotterdam, Holland or the Bulgarian festival and Masoud Kimiaei also won an award. This is a normal routine in cinema. Why should a film that enters a festival, the director, producer, and crew of the film be accused of taking money from another government and country, and because they took money, they were accepted into this festival? Does this mean that all these Iranian filmmakers who have received various international awards from film festivals over the years, have they received money from those festivals or have they been lobbied for their awards?
He emphasized: “6 o’clock in the morning” was produced at personal expense and in the private sector. I already said about “Treason” that was made in the private sector with personal funds. The films of Mr. Kalari, Rafei, Irajzad, Thaghafi, and Fatemi, in which I was a producer, have followed the same path.
Emphasizing that the cause of his protest has nothing to do with criticisms about the quality of his works, and in this context he has remained silent even in cases where the harshest criticisms have been directed at his films, he said: “But we are no longer going to be silent about any insults and slanders.” We tried our best to have a share in Iran’s social and concerned cinema, which has always been proud. This cinema is important because the unique history and geography of Iran has nurtured artists whose depth of view of our filmmakers to every event and phenomenon, or to put it more generally, to life and human beings, forces them to create a work that in The world has something serious to say. May God have mercy on Mr. Kiarostami, who was the flag bearer of this importance for Iranian cinema in the world. After him, there are Mr. Farhadi, Panahi, Vaishite and dozens of other filmmakers who made Iranian cinema proud.
The movie version of “Treason” is different from the series
In another part of this interview, he emphasized that Masoud Kimiyai’s “Treason” movie was made with the investment of the private sector, and explained about the sudden release of this movie in cinemas even after its series was aired on the home theater network: In all this, how many I was waiting for the right conditions for this film to be released in cinemas because due to the same fears and concerns that I mentioned about the release situation, the film could not be shown during the Corona era and because of the large budget for the production of the film. was spent, we were looking to show the film somewhere, that’s why the version of the home screen network arrived first, but undoubtedly the movie version of the film is very different from the serial version, because this film has the same filming of set and costume designs and visual framing. And the unique direction of Mr. Kimiaei at the age of 80 was made for the cinema screen. During this time, we were in the turn of the screening and reached the current date for the public screening in coordination with the trade union council.
He pointed out that “the film is about 4 to 5 minutes shorter than the version shown at Fajr Festival” and added: “Treason” is one of Mr. Kimiaei’s biggest films in terms of production and they are happy that the film was released. And they want people to see it in the cinema.
What about the release of “Summer of the same year” and “Seluk”?
Oji also said about his other unreleased films: “Summer of the same year” (made by Mahmoud Kalari) will probably be released for the new year. The movie “Seluk” (Abbas Rafei) is currently on the way to foreign festivals. Because when you make a film with your own budget, your hands and heart tremble about the conditions under which you will release it and you are constantly looking for an opportunity to at least have more hope for sales.
He added: “Recently, we produced a film called “Star Husband” directed by Ebrahim Irajzad along with Narges Mohammadi, which has not been screened yet, but we have registered for the Fajr Festival.
At the end of this interview, Ali Oji emphasized: My serious request and many who are active in non-comedy cinema is to support social cinema. Of course, I don’t mean that comedy movies will not be made, never. Especially, in these few years, good and audience-friendly comedy films such as “Fossil” and “Hotel” were made, which entertained the audience well and have boosted the box office and the life of cinema, and they are undoubtedly the need of every cinema, but social cinema should not be forgotten. . I hope that the conditions will be such that the work environment will continue to be ready for the activities of socially important filmmakers, because in any case, we have no hope other than making films, and this is the only work we know.