to report Trust cinema Mehrdad Hojjati wrote in Etemad newspaper: It was interesting for Saeed Hajarian to publish a tweet in this connection on National Cinema Day! He wrote: Close-up of the cinema…
Baizai’s migration, Taqwai’s stay at home, the suspicious death of Pourahmad and Mehrjooi, and now 300 open cases!
P.N.: Rasool Sadr Aamili: “About 300 of our colleagues have an open court case due to political, social and security conditions, and they are not able to act or make films, and they are still trapped.”
The Association of Cinema Critics also published a bitter statement on this occasion.
But why has cinema suffered such a day? Why did Bahram Beizai have to leave his homeland? Or Amir Naderi before that? Why did Naser Taqvai not make another movie? Why have so many movies been banned during these decades?
Beizai said in an interview at Stanford: “Because I had not had a job for 30 years. My life had become difficult. It was completely impossible. After all these years, I was able to make one or two films. I was forced to give up my rights in those films, so that at least I wouldn’t be in debt due to the obstacles that faced me during the production and release of the film, which caused me to be in debt. The theater also had practically no income. That’s why when a job was offered to me here – Stanford University – I welcomed it. At first it was supposed to be for one year, but since there was no news from that side – from Iran – I had to stay.”
It is painful for an intellectual artist like Beidai to say: “I didn’t have a job in my country for thirty years”!
Baizaei is one of the university professors who were banned from teaching at the beginning of the revolution and expelled from the university. Both Hamid Thargyan and Baizaei taught at Tehran University’s Faculty of Fine Arts. With the wave of purges, when Dr. Naser Katuzian, Dr. Natal Khanleri, Dr. Mahdavi Damghani and many others were expelled from the university, they were also expelled. The theater was also closed. The new wave of cinema had also reached its peak. Mehrjooi’s first film after the revolution – the school we used to go to – was banned. Gholamhossein Saedi, the author of the trend, who made two new wave films – Cow and Peace in the Presence of Others – based on two of his works, was staying at home and the state of art was in “suspension”. The center for the intellectual development of children and teenagers was also subjected to extensive purification. The incident that had caused a massive protest by the artists affiliated there and led them to a sit-in. It was about ideologicalization of all fields. The culture of “Taraz Revolution” and “Art of Revolution Revolution”. Because of this, the cultural revolution was born. Ayatollah Khomeini also talked about cinema in his Behesht Zahra speech. He said that he is not against cinema, but he is against prostitution. Some time later, he praised the movie “Cow” by Dariush Mehrjooi. But with a short distance from the same praise, Mehrjooi’s latest work was banned. A film adapted from a children’s book titled “Backyard of Adel Afaq School” which happened to be filmed in “Anoushirvan Adel” school near the college intersection.
A few months later, Mehrjooi left the country for France in a state of anger, disillusioned with such behavior, and a few months later, the author of the movie Cow, Dr. Gholamhossein Saedi, left the country. After that, the migration of artists had become a routine and a large group had left Los Angeles. Most of those who were purged from radio and television and had been out of court for a long time. They were forced to leave their homeland. Many of them had their properties confiscated. Parviz Sayad, his “Tehran Small Theater Cinema”, located on the eastern side of “Safawieh Bazar”, was confiscated. Behrouz Vothoqi, his “Radio City Cinema”, near Valiahed Square (today’s Vali Asr), Gogosh, his villa on Sultanabad Street and others, all their properties, if they had them, were confiscated.
A significant number left the borders with only a few clothes and some money and never returned. A group, however, remained in the homeland, suffered deprivation and never recovered. People like Mohammad Ali Fardin, Nasser Malek Matiei, Puri Banaei and many others. There were also singers. Especially those who sang traditional or authentic music. Najir Dallish, Elaha, Parisa, Elaha, and among the male singers are Akbar Golpa, Iraj Khaja Amiri and Nader Golchin. These singers never sang again. As these actors never acted again. There were other actors.
Especially the actresses who were all banned from appearing in front of the camera. Art was plowed at once. All evenings underwent a change. No artist was spared from the firing squad. Sosan Taslimi later, after several brilliant works with Baizai, when he was forced to leave the country, said: “One day when I entered the Shahr theater complex, I was faced with a notice that was posted on the bulletin board. In that, my dismissal from the theater administration was announced. From that moment on, I was not allowed to work on stage.”
After the revolution, Sosan Taslimi worked in three films with Baidaei. Yazdgerd’s death, be a little stranger and maybe another time. The first two films were both banned. The first film was never released. But after being banned for nearly six years, Basho Gharibeh Koch was finally released in 1368 and was widely welcomed. Among the reasons for banning the film, trivial issues were cited, which were all considered to be ellipses later! But how to make the movie “Perhaps Another Time” is one of the strangest and most painful episodes in the history of cinema! Baizai said in a meeting with a group of film critics: “After a long time when my screenplays were rejected one after another during my frequent visits to the Farabi Cinema Foundation, I had to write a screenplay, which is from Any opinion is “unquestionable”. It should not refer to any subject and not carry any metaphoric sign with it until it is finally approved. The script was approved, but with dozens of buts and ifs. Because of the approved script, they brought me to the Farabi Film Foundation many times and criticized it many times.
I rewrote it more than twenty times until they finally gave permission to produce it. They finally issued the license to make the film. But after the production, a thousand problems were found. So much harassment that it makes every person hate life. The film I made had a so-called “Indian” story. Two twin sisters, who were separated from each other in childhood, find each other after many years. That’s it. Interestingly, this was not acceptable for men either. All of them were looking for something, a point in the “frames” of the movie! That’s how they finally allowed it to be released, because there was really nothing in it!”
This was an amazing story from an era in the 60s. Once upon a time, Cannes Cinema was controlled by the Farabi Foundation in a “supportive-guidance” way, and a group thought of itself as the guardian of all cinematographers. That time changed with “2nd Khordad 76”. Cinema breathed for a while. such as theater, visual arts, music and many other fields. But during the Ahmadinejad era, everything changed suddenly. According to the director of cinema affairs of the Ahmadinejad government, when he returned to the sixties, it was time. The open space of the reform era was too expensive for many. The free press, bold themes in the theater and new themes in the cinema frightened all the conservatives. For this reason, the talk of “railing” was renewed. Eight years of Ahmadinejad’s era had become the era of cultural appropriation, especially cinema. The atmosphere had turned into despair once again with the cheerfulness of June 2nd. The railroading that had started in all fields, after a break in Rouhani’s government, had accelerated once again in the President’s government. An incident that caused the loss of many talents and funds. Problem-free cinema was replaced by problem-oriented cinema, and vulgarity was removed from the screen of cinemas. Did the establishment of the Ahmadinejad government originate from the position of the shadow government? Do forces behind the curtain play a role in disillusioning the elders of the field of art and thought and keeping them from this field? Or are only government agents to blame for this? Why still a group insists on returning to the sixties? A decade when people had to be selected for every job. Their belief was measured. Their clothes and clothing were controlled and a license was issued for every publication and book. The words were light and heavy many times and every street and neighborhood was guarded by an armed guard. Will going back solve the problem? How can we talk about future horizons with such a view?