Milad Mohammadi, the director of the documentary “Stvar Saghi” about this documentary in an interview with Online newsexplained: The major part of the filming of “Stevar Saghi” has been completed, which mostly includes interviews with informed people and eyewitnesses in Qezal Qala prison. We are currently filming parts related to the reconstruction of the prison. Because the Qezal Qala prison has been destroyed for about 40 years and there are limited pictures and images of it, we are currently focusing on the reconstruction of the prison space and have tried to provide an accurate picture with the available resources. The search among archival photos and sources is almost over. However, the search will be with the project until the last day of the documentary, and at any moment we may find a new source and complete our information about the prison.
The director of the documentary “Stvar Saghi” said about the formation of the idea of this documentary: Qezel Qala prison is one of the significant places of our contemporary history. From the point of view that from the mid-30s to the end of the 40s, this prison was a place where political prisoners and fighters with the Pahlavi regime from different spectrums all dealt with this prison in some way. From unknown figures and students to figures such as Ayatollah Taleghani, Engineer Bazargan, Khosrow Rouzbeh, etc., they have been in that prison, and an important part of the history of contemporary people’s struggles has taken place in Qezal Qala prison. By studying oral history and reviewing people’s memories, we always come across this prison and in almost all the memories we encountered; The stable name of the bartender was an indicator.
He added: “Always, when we read about that historical period and the Qezal Qala prison, we saw the name of Stevar Saghi, and this became a curiosity about the character of Stevar Saghi.” Because there were interesting stories about this person from different people, we became curious about what such a person was doing in this prison and what was his fate. When we focused a little on the stable of the bartender, we came across interesting narratives and adventures, which seemed to us that such a thing should not be lost in history, and the existence of such a character in such a space and historical period can have something to say and be attractive to the audience. . For this reason, we focused on this subject and decided to make this documentary.
Mohammadi said about attending the 18th Cinema Verity festival: God willing, the documentary “Astawar Saghi” will be at this year’s festival and we will do our best to make it happen. Some issues, such as limited access to archives, finding relevant people, etc., caused the production of this work to proceed at a slower pace.
In another part of his speech, this documentary maker said about his cooperation with the Center for the Development of Documentary, Experimental and Animation Cinema: Cooperation with the Development Center is a very good experience, especially for documentary makers, from the point of view that it is the only place that offers professional and professional documentaries. looks expertly and understands the challenges of documentaries. In the real sense, they support the documentary makers and this is because the people involved in the documentary expansion center are complete elites and some of them are even documentary makers.
In the end, Milad Mohammadi, the director of the documentary “Astawar Saqi” said about the conditions of documentary cinema these days: We have young, creative and thoughtful documentary filmmakers and we saw very good works from these documentary filmmakers, but the main challenge that documentary filmmakers face is the limitations of institutions, organizations and organizations that support the making of documentary films, especially non-commissioned ones. Unfortunately, some works are produced with less research and accuracy, which has affected the look of the documentary. Except for the festival that exists, there is no place for presentation so that people can watch the documentaries, and if we look with condescension, there are very few spaces for presentation. Many good documentaries do not reach the audience and this makes people’s taste not grow in this field. Low budgets are also very striking. Another problem that exists is the lack of organized and accessible archives for documentary makers.
“Prime Minister for Five Days”, “Kesh Paraz”, “Day of the Coup” and “Love of Candlesticks” are documentaries directed by Milad Mohammadi.
“Stavar Saghi” is a production of the center for the development of documentary, experimental and animation cinema.
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