Mehsa Bahadri: One of the documentary films of this period of cinema will be “Professional” Truth, which tries to narrate the Shiite thought from the words of Mohammad Ali Amir Moazi, one of the prominent Iranian Islamic scholars and Quran scholars.
The documentary film “Professional” is about the life and works of Mohammad Ali Amir Moazi, which tries to depict the confrontation of Shi’ism with modern ideas.
We talked to Masoud Taheri, the director of this work, on the pretext of screening this work at the Haqit Cinema Festival.
Why did you choose the name “Professional” for a documentary about a Shiite scholar?
I really liked that the name of the work has a neutral and non-ideological meaning, while Mohammad Ali Amirmoazi is a phenomenologist and because he is doing a scientific work, his professionalism is very important, of course he did not like this name, because its translation in French has a meaning It has a negative meaning and gives the meaning of gang, that’s why the translation of the name of this work in French is L’Expert.
Why is a person like Amir Moazi, who is a Shia scholar, not present in Iran?
This issue is described in the documentary, in the 80s, he edited a book with Israeli Islamologist Ethan Kolberg called “Qara’at”. They themselves explain in the film that in 1388 AH, one of the members of the Iranian embassy told them that: “You should not return to Iran, we feel that you are in contact with the Zionist lobby” and Mr. Amir Moazi did not come again.
At the same time, the security institutions say that such an incident never happened and it is not known who said this to him. He is one of the four great Islamic scholars of France and the successor of the chairs of Louis Massignon, Henri Carbone and Daniel Guimaraes, and his position is very important. He has also been awarded the (Legion of Honor) award, in France this award is given to someone who has an important and influential role in creating balance in French society.
Dealing with such topics and people may cause you to be objected to, did you go to such trouble to make it “professional”?
Yes, I encountered it, because this work has a problem with a purely political reading of Shiism, political reading of Shiism exists in Iraq, Yemen, Lebanon, etc., and the government itself has accepted that parallel views should be raised and examined.
If you summarize Islam only in politics, it is a great injustice to the people and it causes the people to lose religion, and another argument that Mr. Amir Moazi points to is that when you take away religion from the society, you bring great dangers to the society. It threatens to become difficult for a society like Iran, which has been mystical from the beginning, and is considered a danger for it.
So, in fact, one of the reasons for creating these works is warning and prevention?
Ibn Athar is about social and individual theology, but it also has some warning points.
You have already made three other documentaries with such themes, including “Mastereq”, can we say that your goal is to make multiple?
Yes, this view is absolutely correct. These works are completely connected to each other like a chain.
The documentary “Professional” deals with a very important issue and your trip to France probably cost you a lot, were you able to benefit from government support?
No, I was not supported by anywhere and the entire cost of this documentary was made personally.
Documentary cinema has always been abandoned. You, who have made more than 16 documentaries, do you think documentary cinema is facing a crisis in Iran?
The main crisis is that the Iranian society is under economic pressure, it is not prosperous, and a society that is not prosperous is always involved in economic issues and is sad and does not have the opportunity to read books and watch movies, even when going to the cinema, it prefers to spend in a way that at least laugh for an hour and all these factors work hand in hand and that our media, including radio and other media, try to make people at a low level of literacy, information, expectation and attitude keep
How do you evaluate the issue of not screening documentaries in cinemas?
This issue is very important, consider that in these cultural issues, there is almost a dumbass who is looking to earn money. The same platforms say for a documentary film that costs between 500 million and 2 billion tomans to make, can you sell this work to us for 5 million tomans? I say, I don’t want the same 5 million tomans, I will give you the documentary for free, they insist no, we have to buy this film from you, the fact is that cultural issues cannot be dealt with in this way unless you can buy Pride now for 20 million tomans ?
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