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Society & Culture

Iranian TV Series “The Fall” Under Fire After Main Actor Joins Opposition

February 2, 2023
Omid Hessamian
3 min read
The TV series The Fall is used as an excuse to calls for filtering the streaming service Filimo after its star actor fled Iran and called Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei a “mentally ill” dictator.
The TV series The Fall is used as an excuse to calls for filtering the streaming service Filimo after its star actor fled Iran and called Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei a “mentally ill” dictator.

In a letter to President Ebrahim Raisi, the president of the state-run Iran Broadcasting (IRIB), Payman Jebelli, requested that the website of Filimo, one of the most popular video streaming services in Iran, be filtered.

Apparently, the reason was that Filimo has streamed The Fall, a TV series that revolves around the Iranian security forces’ fight against the Islamic State (ISIS) extremist group.

The Iranian Audio-Visual Media Regulatory Authority (SATRA) claimed that five episodes of the TV series had been streamed without the required permits and announced that legal action will be taken.

Three men appreciated by the Islamic Regime’s leadership - Mohammad Hossein Mahdavian, Mohammad Reza Mansouri and Sajjad Pahlevanzadeh - are the main figures behind the production of The Fall.

So why are the TV series and Filimo coming under the fire of the Islamic Republic’s state bodies? The answer is that Hamid Farrokhnezhad, the main actor in The Fall, harshly criticized Iran’s clerical regime and its leaders.

The Team behind The Fall

Three men appreciated by the Islamic Regime’s leadership - Mohammad Hossein Mahdavian, Mohammad Reza Mansouri and Sajjad Pahlevanzadeh - are the main figures behind the production of The Fall.

Mahdavian, the TV series’ production advisor, has been a favorite filmmaker of the Islamic Republic. He made Midday Adventures, a movie about the 1982 assassinations carried out by the opposition People’s Mojahedin Organization (MEK) and Standing in the Dust, about an Iranian commander during the Iran-Iraq who is considered a hero. Mansouri also produced Squad of Girls, a 2022 movie about the resistance and self-sacrifice of women in the early days of the war with Iraq.

Mansouri, the producer of The Fall, previously produced two movies for Mahdavian - Walnut Tree, about the 1987 chemical bombing of the Kurdish city of Sardasht by Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, and the black comedy Shishlik.

Pahlevanzadeh, the director of The Fall, was the editor of four feature films made by Mahdavian.

A “Mentally Ill” Khamenei

Mahdavian, Mansouri and Pahlevanzadeh probably never thought they would get in trouble with the authorities until Farrokhnezhad fled Iran and called Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei “mentally ill” dictator in an Instagram post in December 2022.

A few days later, the actor said in an interview that the Islamic Republic “seeks legitimacy by terror, imprisonment, torture and execution.”

In response, the director of the Cinema Organization of Iran, Mohammad Khazaei, said that Farrokhnezhad has “no right to insult our leader, our sage, and our mentor. Here is still the Islamic Republic of Iran.”

Amid concerns that their TV series would be canceled, its producers wrote a letter criticizing Farrokhnezhad for his “selfishness” and “unprofessional behavior.”

To allay their fears, Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance Mohammad Mehdi Esmaili said that his ministry would not ban a work because of the misbehavior of an actor.

But the media outlets affiliated with the Islamic Republic thought differently. On January 10, after the first episode of the series was broadcast, Mashregh News leveled a charge that is tantamount to blasphemy, if not treason: The TV series allegedly ignored the vital role played by Iran’s expeditionary Quds Force and its late commander General Ghasem Soleimani in the liberation of the Iraqi city of Mosul from ISIS control.

The Fate of formerly Favorite Artists

With Iranian artists boycotting public events and launching strikes in support of the protests that have rocked Iran for more than four months, the Islamic Republic finds itself in a tight spot.

The Fajr International Theater Festival, Iran's most important stage festival, ended on January 31 after 10 days during which the theaters remained mostly empty. And the work of only one distinguished Iranian filmmaker, Kiumars Pourahmad, is to be screened at the Fajr Film Festival that started on February 1. Pourahmad said that the producers of the movie had decided to submit it, suggesting he had been forced to participate in the festival.

But even under such circumstances, the Islamic Republic cannot tolerate that a star actor like Farrokhnezhad joins the opposition. Art and culture being considered a security issue, the loyal team that produced The Fall are not safe from censorship. Meanwhile, IRIB, which has a monopoly on broadcasting in the Islamic Republic, sees a chance to get rid of Filimo.

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