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Society & Culture

A Red Carpet for Kiarostami, A Director Who Was Always Censored

July 10, 2016
Shima Shahrabi
6 min read
A Red Carpet for Kiarostami, A Director Who Was Always Censored
A Red Carpet for Kiarostami, A Director Who Was Always Censored

Finally, a red carpet in Iran for Abbas Kiarostami. Following the death of Iran’s most famous filmmaker last week, Iranian officials are at last honoring in death the artist they ignored in life. All through the many years when Kiarostami brought back awards from international film festivals, nobody went to the airport to welcome him back. Now, they have gone to welcome his body.

Death changes many things. The President Hassan Rouhani and Foreign Minister Javad have tweeted their condolences. Minister of Islamic Culture and Guidance Ahmad Jannati has sent a similar message. The president of Cinema Organization of his ministry promises to screen Kiarostami’s films – films that were seen around the world when Kiarostami was alive but remained banned in Iran.

Ever since 1994, when Kiarostami’s “Through the Olive Trees” was shown in theaters, none of Kiarostami’s films have been screened widely in Iran, and some have not been screened at all. Throughout the 1990s, as Kiarostami racked up international honors and put Iranian cinema on the map, his works received the shabbiest possible treatment in Iran.

 

Censorship vs. International Embarrassment

Take the case of Taste of Cherry (1997), which won the coveted Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival. While the film was accepted at Cannes, it was not accepted at the Fajr International Film Festival in Tehran. The deputy culture minister in charge of cinematic affairs at the time even ordered that the film should not be sent to Cannes because it had not been accepted the Fajr Film Festival. This prompted Gilles Jacob, president of the Cannes Film Festival, to intervene directly, personally asking Iranian officials to permit screening at Cannes. In the end, the Iranian foreign ministry arranged for the film to be sent at the last minute.

According to the trade magazine Gozaresh-e Film, two factors overrode the Ministry of Culture’s attempt at censorship. One was Gilles Jacob’s letter, and the second was the intervention of then-Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Velayati, who feared blocking the film would embarrass Iran.

Even after Taste of Cherry won the Palme d’Or, the movie appeared in only a few Iranian cinemas. There were reports that some officials considered it too “death-oriented,” since it deals with suicide. Even in 2009, when the movie appeared on Iranian TV, the first question the host asked the film critic Ahmad Mir Ehsan was, “Does this film promote suicide or does it promote life?”

“Iranian cinema officials never congratulated me,” Kiarostami said at the time in a press conference. “But I think this has less to do with the officials themselves and more with our society’s traditions and culture, which gives prominence to punishment over encouragement.”

 

“Leave Through the Backdoor”

Not long ago, the Iranian media published another anecdote by Kiarostami. “When I received the Palm d’Or, nobody congratulated me,” he said. “Even when I landed at the airport and my passport was stamped, they told me to exit through the backdoor because there was a crowd outside waiting to beat me.”

The Wind Will Carry Us (1999) was Kiarostami film that shone at international film festivals and received critical acclaim, but was never screened at mainstream cinemas in Iran. The film follows a group of young filmmakers who travel to a Kurdish village to film local mourning rituals but have to wait for the death of a 100-year old woman to get what they want. Censors would allow the movie to be released only if scenes in which a character recited poems by Omar Khayyam and Forough Farrokhzad were removed. Kiarostami refused. “I cannot remove from my movie the poetry that you can buy from any bookstore,” he said.

The fictional documentary “Ten” (2002) is one of Kiarostami’s most important works. Although it screened at international film festivals and received critical acclaim, it was never screened in Iran. In the film, a woman drives 10 different passengers around Tehran, and their conversations reveal important issues women face in Iran. The Ministry of Culture objected to the type of hijab the woman wears, and demanded cuts. Kiarostami refused because he would have had to cut at least 30 minutes from the film. Instead, the film circulated in the form of pirated DVDs.

 

Juliette Binoche Must Wear Hejab

Shirin (2008) is one of Kiarostami’s more controversial films. It has both ardent fans and critics who could not bear to watch it to the end. It was booed at Venice Film Festival but applauded at the Edinburgh International Film. In the film, Kiarostami sits 113 women, including the French actress Juliette Binoche and many Iranian actresses, in front of his camera. Throughout the film, we hear a recitation of "Khosrow and Shirin" by the classical Persian poet Nezami Ganjavi, a tragic story of star-crossed lovers. The women do not utter a word. They just look and cry. Iran’s Ministry of Culture would allow it to be released only if Juliette Binoche covered her hair. Once again, Kiarostami refused and the film circulated on DVD.

“I have been accused, for a long time, of making movies for foreign audiences,” Kiarostami said in 2008 at a private screening of Shirin. “These accusations have increased, but I have never found a chance to answer them. The assumption that I make my movies for intellectuals and that I choose my audiences beforehand is totally wrong. My works have not been screened for the past 12 years. Among my friends are philosophers and architects who tell me that they find me more interesting than my movies. On the other hand, some of my films have been popular among the more illiterate segments of the society. So you must first show the movie to see if it has an audience or not.”

Certified Copy (2010) starred Juliette Binoche, and was a French-Iranian co-production. It also received international recognition and critical acclaim. At first, there was talk about screening the film in Iran. Director-General of Evaluation and Supervision at the Ministry of Culture Mahmoud Aarabi spoke of screening this and other Kiarostami movies in Iran. But he was not able to overcome the opposition. The reason was clear-cut. “A movie made without a permit cannot be screened,” said one official.

Kiarostami never asked the Ministry of Culture for permits to make his movies. Kiarostami believed that his films were refused screening not because for this reason, but because he was independent. “More than anything else, our decision makers have a problem with independent filmmakers,” he said. “They don’t like my movies and they decide for the people not to screen them. Unfortunately, young people do not know this and assume that I am not interested in screening my works in Iran.” Once again, Iranian audiences watched Certified Copy on pirated DVDs.

In 2012, Kiarostami made “Like Someone in Love”, a French-Japanese co-production. Once again, Iranians kept up with his career via pirated DVDs.

Nowadays, Iranians have to rely on piracy even to see films the Ministry of Culture once approved of, such as Where Is the Friend's Home? (1987). Maybe now that even Iranian officials are bidding Kiarostami farewell, they can abandon censorship and find their peace with his works.

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Cartoons

Red Carpet for Kiarostami, yesterday and today...

July 10, 2016
Mana Neyestani
Red Carpet for Kiarostami, yesterday and today...