My Film Is Inspired by Iranian Films, Canadian Filmmaker Says
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Canadian director Richie Mehta talked about his dramatic film Siddharth, which was screened in the 33rd Fajr International Film Festival (FIFF), and defined his attitude toward the Iranian cinema.
According to the public relations office of the 33rd FIFF, Richie Mehta director of Siddharth in an interview talked about his first experience in Iran and expressed his interest to co-produce a film with Iran.
This originally Indian director, who joined the festival at the fourth day of the event, said, “My film was shot in India and its language is Hindi. The story is about a father searching his missing son and the problems he faces during this time."
"The film’s premiere was in Venice and so far it has won 30 awards,” he added.
Director of Siddharth also explained about Iranian cinema and said, “I am familiar with the type of Iranian cinema which is exported. I really like Kiarostami’s films… You know the scenes of the film look simple and real and idea is neat, but there is a planned structure which you cannot see it at the first sight."
He referred to the specific features of Iranian cinema and noted, “As I told you there is an embodied structure in some Iranian films like the film I mentioned. The scenes look simple and plain. Audiences see a simple scene but there is a structure behind, the whole picture is meaningful and they will understand it through the context.”
This director elaborated on necessity of coproduction and commented, “It is necessary because most of artistic films have problems for budgets. Producers mostly invest on big films so co-production is required to be survived.”
The Canadian director clarified the interest of mainstream film viewers in India and emphasized, “Mainstream audiences in India prefer Bollywood productions so we haven’t released the film in India yet. Indian mainstream audience want a film full of many events, joy and sadness, drama and adventure but I think narration should focus on one thing and whole thing comes around that. But the new generation is trying to change this trend. ”
He mentioned that IRIB has bought his film to broadcast in Iran, saying, “I am really happy for that and I believe that my film would work here.”
He pointed to the proposed themes of the 33rd FIFF and said, “When you have themes it means you have categorized the festivals for audience and people usually like patterns. So you give them a guide and it is really exciting.”
He finally talked about his expectations about his first experience in Iran and Fajr Film Festival and noted, “Mostly people in west do not know a single thing about Iranians. So I’m here to explore the culture. I should say I’m here to know about Iranian culture rather than business.”
The 33rd Fajr International Film Festival is held from April 25th to May 2nd 2015 in Tehran. This is the first year that international section of FIFF is being held separately from national section.
