A Look at the 8th Day of the 36th Fajr National Film Festival
According to ICN, on Friday, February 11, as usual 3 titles were screened for the mass media members at Mellat Cineplex.
The films screened yesterday were “Confiscation” directed by Mehran Ahmadi, “Misunderstanding” directed by Ahmadreza Motamedi, and “The Woodpecker” by Behrouz Shoeybi.
In the “Confiscation” press conference, which is a comedy performed by Reza Ataran and Houman Seyedi, in response to a question which called the film political, Ahmadi said: “This is not at all political, where as it is a foundation in which a story is told.”
He also, in response to a reporter who asked how it’s possible that an investigator brings food for a suspect during the investigation, replied: “You haven’t been investigated before. I have this experience in which the investigator brought 2 bowls of stew, one for me and one for himself. We even had two colas.”
His remarks made everyone in the session laugh.
He also talked about Reza Ataran’s role which is said to be repetitive and is the same as his character in “Sperm Whale”, and said: “Reza Ataran is one of our best comedians. It is normal in the entire world for a comedian to play the same character again and again; from the huge Charley Chaplin to Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd. But I want to ask you how you can say that Reza Ataran, in his mid-ages, plays a cliché role. He plays beautifully in this film.”
Ataran also answered this question: “I have tried not to repeat what I did in “Sperm Whale”, and if this is repeated, I try more the next time.”
In another part of this session, Mehran Ahmadi, in response to a question of probable censorship on his film, added: “I cannot guess, and if it is audited, I will burn myself in front of the ministry.”
This press conference included some funny trivia such as the changes Ataran was making in his appearance. At the beginning of the session, he was wearing a hat, then after a while he took off his hat and started to order his short hair, and at the end of the session he put on his sunglasses, which made everybody laugh.
Also, in the other part of this press conference, one of the reporters insisted that this film contained inappropriate jokes. In response, Mehran Ahmadi tried to prove that there are no such jokes in the film.
In this session, Houman Seyedi apologized for the happening in his own film’s press conference session, and said: “Cinema is in the second class, and the love among us is in the first class. Therefore, if someone is offended at my film’s press conference, I do apologize.”
In the “Misunderstanding” press conference, Ahmadreza Motamedi said: “This is a film about reality, and it is legal.” And Merila Zareei called him a philosopher, more than a filmmaker.
Sara Bahrami, in “The Woodpecker” press conference which was received more and better than the other two titles, talked about her role, and said: “I did my best to play my role, a role which may never happen for me again, and I would rather pay more attention to the quality of my act rather than guessing whether I’ll win any awards or whether I am the main character of the supporting character.”
She also mentioned that to become “Mahsa” she had a lot of research, and got acquainted with a number of addicted women and went through a lot of troubles.
In response to the question of her process to become an addicted woman, she said: “There is a very important point which I ask you to think about it first and then judge about the user and addicted women. ‘Mahsa’ is not desperate or poor, she is just addicted. You should try to go to Shoush Street at midnight once, and then you can see it for yourself. I was allowed to go and see. The south of Tehran and under the bridges is full of ‘Mahsa’s who are the mothers of children with unknown future. I lost weight for this role; I shaved my eyebrows with razor, changed my teeth and went through a very difficult time.”
At the end of her remarks, she was applauded by the audience.
