Sudabeh Mortezai, 39,
is a filmmaker with a mission. She would like to see more and more
people talk about themselves on screen. Her theme is Iran and her
genre, the documentary.
The award-winning Mortezai prefers documentaries to feature films as
she finds real life people and original scenes more inspiring than
their fictional counterparts for interpreting the modern world.
"Fiction fuels the imagination but documentaries go beyond the
imagination," she
says.
'Children of the Prophet', an 86-minute documentary film, follows
four groups of protagonists in Tehran during Muharram, a Shia Muslim
ritual to commemorate the martyrdom of Imam Hussain, grandson of
Prophet Muhammad. The idea was to find out from contemporary
Iranians how the tragedy that took place more than a millennium ago
is able to inspire such strong emotions in this day and age.
The film, which opened in
Vienna (Austria) last May, continues to draw crowds, perhaps because
Iran is so much in the news but so little is known about its
people and culture. "We are flooded with information but obviously none
of it is enough to satisfy the curiosity of global citizens
looking for more in-depth reports about countries, like Iran, that are
headline news every day," explains Mortezai.
Completed in 2006, 'Children of the Prophet' was first screened in The
Netherlands last autumn as an official entry to the International
Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA), where it won the First
Appearance Award, including a cash prize of Euros 2,500. This is one of
the five prizes awarded annually by IDFA, the largest documentary film
festival in the world.
It continues to bother Mortezai the way Iran is demonised by the world
and seen as a society that is both backward and cruel. "When people
look at veiled Muslim women, it is immediately concluded that they are
submissive, less intellectual and unaware of their rights. Nothing is
further from the truth. Women in Iran are involved today in a fierce
fight for their rights in a very patriarchal society, where privileged
people refuse to give up a lifestyle enjoyed by them for centuries."
Moretzai agrees that it is not right to force women to wear the veil;
but also points to the terrible social pressure on women in western
societies to remain sexy, thin and 'beautiful'.
She is most annoyed when friends in Austria tell her that she is not
like an Iranian woman. Implying, perhaps, that everything that is
intelligent, creative and modern about her is because of her life in
Europe. This is not true, she says, even as she enjoys living in a
democratic society where equal rights are granted to women legally.
"But even in democratic European societies violence against women
exists," Mortezai says, as she recalls growing up with a mother and
grandmother, two of the most liberal and intelligent women to have
crossed her path.
"My octogenarian grandmother continues to make men of different age
groups dance to her tune, leading many of them to the fountain but not
allowing them to drink," she says with a laugh.
During her research for 'Children of the Prophet', Mortezai found that
the relationship between the two sexes is extremely complex in Iran and
this is a theme she will explore in her next documentary.
Born in Germany, Mortezai spent the first 12 years of her life in Iran
before moving to Vienna. She is a graduate in theatre studies from the
University of Vienna. One of her first jobs was in the offices of the
prestigious Viennale, the international film festival of Austria.
Mortezai is remembered for having introduced audiences in Vienna to the
marvellous films of Bahram Beizai, master Iranian film director,
almost a decade ago.
It has taken her some time to make her own film and, when she was
finally ready to do so, she chose to observe actuality rather than stage
it and to listen to protagonists tell their own story rather than
pressure actors to deliver dialogues. At the moment she is in no mood to
dramatise fiction. She wants to get as close as possible to the truth
and prefers to creatively work with the raw material instead of acting
out the reality around her.
Documentaries, too, can be staged and Mortezai gives the example of
Michael Moore who, she says, is 'manipulative'. "I admire what Moore
does and his documentaries are very important but I do not make films
the way he does. I like to wait and give people the opportunity to open
up to me, to tell me what they want to and not what I want to hear."
(Moore is an Academy Award-winning American director and producer of
controversial 'Fahrenheit 9/11'.)
While Mortezai's family did not observe the Muharram rituals at home,
she did watch it on television and invariably the conclusions of her
European friends were that the public display of grief by Iranians, who
beat their breast and cut themselves with knives during Muharram (as a
form of mourning), is barbaric.
So, she travelled to Iran to find out for herself. After filming
'Children of the Prophet', she discovered that the ritual is indeed
archaic, but not barbaric. "The image of Iran is based on highlighting
the dramatic aspect of life in the country. This is totally out of
context. The every-day life of ordinary Iranians is seldom explored,"
Mortezai rues.
Her film documents a few days in the life of a handsome male florist as
he prepares to participate in the annual Muharram procession along with
three other protagonists. This is the time of the year when people take
a break from their daily chores and reach out to the community. They
cry, cook, eat and philosophise about the meaning of life together,
creating a field of tremendous solidarity and energy.
"The energy that the community as a whole generates can be frightening
for those who do not belong. But a crowd of people during Muharram is as
benign or as explosive as the excitement of spectators at a game of
soccer or a rock concert. The gathering of people to mourn together and
to laugh together is practised all over the world. It is not something
Islamic or exclusive to Muslim societies. Then why demonise Muharram?"
Muharram is the name of the Islamic New Year. But during this month,
Hussain, the grandson of the prophet was killed as he fearlessly battled
for social justice. The Shia Muslims grow up on legends glorifying
Hussain and the way he sacrificed his life for truth. The grieving on
behalf of Shia Muslims today is symbolic of the loss of wisdom, decency
and courage from the world and a reminder that greed and cruelty is
unbecoming to human existence.
Once Muharram is over, the young man in 'Children of the Prophet' is
seen returning to his flower shop to begin preparations for the next
festival on the calendar - that happens to be St. Valentine's Day.
July 29,
2007
By arrangement with
WFS
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