The Main Features of Iranian Cinema Before and After the Islamic Revolution - Coursework Example

The main features of Iranian cinema before and after the Islamic Revolution Introduction Iranian cinema is today among the highest regarded cinemas around the world having regularly won festival awards and films with critical acclaim combining both amazing artistry and social relevance. It continues to be praised in many international platforms attracting a lot of international cinema lovers due to its unique style, its themes, authors, concept of national hood, and the overall culture. The development of Iranian film industry has closely been intertwined with Iran’s political history which can be described as tumultuous since the reign of Reza Shah Pahlevi together with his son, rising of Khomeini the advent of the Islamic Republic as well as the tragic war with Iraq (Duhnkrack 2013). Iranian cinema cannot be isolated from politics and social development which is traceable to 1906 when the bourgeoisie and the constitutional had taken over the internal nature of Iran. Iran’s discovery of oil and the entrance into the era of global capitalism and the formation of the communist party are all aspects that help understand the journey of cinema in Iran. The most important forms of art in Iran were modern literature and poetry with their own aesthetic space past the colonially restricted modernity that defined time. These forms of art however were only for the royals. Even though cinema in Iran can be traced back to the early 1900s, it had not yet found its footing only to later emerge as a populist art in the form of public story telling. A strong opposition by the religious leaders was felt due to the nature of the cinema which was viewed as against the Islamic principles. The Bas-reliefs in Persepolis is one of the first visual representations in the history of Iran. This was the centre for rituals of Achameinids, an ancient kingdom. This visual representation style reached its highest peak centuries later during the reign of Sassanian. A complex hunting scene is depicted by in a bas-relief in western Iran. The actions and movements are shown clearly in a sophisticated manner, also articulating a wounded lion running away from the hunting ground. Shortly after the Arabs invaded, advocating for Islam rather than Zoroastrianism Persian art continued. Visual symbols were avoided in Islam. Persian miniatures became popular with. Lack of perspective allowed artists to have several plots and sub- plots together with the picture (Duhnkrack 2013). Pardeh-khani was an example of such popular arts where the artist uncovered the painting as the story continued. Nagali was also another type of art in a similar category. Here, the narrator also known as the Nagali would entertain people in a coffee house (ghahve-khanes). These served as the main forums where people interacted between themselves and their culture. The narrator as a performing artist possessed a good oratorical and melodic voice and talent in theatre arts. The narrator had to rely on his imagination for improvisation as per the feedback from the audience adding to the original material he was reciting. The pictures and images of sports heroes, religious leaders and other epic characters fixed on the wall were a source of inspiration to the Nagal too. There were other popular dramatic performances before the beginning of cinema in Iran. Among these were the puppet shows known as the Khaymeshab-bazi, shadow plays known as the Saye-Bazi, comical arts known as the Rouhozi, and an example of a Persian play known as Ta’zieh which was a presentation of tragic drama about the martyrdom of Hossein who was an important figure in Shi’asm. Advent of Cinema in Iran The first Iranian photographer on August 18, 1900, recorded images of life on celluloid. Mizra Ebraheim Khan Akass Bashi the official photographer of Mozaffar al-Din Shahs court accompanied the monarch to Europe on his first visit. It was in France, Paris where he got introduced to the cinematographer in July the same year when he stayed to see the exposition. Akass Bashi was instructed by the Shah on the same day of the exposition to purchase recording and displaying equipments needed for motion picture in the Shah’s court. As such, Akass Bashi took the very first images in Belgium where he was attending the flower festival, Even though the main purpose of taking the images was to document Shah’s visit to Europe, the images present the first ethnographic footage recorded in the history of cinema in Iran. It is worth mentioning that film was introduced in Iran by the king as an entertainment tool for the monarchy members and the royal court (Mirbakhtyar 2006). Just like in Japan, Iranian cinema was for the royal family and the courtly nobles. This was different in many other parts of the world where cinema entertainment was a form of mass media entertainment and a marketable commodity. In Iran, cinema was used in occasions such as circumcision festivals, weddings and such festivities but only aristocratic settings coupled with short French comedies imported through Russia. The first time a public screening happened was in Tehran in 1904. Mizra Ebrahim Khan Sahaf Bashi was in charge of the screening where he arranged it at the back of his antique shop. He was later to open the very first movie theatre in 1905, in the nation’s capital. The audiences sat on the floor as there were no seats in the salon. The movie theatre only lasted for a short while due to Sahaf Bashi’s involvement in politics. He was a nationalist advocating for a constitutional monarchy (Mirbakhtyar 2006). Opposition from the religious leaders made it easy for the police to arrest Sahaf Bashi, closing down the cinema and confiscated other equipment including his projector. Later on, he was forced into exile. This was the first attempt of censorship in the Iranian cinema history. A few years later after this act of censorship, some Russian and Armenian immigrants attempted to launch new movie theatres in Tehran. Among these was Russi Khan who was the most successful figure among them. He held connections with the royal courts which enabled him to propel his business despite political opposition. There was also the Russian army at the north and Tehran who due to a shared nationality enabled his business to grow as well as providing new clients for his business. The fall of Mohammad Ali Shah and the constitutionalists’ success in 1909, Russi Khan lost his ground. As such, his business, the film theatre and photography studios were severely wrecked by the public. Then came the closure of other cinemas in Tehran. Ardeshir Khan helped revive the film industry in 1912. He fashioned the movie theatre to operate as a business that was well organized. This move encouraged other Iranians to revive the film industry in Iran. Ali Vakili opened a few movie houses as well as a publication about show business in 1920s. There were a little over fifteen movie houses in Tehran with the onset of 1930s and other movie theatres outside the capital. By late 1970s, the numbers had shot up to 109 in Tehran and 318 in other cities in Iran. A young Armenian-Iranian Russian national Ovanes Ohanian returned to Iran having studied film in Cinema Akademi of Moscow. His objective was to set up a film industry in Iran (Naficy 1995). However, it was challenging for him to accomplish this objective due to lack of professionals in the field. As such, he decided to establish a film school in Tehran. He ran the school as the Cinema Artist Education Centre (Parvareshgahe Artistiye cinema). Acting and performance were at the centre of the institution rather than film production. With the assistance of a theatre owner, Ovanes directed his first film in Iran after a few months together with his graduates. This was in 1929 and the film was dubbed, Abi Va Rabi. The film received quite well by the public and the critics. The only copy of the film burnt down in flames two years later after it was released in Mayak theatre in Tehran when the theatre caught fire. Ovanes started his next project with the second group of students. This time round he worked on a comedy known as Haji Agha the Cinema Actor in 1933. It was a reflexive construction surrounding a traditionalist shown to be suspicious about the cinema but later realizes the importance of the film arts. The film performed poorly in the office box. There were technical shortcomings coupled with the release of a Persian talkie that had been produced in India therefore minimizing the ability to make profits. This failure of his second film ended any hopes of Ovanes finding any support for further projects (Naficy 1995). This prompted him to move to India where he continued with his academic career and in 1947 returned to Iran where he died seven years later. Ebrahim Moradi was also another film director in Iran during the 1920s. He set up his film studio by the name Jahan Nama in Bandar Anzali which was a port city by the Caspian Sea. He shot his first film with the title, ‘a brother’s revenge’ (Entegham-e-Baradar) a year later. He had completed approximately 1800 metres of film and edited it but lacked money to complete his work. He moved to Tehran to search for financial support. Without completing the first film, he started another project named by the name the Lustful man (Bolhavas) which was a melodrama. This film was released in 1934. It received good reviews and was the last feature production in Iran until the Second World War end. A significant step in the history of Iranian cinema was the coming to power of Reza Shah in 1926 together with a programme of forced modernisation, leading to a mass urbanisation. The urban dwellers needed a new form of entertainment leading to a wave of silent films in the 1930s. Iranian cinema after the Revolution There was a significant change in the film industry in Iran after 1979 when the Islamic revolution set in. Iran’s film industry has thrived despite the many controversies with the political regime and amid the strict censorship laws that were slapped on the industry by the new leaders. The controversial link between politics and cinema was evident when the presidential elections coincided with the film industry recognition internationally. Many of the Iranian films continue to compete in international film festivals winning many awards. The film industry changed completely in Iran when Mohamad Reza shah was forced in to exile and therefore giving way for Ayatollah Khomeini leading the Islamic revolution (Naficy 1995). With this revolution, came in brutal suppression of people who had different views seen to oppose the new regime. Women were subjected to wearing veils. As such, the secular intellectuals fled the country. Cinema became a propaganda tool used for the benefit of the new government. The industry lost its creativity as people feared to be subjected to torture for having a different opinion with the leaders. Tough censorship laws also made it difficult for the film makers for example they were not allowed to screen couples touching and a woman had to wear Islamic garments covering her hair and body features. Permits became especially hard to get. The new regime created a dilemma for the artists as they could not make what they felt was right since they had to follow the restrictions imposed on the industry. However, some people believe that this censorship was a way of awakening artists’ creativity leading to more affective films. Dabashi Hamid, an Iranian studies professor at the University of Columbia holds the view that the revolution created creativity condition expressing the trauma Iran underwent and that the censorship created a barrier that could be crossed in creative ways by the film makers. Other people are of different opinions especially Iran’s film community which felt that this was by no means a way to awaken creativity in the film industry. A documentary maker by the name Ms. Maziar Bahari says that she felt that the censorship was a patronizing move saying that it was a disservice to the film makers and to the people of Iran. She further argued that without censorship there would be other great artists and film makers. But due to this their talent could not see the light of the day due to tough government, religious and social restrictions (Tapper 2002). Any film set to be shown in Iran today must go through rigorous inspection by the authorities often succumbing to the strict censorship laws guiding the industry. The directors who have given in to government demands describe the experience as demoralizing both to themselves and to their work. Babak Payami who directed ‘silence between two thoughts’ says that he was crushed following the seizure of the first version of this film by the Iranian authorities. He then made a second one which he felt did not meet his original vision due to a lot of changes to accommodate the laws. He even cried during the first screening of the film as this was not what he had in mind. Bahman Farmanara was also a victim of the law when his film, ‘A house built on water’, which had won numerous awards at Fajr international festival had to be edited and three scenes completely cut out due to be in line with the laws. The film ‘offside’ which showed a group of women wearing men’s attire in order to attend soccer games had to be shot in secret which was very difficult for the directors and the crew. Iranians involved in the film industry are always closely scrutinized, and many times they are arrested for participating in activities that are considered illegal by the government. In2001. BBC reported that Tahmine Milani, a film maker who incorporates feminism and liberalism in her films was arrested for this. Tehran’s Islamic Revolution court defended this act by saying that the film maker was showing support for counter revolutionary groups waging war against God, also saying that she was exploiting the art (Mozzuri 2001). The months that surrounded elections in Iran in 2009 landed many film makers in trouble. Bahman Ghobadi director of the film, ‘no one knows about Persian cats’ was arrested when he returned to Iran and accused of criticising the government during the Cannes film festival. These are some of the many cases of acts of violence against the film makers in Iran. Conclusion With all the obstacles, there is still optimism that the industry continues to prosper both at the domestic and international levels. Many film makers still feel that the Iranian cinema has a steady future. Many feel that if censorship was to be removed, it would allow the film makers to be diversified without the worry of their films being banned or the fear of facing arrest. Complete censorships on topics touching on sex, alcohol and violence limits themes and topics that can be pursued by the film makers (Tapper 2002). Filmmakers who are unwilling to succumb to the demands of the government chose to film away from Iran. This pushes away Iranian film makers from the country which could have ripple effects in the future of the cinema industry in the country. Censorship not only affects the production of the films but also their distribution. This has led to pirating of movies by the Iranians who want to watch films that have been prohibited by the government. This in turn injures the economy of filmmakers in Iran. Reference list: Duhnkrack, S. (2013). Development of Iranian cinema after the Islamic revolution. [S.l.], Grin Verlag. Mirbakhtyar, S. (2006). Iranian cinema and the Islamic revolution. Jefferson, N.C. [etc.], McFarland. Naficy, H. (1995). Iranian cinema under the Islamic Republic. In American Anthropologist, 97 (3), 548-562. Mozzuri, C. (2001). Women in Iran: notes in film and from the field. In Feminist studies, 27 (1), 89-122. Tapper, R. (2002). The new Iranian cinema: politics, representation and identity. London, I.B. Tauris Publishers. Read More