Venice hosted an unprecedented collaboration between Israeli and Iranian filmmakers, who say there are similarities between their governments and hope they’ll set an instance for better unity between their individuals.
“Tatami”, proven within the “Orizzonti” (“Horizons”) part of the Venice Film Festival, recounts the story of an Iranian judo star who rejects her authorities’s guidelines about by no means dealing with an Israeli athlete in a world competitors.
It was collectively directed by award-winning Iranian actress Zar Amir, who additionally stars because the judoka’s coach, and Israel’s Guy Nattiv, recognized for the latest biopic of Israeli ex-prime minister Golda Meir (“Golda”).
“At school, I was taught that Israel does not exist,” mentioned Amir (who just lately dropped her different surname, Ebrahimi).
“We are not allowed to work together, to meet, to make friends or compete with this imaginary enemy,” she advised AFP.
Amir, who now lives in exile in France, gained finest actress on the Cannes Film Festival final yr for her half in “Holy Spider” as a journalist monitoring down a serial killer of prostitutes within the Iranian holy metropolis of Mashhad.
“In Iran, filmmakers can’t really speak the truth. They can work on these subjects but it will only ever be half-truths,” Amir added.
Iran’s crackdown on filmmakers was underlined once more final month when director Saeed Roustaee was reportedly given a six-month suspended jail sentence for screening his movie “Leila’s Brothers” in Cannes final yr “without authorisation”.
The sentence was condemned all over the world, together with by Martin Scorsese.
Nattiv mentioned there have been parallels between their two international locations.
“Miraculously, you can see that in Israel and Iran the same kind of revolution is going on,” he advised AFP.
“In Israel it is towards what Benjamin Netanyahu is doing towards democracy. Millions of persons are demonstrating, and ladies’s rights are additionally being bashed once more. The authorities is so excessive.
“We are kind of a similar countries, going through the same process in a way,” he added.
Amir mentioned she was “full of hope” concerning the protest motion that started a yr in the past in Iran following the loss of life of Mahsa Amini after she was arrested for breaking the nation’s strict gown code.
“I think women are in the process of changing their situation and there is no going backwards,” she mentioned. “I am touched by their bravery, especially that of the young generation.”
“And the men are supporting the women — that is new,” she added.
“Tatami”, which is due for launch subsequent yr, has already been a scorching matter in Israel.
“People — I’m not talking about the government — the people see it as a kind of a revolutionary thing to have this collaboration,” mentioned Nattiv. “Hopefully it will open the way for more collaborations between Israelis and Iranians.”
© 2023 AFP