Cinema under totalitarianism

09 2015 | Issue 9

Text/Ng Kin Ling

Iranian move Taxi has won two major awards in this year’s Berlin International Film Festival, including the Golden Bear for the Best Motion Picture and international film critic award FIPRESCI Prizes. Jafar Panahi wrote, directed and starred in the documentary-like movie, “playing” as a taxi driver under government suppression who installed a camcorder on the dashboard and secretly taped different passengers to reflect various social issues in Iran.


It was not the first time an Iranian movie has won an international award. In 2009, About Elly directed by Asghar Farhadi won the Silver Bear for the Best Director at the Berlin International Film Festival; and in 2011, A Separation also directed by him won the Best Foreign Language Film at the 84th Academy Awards (Oscars) and the 69th Golden Globe Awards, as well as the Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival. As a fan of Hitchcock, Asghar Farhadi is specialised at characterising females’ psychological struggle in an authoritarian society.


Making movies in Iran is not simple at all: since the 1979 Iranian Revolution, the government has been suppressing the movie industry with the charge of “moral corruption” until 1997, when Reformist Mohammad Khatami became President and implemented a liberal inclusive culture policy. Iranian movies have since then rushed into the international scene and started winning awards, like The Children of Heaven and Taste of Cherry, etc. But when Hawkish Mahmoud Ahmadinejad became president in 2005, the censorship to the movie industry was tightened again, even arresting and jailing film producers. In 2010, Asghar Farhadi called for the Iranian government to allow exiled movie practitioners to return to the country, and was harshly criticised by the officials. The production of A Separation was even halted until Farhadi publicly apologised. Jafar Panahi was jailed for six years for “jeopardising national security”, and has been banned from leaving the country and accepting interviews for the past 20 years.


Under this sort of political atmosphere, moviemakers can only walk on the thin line. For instance, A Separation refracted social issues through a marriage crisis of one family only to evade official investigation; the director of Taxi was banned from filming, but he took the risk and filmed secretly on streets then exporting it out of the country. They did it purely out of their affectionate love for movies.


A Separation cannot escape from conservatives’ indiscriminate attacks in the country saying it is immoral. Fortunately, in the Oscars, it beat Footnote by its rival country Israel to win the Best Foreign Language Film, and has suddenly been “put on a pedestal” and is no longer immoral. In contrast, Taxi is not as fortunate: it got banned in the country, and Panahi is continued to be suppressed, missing the Berlin International Film Festival and had to delegate his niece to accept the award.


In fact, it only takes a little bit more inclusiveness for Iran to develop a cultural industry, based on its talented moviemakers. These banned or suppressed Iranian movies hold extremely sparkling box offices. The production cost of A Separation was US$0.5 million. Until December 2014, its box office reached US$22 million—maybe it is more economical than exporting pistachio nuts or rugs.


The movie industry even gives the world more understanding of the country regarded as the “Axis of Evil”. When A Separation was played in Israel theatres, English newspaper The Guardian interviewed audiences on street. Some said: “I only learnt that men in Iran wear suits, drive automobiles and even have washing machines at home!”


The key to mutual understanding has always been openness and inclusiveness, but not politics-oriented censorship.