Iranian Filmmakers Make Hollywood Visit
By Azam K. Gorgin
Staff Writer
Washington - A
group of Iranian filmmakers traveled to Hollywood on October
8 - the first such visit in 35 years.
According to
Ellen Harrington, director of the Academy of Motion Picture
Arts and Sciences' international outreach program, the
academy began work on the visit in cooperation with the
Tehran-based Khaneh Cinema (House of Cinema) in the summer
of 2008.
Both organizations agreed to carry out the
program in the spirit of cultural exchange, a tradition that
dates back in recent times to 1997, when Iranian President
Mohammad Khatami initiated a cultural exchange program with
the United States to permit scholars, poets, scientists and
artists to travel between the two countries.
The 2009
exchange began in February when Khaneh Cinema welcomed an
academy delegation to Iran. The American delegation included
producers Sid Ganis, Tom Pollock, and William Horberg;
actresses Annette Bening and Alfre Woodard; writer/directors
Frank Pierson and Phil Alden Robinson; and documentarian
James Longley. The Americans met with members of the Iranian
film industry and participated in seminars and
workshops.
For the October program, the academy and
the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) Film &
Television Archive co-hosted a weeklong screening of Iranian
films. The academy chose UCLA as a partner because it has a
history of hosting Iranian film festivals and, Harrington
said, the university has "a well-established audience of
people who are interested in Iranian films."
Shannon
Kelly, head of public programming at the UCLA Film &
Television Archive, said UCLA has hosted individual
directors, but this visit was its first from a group of
directors.
The event, titled Up Close and Personal,
also featured discussions with academy members and the
visiting Iranian delegation, including directors Mohammad
Mehdi Asgarpour, Ebrahim Hatamikia, Reza Mir-Karimi, Mojtaba
Raie, Rakhshan Bani Etemad and Alireza Raisian; actor Amin
Tarokh; and screenwriter Farhad Tohidi.
Harrington
said turnout for Up Close and Personal was "very, very good.
We had full houses for a couple of nights and very enthusiastic audiences
for the rest of the nights. The films that come out of Iran
are really excellent. Very compelling stories, good
screenplays, very well photographed and well acted. Overall,
it's a very dynamic group of work that we were able to share
and they were received very well."
Although efforts to
improve cultural exchange programs between the United States
and Iran continue, there are persistent challenges.
According to Harrington, Iranian authorities held back the
passports of documentarian Mojtaba Mirtahmasb and actress
Fatemeh Motamed-Arya, both of whom were slated to join the
Iranian group. Motamed-Arya was one of the signatories of an
open letter by artists and intellectuals that protested the
2009 Iranian presidential election results.
Despite
the political climate in Iran, modern Iranian cinema has
achieved recognition, fame and respect among critics and
moviegoers and at international film festivals. Iranian
filmmakers have won major awards in world-renowned film
festivals such as those Cannes, France; Venice, Italy;
Berlin; Moscow; and Toronto, among others. Iranian directors
and actors also participate in many of these festivals as
jurors who select award winners.
The academy plans to
continue its collaboration with Iranian filmmakers. "This is
an established program to reach international filmmakers
since our first trip to Vietnam in 2007," Harrington said.
"Iran has been of some interest to the academy for their
ideas and outstanding people." And UCLA will host another
Iranian film festival in February 2010 marking the 20th
anniversary of Iranian film festivals at the
university.
(This is a product of the Bureau of
International Information Programs, U.S. Department of
State. Web site: http://www.america.gov)
ENDS