Iranian filmmaker Majid Majidi

(November,17, New Delhi, Sri Lanka Guardian) Majid Majidi was born in Teheran in 1959 from an Iranian middle class family. After the Islamic revolution in 1978, his interest in cinema brought him to act in various films, notably "Boycott" (1985) from Mohsen Makhmalbaf. His debut as a director and screenwriter is marked by "Baduk" (1992), his first feature film that was presented at the Directors Fortnight in Cannes. "Children of Heaven" (1997) won the "Best Picture" at Montreal International Film Festival and was nominated for Best Foreign Film Academy Award. "The Color of Paradise" (1999) has also won the "Best Picture" award at Montreal International Film Festival. This film has been selected as one of the best 10 films of year 2000 by Time Magazine and the Critics Picks of the New-York Times. "Baran" has won several major awards worldwide, notably the "Best Picture" award at the 25th Montreal World Film Festival and nominated for the European Film Academy Award. In 2001, during the Afghanistan war, he produced Barefoot to Herat , an emotional documentary on Afghanistan's refugee camps, that won the Fipresci Award at Thessaloniki Festival. In 2005, he directed "The Willow Tree" that won four awards at the 2005 Fajr Festival in Tehran. Majjid Majid has received the Douglas Sirk Award in 2001, and the Amici Vittorio de Sica Award in 2003.

The Iranian filmmaker on his first film in India for UTV's SpotBoy Motion Pictures

Namrata Joshi interviews Majid Majidi

Why a film outside Iran?

I always wanted to do a film set in the East.

Why India?

We have close cultural affinity with India. We’ve grown up on films of Satyajit Ray. I also admire Mira Nair and Shyam Benegal.

What will be the role of UTV?

They are the financers and producers.

Why did you go for UTV?

I’d been approached by several producers after I won the Best Asian Director award at the Mumbai Film Festival in 2006. UTV seemed a distinguished company. There were no instructions from them. I needed that creative freedom.

Would your cast and crew be from India?

I’ll bring some of my crew, director of photography and the sound mixer. Rest will be sourced from India. But I’m not sure whether I’ll use professional actors.

You’re a trained actor. Why do you use non-professional actors?

I try to portray realistic experiences. I often don’t give the script. I shoot in sequence so actors can inhabit the world, make sense of it.

A trained actor can’t get that spontaneity and natural shade?

I feel that at some level trained actors keep playing the same role.

Why is Iranian cinema so closely associated with children?

It’s a misperception. Of the 70-80 films made in a year only 5-8 are for kids. It’s also that some of our films which have won prestigious awards have been about kids.

What about your own films, they have reflected childhood experience as well?

My films come from my own upbringing, my fondness for childhood. These years are a wonderful bridge between innocence and adulthood.

The state of young Iranian cinema.

It has great potential but like the world over, art cinema is on the margins.

(Outlook India)