Wim Wenders and Afsun Moshiry reveal six Iranian documents on CPH:DOX as the Iranian regime continues to crack down on filmmakers

Whenever the Iranian regime feels threatened by public protest, it reflexively acts against two groups: protesters, certainly, but also artists – especially filmmakers.

When protests against rising food prices broke out in six provinces in May last year, the government immediately knocked on the doors of two documentary filmmakers, Mina Keshavarz and Firouzeh Khosrovani, and arrested them. Law enforcement reportedly harassed numerous other filmmakers and confiscated their communications equipment.

May’s unrest appears mild compared to the uproar caused by the death in police custody in September 2022 of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman arrested for allegedly wearing her hijab in breach of the law . Security forces have attacked and killed an unknown number of protesters over the months of protests. The government also responded with an immediate crackdown on Iranian film leaders, arresting or imprisoning Jafar Panahi, Mohammad Rasulof and Mostafa al-Ahmad. In January, 81-year-old director Masoud Kimiai was reportedly prevented from traveling from Iran to the Rotterdam Film Festival to screen his latest work.

“Iranian cinema has always had a great voice and has always reached a wider audience,” noted Iranian-born filmmaker and curator Afsun Moshiry, speaking to Deadline at CPH:DOX in Copenhagen. “Of course, that’s why it wants to be controlled by a regime that wants to control everything.” She says the Iranian authorities are concerned about “how they are portrayed … what kind of social criticism is in the film.”

Moshiry came to CPH:DOX with legendary German filmmaker Wim Wenders to present a program of six short non-fiction films made by Iranian directors, some living in Iran and others in exile. The Wim Wenders Foundation financed the project entitled A Sense of Place. All six films are the result of a close collaboration between Wim Wenders, the filmmaker Hella Wenders (Wim Wenders’ cousin) and the six Iranian directors: Mohammadreza Farzad (hollow), Shirin Barghnavard (density of the void), Azin Faizabadi (Shadowless – on the way), Pooya Abbassian (tour), Afsaneh Salari (Big are the eyes of a dead father) and Mina Keshavarz (Phobos).

As mentioned above, Keshavarz was one of the drivers arrested last year. Wenders explained why films are seen as such a threat by an authoritarian regime like Iran.

“The idea of ​​change is inherent in filmmaking, I think, and in films,” Wenders told Deadline. “Only highly commercial films show a world that must remain as it is. Only the most commercial filmmaking is not promote the idea of ​​change. All independent filmmaking … as such promotes change. And that is obviously dangerous for any regime that doesn’t like change very much.” He noted that such independent filmmaking “doesn’t have to be overtly political; Actually, it’s better if that’s not the case, because then the idea of ​​change works much better.”

Wenders gave an example from his own career, the Oscar nominees Buena Vista Social Clubthe 1999 documentary about aging musicians in Cuba.

“They only had one demand from me,” Wenders said of the musicians, “that they didn’t have to make a political statement because they made it clear to me that they lived there. [in Cuba], they chose to live there, they chose to die there. So much [other] Musicians have been to Mexico, Spain, Florida, whatever. And these guys were there. And they said… “We will do anything for this film, but it will be good for us if you don’t jeopardize our position.” So we didn’t do that. The film still spreads a lot of ideas about change and portrays a society, and you don’t really have to name people to be a political film.”

Wenders said that was true of some of the six films selected for A Sense of Place.

“I think some films from our series like Shirin [Barghnavard’s] Film about the density of places, it is a terrible political film,” he noted. “It’s a very political film, but probably under the radar of the danger zones that the regime sees.”

Moshiry, the curator, grew up mainly in Germany, but has spent a lot of time in Iran since 2020. She described the current situation in Iran amid the crackdown on protests as “quite difficult”. And we hope that we are actually in the midst of a revolution that will bring change, bring freedom for women, children, men. And I think right now, right now, it’s very emotional for us. It is very difficult to see the images from the outside.”

She added that she felt solidarity with the entire Iranian people. “We try to support everyone in the country. And we also want to do our best for the filmmakers and artists. They really need a lot of support these days, in every way.”

A Sense of Place drew on the talents of many creative people in Iran, Moshiry said, with a desire to help as many people as possible in the film industry.

“We have an Iranian producer… The DoPs and the editors were all Iranian. We did their post-productions with their trusted people in Iran as much as the filmmakers wanted,” she said. “We did the graphic design, the ‘house style’ as you would say, of the project in Iran… We did the website in both languages ​​to involve the Iranian public in the project as well. So it was little things that we thought about.

Moshiry continues: “We’re actually hoping that maybe it won’t be that long before we can return to Iran with Wim and Hella and hopefully start a new era.”