Last year's winner of the Spirit of Fire festival, Shahram Ebrahimi, talks about why cinema resembles a symphony, what are the peculiarities of working with Iranian actresses and how to make the viewer collaborate with the director.
In 2023, the main prize of the International Debut Film Festival “Spirit of Fire” - the Golden Taiga award - was awarded to the film “Parallax” by Iranian director Shahram Ebrahimi. On March 11, the film was shown in Moscow at the Oktyabr cinema. The film tells about the conflict in a creative family: actress Mahrokh is preparing for her first filming, and her husband Kayvan is trying to prevent this. Shahram Ebrahimi spoke about the confrontation between old and new, the dispute between traditional ideas about family in Iran, his attitude to the Iranian film school and experiments with form in an interview with the chairman of the selection committee of the Spirit of Fire film festival, Pyotr Shepotinnik, and film critic Asa Kolodizhner.
— The credits say that the film is partly based on real events. To what extent did you base yourself on reality and to what extent on fiction?
— If I myself tried to clearly separate this, I would probably just make a film of the classical type, in which there would be a direct, understandable, obvious narrative. Here I did not separate truth and fiction: I learned that in reality such a misfortune happened that at a holiday, at a birthday party, a woman, a birthday girl, was set on fire, and she found herself in a critical situation. On this basis, Hassan Attarkha wrote a script that had a fairly classic form: beginning, climax, ending. But after reading it, I realized that if I don’t bring something of my own, it won’t be my individual work, it will be similar to the films of other directors. And here I was looking for the essence, looking for the very essence between narrative and music. I looked for inspiration in the symphony. I think I was able to find it, and that's why the story ended up like this.
— When you compare a film to a symphony, do you have something specific in mind related to style and composition? After all, a symphony should have three or four movements.
— Yes, that’s right, a symphony is a three-part structure, and I tried to follow this principle in the film. Each part begins at a specific moment, but does not always end clearly: the first two parts do not find their logical conclusion. The viewer seems to enter the story, but does not fully understand its essence. That was the idea. That is, the first part begins, I introduce the viewer to the main characters, but at the most unexpected moment this part is interrupted, and the next one begins. Once again, the viewer gets acquainted with a new circle of heroes. Yes, at first it is difficult for the viewer, but gradually he enters the second part of the story. And in the third segment, this whole narrative comes together. Heroes become part of the whole. And this combination, according to my idea, should convey the main idea of the film.
— Weren’t you afraid that such a composition would be too complicated for the viewer?
— I was educated in the field of drama and approached the creation of a film using the same criteria that exist in theatrical art. Yes, indeed, paintings of such a structure are difficult not only to produce, to create, but also to be perceived by the viewer. Because the viewer must participate and collaborate with the creator at every moment of the film. I would not like and am not ready to give ready-made food for thought to the viewer and I want him to take part in what is happening.
— Modern Iranian cinema has rich traditions, but it seems that “Parallax” does not fit into any of them, it does not look like the Iranian mainstream at all. Do you yourself attribute it to any tradition?
— Of course, there are different traditions, as well as active communication between directors representing different schools and groups. Yes, we get to know each other’s works, discuss them, discuss various topics. “Parallax” also caused a lot of discussion among colleagues; the film had many supporters and many critics. The first ones said that yes, this is an unusual form, an unusual presentation, and that if you leave a direct, obvious narrative, then it will not differ from the many films that are now being created by the Iranian film industry. But there were also those who said that the picture was too innovative in terms of form, presentation, technology, and the world does not expect these innovations from the East. He is waiting for the classic development of history.
— How does an Iranian director work with an Iranian actress? The relationship between a man and a woman in your country is not quite the same as in Europe. This probably affects the way you work on site?
— I believe that an actor or, as in this case, an actress is the creator of his own role. He or she is an engineer, but the director is more of an architect who puts together the final picture. And therefore, their joint work is not conflict, not competition, but open, sincere cooperation. Of course, there are contradictions and disputes, but there is no rudeness or cruelty.
— But if, for example, the actress is married, do you have to negotiate with her family about some special rules of behavior on the set?
- No, there are no such restrictions now. Perhaps they once existed in the theater, or in cinema in the era when the film industry was just emerging in Iran, but not now. It is clear that there are religious attitudes that influence the rules of behavior at the state level, but these are not restrictions from the family or close circle. Women are free to choose their profession and work. And the plot of my film is connected not with the restrictions of the social order, but with more personal motives: we see the reverse side of a husband’s love for his wife, when he is not ready to share even her image with anyone. There are also economic motives here, because the family of the main characters and their son-in-law are at different levels of wealth, and this also affects their relationship.
—Which Iranian director do you consider your like-minded person or teacher?
- Very many. But, of course, among my colleagues the most dear to me are Abbas Kiarostami, Jafar Panahi, Asghar Farhadi. But remember - Mikhail Chekhov, who created the system of acting, was a student of Stanislavsky, but at the same time he was looking for his own path of creative realization. And I am also looking for my way, trying to experiment with form, image, to make it so that it is not easy for the viewer to understand me. I want him to tense up and ask questions. As an Iranian director, I want to use all the tools that the Iranian film industry has to find a new and unusual form.
- Thank you. We are always glad to see you in Khanty-Mansiysk!
— It is a great honor for me to take part in the “Spirit of Fire”, to have the opportunity to show myself and my work. I am interested in visiting your city, in a country that always breaks canons and patterns, and also be part of a similar process in art.
