00:00Hello and welcome to this week's Culture Review. I'm your host, Tecumbo Salako.
00:04Joining me is my esteemed colleague, David Morrigan. David, how are you?
00:07I'm good, thank you. How are you?
00:08Yeah, not too bad, thanks. Well, this week we're concentrating on Cannes.
00:12Looking back at the Palme d'Or winner, the Iranian dissident, Jafar Pahani, and his film, It Was Just an Accident.
00:18David, he's not a household name, but he's a very revered director.
00:23Tell us, for people who don't know anything at all about him, what's his background?
00:27Well, as you said, it was just an accident on the Palme d'Or, and it's the first film since 1997 to do so,
00:35and at the time it was Taste of Cherry by Abbas Kiyostami.
00:39And Jafar Pahani is one of Iran's just greatest filmmakers, alongside the likes of Mohamed Razalov, for instance,
00:48and he is somebody who has clashed with the repressive Iranian authorities for many, many years now.
00:55He was placed under house arrest, arrested for endangering national security, and banned from travel.
01:02And in 2022, he was imprisoned for supporting his fellow filmmaker, Mohamed Razalov,
01:10and later went on a hunger strike and was released a year later.
01:15And it was just an accident.
01:17It was his first film since then.
01:19And it's worth saying that ever since all these years, Jafar Pahani has continued to make films in defiance of the repressive authorities.
01:31And these films have come to major European festivals.
01:34So, for example, in 2011, Jafar Pahani's film, This Is Not a Film, was smuggled out of Iran on a USB stick
01:44that was itself hidden inside a cake in order to get to the festival.
01:49In his film, Taxi Tehran, went to the Berlinale in 2015 and ended up winning the Golden Bear.
01:58And in 2022, his film No Bears was in Venice, where it won a special jury prize.
02:06So, genuinely, if anyone hasn't heard of Jafar Pahani, these are three very, very good films to start off with.
02:14David, you've had the chance to see the film. Tell us, what's it about?
02:18Well, it's first and foremost a richly deserved poem, I'll say that.
02:23It was shot in Iran secretly because Jafar Pahani did not have the permits from Iranian authorities
02:30and the film was later on edited in France.
02:34And because this film is an indictment of the Islamist Republic
02:39and criticizes the corruption and the sins of state despotism
02:44and also shows women not wearing a hijab at times.
02:48And this film is a very taut film compared to many other films in competition at Cannes this year.
02:56And it tells the story of a family, a father, a mother and their daughter,
03:01who are in a car who accidentally run over a dog.
03:04And the car breaks down and fortuitously breaks down in front of a shop
03:09where one person there offers to help out.
03:13And another person there, Vahid, seems to have a very visceral reaction
03:18to the father coming into the shop.
03:21And he recognizes a noise which seems to come from the father's prosthetic leg.
03:28And he believes that this is the man who is an intelligence officer,
03:34or who was an intelligence officer, who previously tortured him.
03:38And because of this uncertainty, but this very visceral reaction he has,
03:45he kidnaps the father and plans to bury him alive.
03:50But because of the protestations from the father figure,
03:55the seeds of doubt are sown.
03:58So what he does is goes off and seeks help and advice
04:02from other victims of this potential monster.
04:05People like a photographer, a bride-to-be and her husband,
04:10and this live wire of a man who is the only one
04:14who can positively identify the potential torturer
04:18because he has seen him without being blindfolded,
04:22like the others were, therefore the doubt.
04:27And essentially it's a film about the price of revenge,
04:30whether you should use violence to combat violence,
04:34what it does to your own humanity,
04:37how you can escape the trauma that has been inflicted,
04:41and whether that's at all possible.
04:43And it is, like I said, a taut, a gripping film, utterly engrossing.
04:49And one that surprised me in the sense that it's actually very humorous.
04:54There's some slapstick elements to this.
04:56And it is something which is rather remarkable in the sense that it talks about these very powerful things,
05:04these very dark things,
05:07but at the same time does so in a way that recalls Waiting for Godot,
05:11which is mentioned in the film,
05:12but also as if Waiting for Godot was spliced with Weekend at Bernie's.
05:16And I'll say one more thing without spoiling the film at all.
05:21Not only is it a very richly deserved poem,
05:24but the ending left my jaw on the floor.
05:28It's one of those moments, it's a very simply filmed scene
05:32and uses sound to a devastating effect.
05:36And it is almost like a horror film.
05:39Well, perhaps we can just have a quick clip of the film now before we go any further.
05:43Let's just see an extract from it right now.
06:09David Jou very, very well summed up his history with the Iranian government,
06:28that history of conflict that he's had with them.
06:30What reactions have there been, though, to this film, his latest work?
06:35Well, Panahi returned to Tehran
06:38at the beginning of the week
06:39and to great applause at the airport.
06:42There were scenes that went online,
06:45even people shouting Women Life Freedom,
06:49the slogan of the protests in 2022 and 2023.
06:54But there are still concerns for his well-being
06:57because obviously his previous films have been banned in the country
07:00and it is a very politically charged film
07:04that was made illegally in the eyes of the Iranian authorities
07:07and predictably the reactions have been very lukewarm
07:11from the Iranian state media and officials.
07:15There's even been a diplomatic row with France.
07:19The French foreign minister, Jean-Noël Barrault,
07:22reacted to the win of the film by saying that it was a gesture of resistance
07:26against the Iranian regime's oppression.
07:28And this, in turn, prompted Tehran to summon France's chargé d'affaires,
07:35as it's called, to protest against these comments,
07:37which were deemed insulting.
07:39And the foreign ministry spokesperson said, and I quote,
07:43I'm not an art expert, but we believe that artistic events
07:46and art in general should not be exploited to pursue political objectives.
07:50There's a lot to unpack there.
07:54Primarily, if you're not an art expert and you're talking about something
07:58that you don't know, then your opinion is null and void.
08:01But art is worth saying, I mean, there is a fundamental misunderstanding here
08:06that art is not created in a vacuum.
08:09It is a medium that reflects thoughts, emotions, empathy,
08:13and is a reflection of the world that goes on around us,
08:17even if it is hidden in layers of allegory.
08:21Not so here.
08:22But also to the words of Rashida Dati, the French minister of culture,
08:27who told Euronews with regards to a petition signed in Cannes this year
08:32by several artists with regards to the industry silence of the crimes happening in Gaza,
08:37that culture and politics go hand in hand.
08:40And moreover, this whole thing reminded me of a quote by Toni Morrison
08:45who said that the best art is political
08:47and that you ought to be able to make art that is unquestionably political
08:53but also irrevocably beautiful at the same time.
08:58And that's the thing.
08:59At the moment, people tend to think that art is either politically charged
09:04and therefore has very little artistic value
09:06or that it is art for art's sake and then doesn't have that is a bit vacant.
09:11No, these two things can coexist and films, cinema in general, feeds empathy,
09:17but not only that, it empowers consciousness.
09:21Indeed.
09:21Well, I'm not going to argue with your defence or Toni Morrison's defence of art,
09:26but, you know, Cannes is always under fire for whatever choices it makes
09:31and it's so easy for some people to look at this and say,
09:34this is just a political award.
09:36It's just, you know, they're putting it on a platform.
09:38You know, does, is this a worthy winner?
09:41It, well, as I've said, it is absolutely a worthy winner
09:45considering the other films that have won prizes this year.
09:48This one stood out, for me at least.
09:51And it's true.
09:53There are very often reactions towards Cannes.
09:56Oh, it's the self-congratulatory kind of,
09:59oh, well, of course it was going to win an award
10:01because it is politically charged.
10:03And that is, to put it mildly, utter rubbish
10:07because anyone who will get to see this film
10:10will understand why comments like that are tripe.
10:14But at the same time, there is, there have been reactions in certain media
10:19and even in people that I've talked to about the film winning
10:23who said, oh, well, this is the Cannes woke brigade at it again.
10:27And it's always this constant hammering of the word woke,
10:31which is essentially now the defense mechanism
10:35of all those who are trying to engage in culture wars, essentially,
10:40but also do this by commandeering this word,
10:44which has now lost all of its original meaning
10:46and use it in order to essentially stoke division
10:51and a climate of fear, even.
10:55And really, at this point, a discussion is, of course, necessary
11:00about the pitfalls of political correctness
11:03and how virtue signaling can be very, very frustrating.
11:08But at the same time, this is not the case here.
11:11And it is very tiresome to hear people automatically,
11:16without having seen the film, just bandy about this term,
11:20which, you know, the woke brigade, woke this, woke that.
11:23And these people should really look into the origins of that word
11:27and stop losing their intellectual credibility.
11:30Indeed, I couldn't agree with you more there.
11:32But let's talk now, get back focused,
11:34to talk about not only Jafar Bahani, but other Iranian films.
11:38Because you mentioned Mohamed Rasulov,
11:40who we had the pleasure of meeting and interviewing last year.
11:43For anyone who's looking to scratch beyond the surface,
11:47where should they start?
11:48Well, I'd refer them back to our two favorite films of last year,
11:53which were My Favorite Cake by Mariam Mogadam and Betash Saniha,
11:59who have also fallen foul of the repressive Iranian government,
12:03who weren't able to come to the Berlinale to present their film
12:06because of the travel ban.
12:08And Mohamed Rasulov, with The Seed of the Sacred Fig.
12:12These are films that deal with the protests in 2022 and 2023.
12:21And they are subversive in their own ways,
12:23in the way that they use very different cinematic languages
12:27to comment about what is going on in Iran.
12:29But they are, in and of themselves,
12:32absolutely stunning films on an artistic level,
12:35gripping in all the right ways.
12:38And we had the opportunity, as you say,
12:41to interview Mohamed Rasulov,
12:43who very movingly talked about his fellow filmmakers
12:47who were working in very difficult situations
12:50and who were transforming difficulties into acts of beauty.
12:56Indeed. Well, let's just hear now from the man himself
13:00and a small extract of what he told us just a few months ago
13:04about the conditions of making films in Iran.
13:06I love you.
13:08And I love you.
13:10They are so difficult, they are often in the world of people and they are often made into the world of services.
13:19We don't have to encourage that this is a way of being a way of being a way of being a way of being a way of being a way of being.
13:26They are also very difficult and it is a great work that they achieve.
13:36So yes, these are artists that work within the brutal confines of a regime
13:40and they offer windows into a part of the world
13:44and what is going on that Western audiences may not be aware of
13:49and they work in incredibly difficult circumstances
13:52and on an artistic level, they are incredible films
13:56but also they are films that should not be taken for granted
14:00by Western audiences who have the privilege
14:04to be able to see films by filmmakers who put it all on the line
14:09literally their lives on the line
14:11in order to have films that protest against and challenge oppression, tyranny, misogyny
14:19and do so in order to remind audiences that yes, these films provide escapism
14:25but they remind us that essentially cinema, like many, many art forms
14:30can still speak truth to power.
14:32David, thanks for joining us on this deep dive into the work of Jafar Bahani
14:37the Palme d'Or winner with his film, It Was Just an Accident
14:41Do join us again next week
14:42We'll be back with more in our Cultural Review
14:44Thank you
14:45Thank you
14:46Thank you
14:47Thank you
14:48Thank you
Comments