Clermont Festival 2024
“In Iran, we all take risks,” director Abbas Taheri on “Where is my friend?”
How brave do you have to be to shoot a film about the hypocrisy of society and the oppression of women in Iran in a school in Tehran? Abbas Taheri is the director and screenwriter of “There is no friend's house”, presented until February 10 in competition at the largest international short film festival in Clermont-Ferrand. And as it will be a question of courage, it was natural for him to spontaneously bring Hamideh Safari, 26 years old, one of the two main actresses of the film, to the interview.
Abbas Taheri, Iranian director and screenwriter of “There is no friend's house”, with Iranian actress Hamideh Safari, in competition at the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival 2024. © Siegfried Forster / RFI
By: Siegfried Forster Follow
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: And in the English title
“There is no friend's house”
and in the French title
“Where is my friend”?
, there is the word “
friend
”. Is this a film about friendship
?
Abbas Taheri
:
Yes, at the heart of the film is friendship and its importance in our society. But, in
Iran
, there are many risks for friendship. There is no longer the freedom to truly be friends with someone.
In the very first scene of the film, Sara and Mehri, two friends, are very happy, very radiant. Who are these girls? Who are you in the film
?
Hamideh Safari
:
I am Mehri in the film. The two are friends and very close to each other. They have a really good relationship, until certain things happen that affect their friendship.
“There is no friend's house”, short film by Iranian director Abbas Taheri, presented in competition at the 2024 Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival. © Envie de Tempête Productions / The Globe CSF
It is an Iranian story, performed in the Farsi language. Where did you shoot the film?
Abbas Taheri
:
The filming took place in Iran. It may seem risky to make this kind of film in Iran, but we are all taking risks to make this film, me as director and producer, but also my two brilliant actresses. This is our part for freedom and the
“Women, Life, Freedom”
movement and for the rights of all those who are oppressed in Iran. So, yes, we took risks to shoot the film in Iran, in a high school in Tehran.
Also read: FIPADOC: Rouhollah Zam, “Son of mullah”, death of an Iranian opponent
The two best friends challenge each other. In this very strict Iran, they smuggle a small bottle of whiskey into their school to drink it in secret. Is it a film about a youth who wants to get drunk and finally be happy
?
Hamideh Safari:
No, they don't want to get drunk. Mehri comes from a family where she can't do that. That's why she decided to do this experiment with her best friend.
That same morning, in front of the school, Sara and Mehri swore to each other to be friends for life. But after being caught and interrogated in front of the school principal, they discover how different they are. Sara, daughter of a filmmaker who has just been released from prison, did not know that Mehri is the daughter of a high-ranking police officer... Is the universal message of your film that there is always a fight between hypocrisy of society and personal friendship
?
Abbas Taheri:
Yes. It is a story about two different aspects of Iranian society. Part of our society is patriarchal and fundamentalist. Another part, and this is the majority of our society, are intellectuals and people who want to live in a free and democratic country. So, there are inevitably conflicts and there is a constant struggle between these two parties in Iran. This film shows how this contrast will influence the friendship between these two innocent young girls.
This film is about the end of innocence, the end of thinking that we can be friends for life and no one can destroy that. Because there is reality which oppresses them and pushes them to do something they did not want to do. It's the end of their friendship. But, I hope they will meet again one day. And I hope to soon be able to make my first feature film on how they can find themselves one day, when they are independent of their families.
Also read: Clermont-Ferrand Festival 2024: What is a good short film and “female gaze”?
What was the most difficult thing about playing your role
?
Hamideh Safari:
The scene when we drink whiskey [laughs]. It was difficult, because we couldn't actually drink. It was a real challenge for me.
Was it difficult, because you don't know how to play a drunk girl or because you played this scene in the middle of Tehran with all the restrictions that go with it?
Hamideh Safari:
It was difficult because we would have to play like we were drunk. And it was difficult.
“There is no friend's house”, short film by Iranian director Abbas Taheri, presented in competition at the 2024 Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival. © Envie de Tempête Productions / The Globe CSF
For you, does participating in a film, being an actress, mean freedom?
Hamideh Safari:
Yes, of course, because we do not have the right to freedom in Iran. But in our films we can experience moments of freedom and do things we want to do. Yes, it's freedom.
You are the director, but also the screenwriter of the film. Could you give us an example where the reality of filming was stronger than the idea or ideal written by the screenwriter?
Abbas Taheri:
It often happens that you write something in the script and you can't achieve it because of reality, because of production problems. But, the opposite happens much more often: I write something, I go to rehearsals, practice with the actors in front of the camera, and thanks to the atmosphere of the moment, the scene becomes better than planned in the script.
For example, when I wrote the drinking scene. I knew it would be fun and exciting. But when they performed it on set, it was impressive. I was impressed, almost shocked, behind the camera. I could sense their mood. It was a unique experience for me. When I saw the footage, I was impressed and very happy to be a filmmaker who can realize his dreams in a real world.
“There is no friend's house”, short film by Iranian director Abbas Taheri, presented in competition at the 2024 Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival. © Envie de Tempête Productions / The Globe CSF
Abbas Taheri, you were an engineer before becoming a director. Hamideh Safari, how did you become an actress? Did you have to cross any boundaries to become an actress in Iran
?
Hamideh Safari:
Yes, of course, we have limits. It's really difficult. When you want to start, because you love to play, no one can help you. We have a few film schools, but they are so expensive. I studied physical education at university, but I also participated in several theater workshops to become an actress. Little by little, I tried to become an actress. Then I met Abbas and he helped me a lot in this career.
This is my fifth film, but it was very different from the others. It talks about our life as women in Iran and what we face in our real life, in schools and in daily life. For example, we have to wear hijab at school, but in our family and at home we don't. This film touched my heart.
Also read “Wickes of Fire”, an artistic call for support from Iranian women
In your film, Sara's father, a filmmaker who has just been released from prison, reminds us of Jafar Panahi. The title
There is no friend's house
(
Where is my friend?
) reminds us of a famous film by Abbas Kiarostami,
Where is my friend's house?
(
Where is my friend's house ?
). Is your cinema totally part of the history of Iranian cinema
?
Abbas Taheri:
My cinema is part of several kinds of cinema. I love filmmakers from all over the world. I like Andreï Tarkovsky, Federico Fellini, the Dardenne brothers, Ken Loach... and also Abbas Kiarostami and other Iranian filmmakers. Iranian cinema has a very strong influence on me. I love Abbas Kiarostami. When I was a student, I had an interview with him and his approach and his point of view on art impressed me. I loved his cinema for many years and I also loved his film
Where is the friend's house?
On the other hand, in recent years, I have not been able to be as optimistic as Abbas Kiarostami was in his time.
My film is a response to this. When Kiarostami asks, “
Where is my friend’s house?
” », I tell him that there is no friend's house. As for these very courageous Iranian filmmakers, like Jafar Panahi, Mohammad Rasoulof, and so many others, they gave me the strength to be courageous enough to make my own film, to be part of our society, of the real people in Iran, and to be their voice.
This film was born from my admiration for Iranian women. Already one or two years before the “Woman, Life, Freedom” movement, Iranian women became more and more courageous, day by day. They took off their headscarves, climbed onto benches in the street, took a stick in their hand to put their hijab on top, they showed it off to proclaim that they no longer wanted it.
I was impressed by their courageous actions. But I couldn't do the same thing, because I'm not a woman. But I wanted to do something. I told myself that I must be as courageous, like our other legendary filmmakers like Jafar Panahi or Mohammad Rasoulouf, and do something in favor of women's rights in Iran, show how they live under oppression, show this inequality between men and women. We all live under oppression. But it is even more difficult and even more bitter for women to live in this situation.
Also read: “Making dreams come true”, Clermont-Ferrand, the world capital of short films, opens its film festival
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