Interview with filmmaker Dorsa Moayedi
Welcome Dorsa, we are very excited to have you today with us to discuss about your work.
First off, Who is Dorsa Moayedi and how did the passion for filmmaking start ?
I come from an ordinary family; my mother was a teacher and my father was an engineer. They used to work 24/7 to makes ends meet. This routine made an extraordinary environment for me as a child to grow in. My aunties used to babysit, so I was away from mom for several hours and then we were united I had lots of things to tell her. She used to encourage me to give full details and so I had to describe every moment with the exact details of time, cause and effect sequences, color of the dresses they wore and even their facial expressions. This afternoon storytelling habit, paved my path as an artist. Then when I grew older I had to spend my leisure time on my own and cinemas were the safest place for a teenage girl to go. I went to the movies and narrated all the movie for my mother. Every detail in every scene. This was an exercise not only to train me for storytelling but also to make a professional audience out of me.
Can you tell us about your previous work ?
My previous film, was the story of a lonely man who wants to watch a movie from beginning to the end in a cinema hall. Unfortunately, he has a severe health problem which prevents him to do so. My film pictures the challenge he has solving his problem. The story and the path he goes is allegorical. He is a pilgrim and the journey he has through the film is somewhat spiritual.
CONVERSATION ABOUT: Inverted
Talk to us about being a female director in Iran ?
Wow that is a question that should be answered cautiously. Fifteen years ago I wrote a play which competed with so many other plays from around Iran in a festival and it won the first prize. The prize was to help me direct and dramatize the play to be performed in a theater hall. I started rehearsing and after just a week, I got a letter which ordered to separate male and female performers. Separation meant to rehearse on different days or in different places. Did I mention that the play had only two performers; one male and one female? This is like a joke. Working as a female artist in Iran is like a joke. We are facing problems no one can ever think of. Discrimination, sexism, censor, interrogations about our ideas and their origins, constraint and even sometimes forcing the artist to do what they are told.
Talk to us about your film ? Any inspirations ?
About inverted... well the idea of the film is literally inversion. The film depicts a society that a has imposed restrictions to a young boy and it punishes the adult boy for its own mistakes. There is no one in this society who can think straight as if they are all blinded. Inverted, is also a symbolic dystopia. A society that kills its youth with ignorance. I meet these young people in my hometown every day, they are living with this ignorance and they are not capable of finding a way out, as the ideology has haunted their minds.
Talk to us about the heavy symbolism in your work, what is its purpose ?
My heroes in my both movies are experiencing journeys in both physical and spiritual dimensions. In Inverted, the spiritual journey of this young man was more important to me and to depict this transformation and pain he is going through I needed to go under his skin to see how his soul looks like. That is how he is beneath his skin. Deformed, haggard and carrying a big lock on his shoulder (which symbolizes the burdened he is).
What is the general perception and importance of cinema in Iran ?
Cinema is an important medium in Iran. It gathers families together and is a sort of means to get global recognition. Global recognition though the movies, makes Iranian people happy as they are all forced to limit their interactions to the world. We all follow the Hollywood superstars and those Iranian actors like Peyman Maadi, who has performed in Hollywood are adored.
What is the message the audience should convey leaving the screening of your film ?
My film is trying to show the ugly facade of superstition and the ignorance beyond this ugly facade. Some rituals and religious ceremonies are rooted in superstitions and as modern person we need to weigh them to know what to practice and what to ignore. In the planet of my film, no one questions the first thought that comes to mind. As if no one is thinking anymore.
Did you and your team face any difficulties while shooting your project ?
During shooting we had challenges with nature, which was not a big deal. It was freezing cold and my actor was half-naked all the time so we had to have some protocols to keep him warm. However, before shooting we had a severe problem with the local police as they were trying to stop us from shooting unless we gave them some money. As you may guess we needed to do as they said and that money which was not predicted in our expenses brought about problems.
Any future projects incoming ? Along with personal aspirations.
I want to portray women of my country in my future work. I am working on a script for a feature film which is about a woman in her mid-forties who is seeking a lover but she understands she needs to learn how to love first. This story, is my story, my mother’s, my sister’s, my friends’ and all the women I know; unfortunately, in Iran most of the emphasis of marriage is on child bearing and the love you should give to your children and in all the bed-side stories mothers tell their children, the love for a partner is missing. The new generation, has found their way to evade the strict obstacles before them and they have girlfriends and boyfriends but they still do not have a clue how to seek love. This is a critical situation in Iranian society and I would like to talk about that in my future work.
That was the interview with our beloved creator Dorsa Moayedi. Our community is rising everyday, new talented filmakers and screenwriters get onboard. Be sure to check the rest of our interviews and why not schedule one for yourself to promote your work. To publish an interview simply submit on the INTERVIEW OF YOUR FILM category on our Filmfreeway page.
