“The Marriage Project”, “The Forbidden Strings”, “Rain and Bullets”, “Sheep Hero” and “ASHO” were among the best documentaries that were screened in 13th cinema Verite. Iran International Documentary Film Festival “Cinema Verite” is the most important Documentary event of Iran and the middle east.
Some of the aforementioned documentaries won prizes too but I think with a closer look one can find more important documentaries like “Pain Under Skin” that was more impressive than the others. Here is a review of the top 5 important documentaries of 2019.
“Scenes from A Separation” hidden complexities of making an academy award-winning movie
Professional filmmaking may seem easy on the surface but deep down requires very demanding and complex work While talking to renowned directors I have noticed details that show how complex and demanding can it be to make a feature film.
“Scenes from A Separation” directed by Vahid Sedaghat is about the process of making “A Separation”, Acadamy award-winning movie directed by Asghar Farhadi. This documentary shows the complexities of making A Separation from putting together the idea and making it into a unified script to choosing the actors and actresses to direct them and creating the shooting script.
The main part of this documentary is an interview with Asghar Farhadi, in which Farhadi goes into detail about nuances and some of his techniques in creating his movie. the documentary shows the audience the attention that is paid to details in Farhadi`s movie that is lacking in movies made by many other directors. There no doubt that documentaries like this can persuade many enthusiastic filmmakers to gain more knowledge and experience before stepping into the Feature filmmaking field.
“None of Your Business“ an opportunity for watching
“None of Your Business” directed by Kamran Heidari is a different look on Ebrahim Monsefi’s life as a Poet, composer and singer from Bandar abbas and his influence on southern Iran's music. To create an effective portrait from someone with no real archive is hard and usually, the results are not satisfying but director of this documentary was able to reach satisfying results so much so that even if you don't know Monsefi you will follow the narrative and enjoy watching a somewhat musical documentary that focuses on lives of people living in south coast of Iran.
The documentary is in a regional dialect of Iran and even for Farsi speaking audience understanding the dialogs is hard and if you are not familiar with Monsefi himself and have not read the documentary pamphlet you will have a hard time understanding the documentary's message making you baffled and confused. But despite this, good music with handheld camera movement which works well in eye-level shots keeps the documentary moving and the flow of music covers the imperfections.
“Pain Under Skin” A familial trial
“Pain Under Skin” directed by Mohsen Jafari-Rad is a shocking narrative of the filmmaker's personal life which focuses on his father. Outside the home, his father is an outstanding man which is recognized by administrative authorities as an exemplary farmer but inside the home, he is a monster that none of his family members is safe from his harm.
The father has beaten both of his wives to the point that both suffer from Alzheimer's disease. His first wife's child saves his mother from father's house but the second wife is not so lucky and lives a shocking life until she dies.
After family falls apart the father gradually loses everything and is forced to go and live with one of his previously ostracized children and in the last months of his life, he tries to reconnect with his children and ask for forgiveness which does not happen until the moment of his death.
This is a shocking familial trail that one of his children has recorded in 9 years. A trial in which his children one by one speak about their ordeal with their father tears in their eyes and their mother who is suffering from Alzheimer's and what little she can remember is not his son's identity but the beatings she took from her husband!
Portraying uncontrolled domestic violence, especially if it's about your father is not an easy subject for a documentary. to narrate it in such a brutal way requires considerable courage. People often even don't talk about such experiences let alone make it into a documentary and put it on a display for thousands of filmmakers, critics, and mass media.
Even though for the most of the documentary filmmaker lacks adequate equipment and its obvious that he has done most of the work as a one-man crew, the story and form are touching to the point that you forgive the imperfections of the documentary as a real and unavoidable aspect of the narrative process.
“No Place for Angels” an adventure for the championship
“Iran women's national roller hockey team” doesn’t even have enough money to buy tickets to participate in international games and they have to compensate for lack of governmental funding personally or ask for public support.
“You support, I fight” was a campaign that these girls started to fund their participation in international events and are the subject of “No Place for Angels” directed by Sam Kalantari.
When it comes to portraying women's struggle in the field of sports this documentary is not the best, we still remember “zero to the platform” directed by Sahar Mosayebi that portrays the fighting spirit much better than No Place for Angels and provided a more intimate picture of characters lives. But No Place for Angels offers a new look into women's sports in Iran.
Women who in an unbelievable feat were able to gather enough money to fund their team and after overcoming many financial challenges using public support were able to find the chance to compete with professionals.
“Narrow Red Line” for atonement
A group of criminals at a Juvenile Detention Center look to change their life path and now performing in a play provides them an opportunity, if they are successful they may one day get out of the prison. “Narrow Red Line” is a docufiction directed by Farzad Khoshdast and a large part of its touch is due to its subject and narrative and not its form. The subject that the filmmaker has chosen is still touching to the audience even though there have been many previous attempts at portraying it.
*Mr. Khorramdel is Director of Multimedia Office & Culture Editor in TABNAK.com he is a Filmmaker and independent film critic.
