A look at the first film from the director of “After Leaving”

According to the film reporter of Fars News Agency, the process of the entry of first-time films into Iranian cinema is as important as the presence of experienced and prolific filmmakers, it can be said that the future of the country’s cinema depends on the presence of these people and of course their correct entry into the body of cinema, an event that Different paths, such as making short films, assisting famous directors, or in any other way, have taken place and have kept cinema alive until today.

The 41st edition of Fajr Film Festival was full of artists who were present as a director in the most important event of Iranian cinema for the first time, this incident made Simorgh the best director of the first film of this festival to become one of its important competitions, where 6 films were nominated. They received an award and finally among the works “Gloe Room” directed by Mohammad Asgari, “After Leaving” directed by Reza Nejati, “Colonel Soraya” directed by Lili Aaj, “Leather Coat” directed by Hossein Mirzamohammadi, “In the Embrace of the Tree” directed by Babak Khajeh Pasha and “The Orange Forest” directed by Arman Khansarian; It was Mohammad Asgari who took Simorgh home with him.

Reza Nejati was one of the first films that appeared in the festival with “After Going”, although this film was known as an ordinary film both during the festival and at the time of its release, and it drew criticism, but anyway, the director and the path of his entry It is noticeable to the body of the cinema.

The movie “After Leaving” directed by Reza Nejati and produced by Mahmoud Babaei has been released on August 25. This work is considered to be the first feature film of a director who previously had the experience of making more than five short films, and his last short work, “Arafaq”, won the Crystal Simorgh for the best film from the Fajr Film Festival and the best director and screenplay from the 12th Film Academy Festival. Short for Iran.

More than a week after the release of this work, we had an interview with Reza Nejati, the director of “After Leaving”, which you will read below.

At the beginning, he answered the question that the entry of a filmmaker into the field of making a feature film must happen by making a short film or a documentary or not? He stated: In my opinion, there is no certainty in the field of cinema, and basically in the field of art, we are not faced with mathematical concepts and strange calculations, and that is what makes it beautiful.

The author of “After Leaving” continued: It can never be said that someone who made a short film is also successful in making a feature film, or that he cannot make a film because he has not made a short film or a documentary. A director may instinctively make a brilliant work in his first feature film without any empirical support. This is the reason why our calculations before the production of the film never work.

Nejati stated that experience is an important issue and theory and knowledge do their job in their place, but the filmmaker must be persistent in his path, he clarified: a person may find his way and enter the cinema with the help of great or current filmmakers. Get up or get small and big experiences by making short films and make your first film. I think that making a short film before entering the world of a feature film is very responsible, but there is no certainty that a person can enter the feature film by making a short film.

He said about the distinction and similarity of his short works with the movie “After Leaving” in terms of theme: I have a taste in filmmaking that may change later, but I imagine that any work I make will have big differences with the next film or the previous works. It will have a genre, narrative and form of storytelling.

The author of “After Going” added: This issue is evident in all the short films I made, each of which has great differences from each other. What always bothers my mind is the issue of the conflict between generations, which I discussed in the short films “Arafaq” and “Shofer” and the movie “After Leaving”, but their worlds are different from each other. My personal opinion is that I need to experience different worlds and ideas and different forms of storytelling.

Nejati said about paying attention to the position of the father and examining the confrontation of three generations from various angles in the movie “After Going”: Basically, the position of the father, mother and family was and is very important to me, and it also plays a prominent role in this work. Many games can be played with the issue of generation; The confrontation and understanding of generations, different challenges, being together or facing each other, etc., were attractive to me and I tried to make a direct reference to it in this work.

In response to the question of whether he considered narrating the story of the film in the southern geography of the country as a way to avoid apartment or urban drama films and what is the challenge of making such works? He stated: I have not and do not criticize apartment films, but I imagine that working in a location can be more difficult than a reallocation film.

This filmmaker reminded: I personally feel that in every movie we should present graphics and a special atmosphere to the audience, that is, this is my personal taste. I feel that the audience comes to the cinema hall to face newer things that they see in real life. Maybe our apartment lives these days are proof of this. Of course, it is not unlikely that one day I will work on an apartment film in this location, but for my first work, I wanted to work with more colors and special graphics.

In the end, Nejati said about the risks he took in his first feature film: My idea was to make my first work in a limited and light location. In fact, I did not think that I would be so risky to move from the south of Iran to Tehran and work in many locations and with many actors in between.

end of message/