An audible narration from Abbas Kiarostami’s film

Charso Press: A few days ago, at the Berlin Film Festival, the movie “Where is the friend’s house?” Abbas Kiarostami’s work was shown in a special screening in the review section of the 73rd edition of this international festival with the title “Young at heart, growing up in cinema”. This section includes the screening of a series of works selected by international directors, actors and screenwriters, and Iranian cinematographer Niki Karimi was also one of the faces chosen to select the film in this section, and his film “Where is the friend’s home?” had chosen to display in this section.

“Where is the Friend’s House ? » Kiarostami was screened at the Locarno Film Festival in Switzerland in 1989 and finally won the Silver Cheetah Award as well as the best film from the judges of the International Federation of Film Critics (Fipershi).

For this reason, a part of the chronicle of Kyomarth Pourahmad is reviewed from behind the scenes of this film, which was published in a book with the same name as the film.

Pourahmad in the last part of the note about the behind the scenes of the movie “Where is the friend’s house?” wrote, stated:

“Finally, repetition again

Finally, before noon on Saturday the 24th of Aban sixty-five, after thirty-three work sessions, the filming of the movie “Khane Dost Kajast” will be completed. Having eaten lunch or not, we pack our bags and say goodbye to everyone close to us; including Abdullah Ahmedpour, who sends us away with olive envelopes in his hand and tears in his eyes. When my hand fits in his large hands I think that tomorrow these hands will again touch his old acquaintance, Bill, and I wish that no hand, small or large, would ever be engraved on his chest.

After saying goodbye, we hurriedly leave for Tehran and go to the labyrinth of life in Tehran… no, the filming of the movie Khane Dost is not finished yet. If a sound is clipped awkwardly, if an image is blurred even for a moment, if an actor’s gaze is deviated even for a moment, and if there is any other minor flaw and the filmmaker has to ignore it. , those minor bugs are always annoying. No viewer may ever notice those minor flaws, but the filmmaker, even after many years, still worries about those minor flaws when he sees the film.

At the end of December, the montage of the film “Khane Ya Dost Kejast” will be finished and Cengiz Sayad will voice the film. The “blemishes” of some plans are the minor bugs that are always annoying. During the entire time that Kiarostami was busy editing the film, he sometimes thought of repeating those scenes, but then he gave up and the temptation to repeat came to him again.

Finally, in the first days of the month of Bahman, the temptation to repeat prevails and we again go to Rostam Abad to repeat some of the scenes we have seen, and this time our group is only five or six people.

When we reach Rostamabad, we get a broom from one house, a pan from another house, and a sack of plaster from other houses. I climb the ladder and whiten the walls in the role of Mrs. Gully. Naser Zarei also goes and brings Ahmad Ahmedpour. Fortunately, nothing has changed; Not his face, not his hair. But his clothes? His parents have gone to Tehran and he lives with his grandmother and is locked in their house.

Naser Zareeti takes one of the local trustees as witness and surveillance and we break the lock on the door of the house and I go inside the house. Where are the clothes now? May God forgive me. I open all the bags and suitcases that are in the corners of the room, behind the curtains and under the curtains, and I look through the clothes until I finally find the clothes of Ahmed’s movie and dress him. We install a new lock that we already bought in place of the broken lock and we are done. Until the evening, we will film several repetitive scenes. Some people will spend the night in Rasht and some people will go to Manjil, and the next morning we will come back to Rostam Abad.

Today’s repeated scene is the scene where Ahmed knocks on the door of a house after seeing Nematzadeh’s pants on the clothesline. An old woman comes behind the door and Ahmed insistently takes the old woman to show her the pants. Parts of this season that have already been filmed are intact and we only have to redo some shots that are stained, but the old woman who played the previous scene is dead. God bless him. We have to find another old lady and reshoot the whole sequence. An old woman is standing on the balcony of one of the nearby houses who catches Kiarostami’s eye and shows it to me. I roll up my sleeves and go to their house. First, I talk to his daughter-in-law who lives downstairs. The old woman’s daughter-in-law says: “He has been angry with me for a long time and I can’t be the mediator of this.”

I climb the stairs without hesitation. The old woman, smelling the problems, goes to her room and closes the door. I respectfully knock on the door but no one seems to be in the room. After a few more knocks, there is still no answer. Finally, I open my tongue: “Mother, open the door.” I have a problem with you.” But he only grumbles.

“Mom, open the door. I am in your place.”

“get lost. The grave of your father and my son with that demonic woman.

I will not let go Again, I request, I request, I beg. But the old hen has one leg and finally the last blow! I send a hundred tomani into the room through the door.

“Mom, here’s the money. You just come for ten minutes and start our work.”

He does not accept, I will send another hundred tomani inside.

“Let your money eat in your head. Take it and go.”

What should be done if the last resort doesn’t work? So the last tactic should work. I send in another one hundred tomans and then one fifty tomans and then two twenty tomans and then… the sound of the door latch sharpens my ears. The door opens slowly. Now a corner of his face can be seen through the door.

“Oh my son, I’m sick…”

“Pain and misfortune befall me. “Perry Ben” took off our father. Only two plans.”

“I don’t understand what you are saying. I am sick.”

“You Come. You come and say in front of the camera that I am sick, that’s all.”

Now the door is wide open and the old woman is looking at me curiously. I read in his face that he is tamed. I say: “Do you allow?” I take his arm and take him down the stairs. A few minutes later, he stands in front of the camera and repeats the same scene he had with me with Ahmed Ahmadpour. Ahmedpour knocks on the door. He comes behind the door. Ahmadpour says: “Whose pants are these?” there?”

“I don’t know son. I am sick.”

“You Come. let me show you Come on.”

“I can’t, son. I am sick.”

“You come… come…”

And he humbles himself in front of the camera and shakes hands with Ahmedpour and leaves.

“cut!”

And this time really cut. With or without line, with or without PerryBen, captured footage is assembled and embedded into the original footage. When the repetition of the scenes is over, we say goodbye to whoever is close to us and rush to Tehran to quickly forget the bitter and sweet memories of two months of working and living with a friend’s house in the maze of life in Tehran. Forget not, let them be pushed from the hand of our mind to the place where it is not at hand, but it is possible to get them. A year later, when I want to have a review of those two months, I first think that I have forgotten everything and the presence of my mind regarding those memories will not exceed a few pages. But when I write, I see that those memories are still alive and fresh with all their details; With the volume you see and the quality you read. With all its good and bad, its weakness and its strength. I offer you its goodness and strength, and I apologize for its weakness and badness.”

“Where is the Friend’s House?” It is one of Kiarostami’s famous movies, which has a summary of its story: eight-year-old Ahmed is determined to return his best friend’s school office so that he will not be expelled. But the elders keep stopping him and leading him astray. This Iranian film inevitably reveals the ignorance of adults.