Beheshti: Sometimes films become “the only document available”.

According to Fars news agency, Seyyed Mohammad Beheshti, the permanent face of cultural heritage, said in the workshop “Film as Document” of the second national multimedia festival of cultural heritage: There is a reason and motivation in the emergence of all things made by human hands. Sometimes a mindset is created that when that reason is eliminated, that phenomenon is no longer valuable for humans; For this reason, in popular literature, we say to an object – which has become old and has no value for us – “it is useful for a museum”!

He added: Every man-made object has a function and as long as its function is valid, it will be used. People use that object in the course of life and when its functional aspect is lost, they generally think that it is time to throw it away.

Beheshti stated: Those who work in the field of sciences related to cultural heritage, from this point onward they say “now it’s good for us”. Of course, their job is not to collect garbage; They have different concerns.

Beheshti continued: In archaeological sites, I have seen archaeologists become very happy when they arrive at the site’s garbage dump, and it seems that they have found a treasure and hope that they will find the best documents in the course of their research. Every thing that comes into being contains some points and there is a will behind it. When the functional dignity of that object is lost, it means that the time of the thing that was willed for it has passed and its life has ended, but the same object has a face that is not in the circle of will and the creator himself did not intend for it. This aspect of work is very important for an archaeologist.

In another part of the workshop, this cultural expert stated that film and cinema have aspects that are beyond the will of the filmmaker, and said: A few years ago, Iran’s National Cinema began a movement that is still ongoing; They carefully repaired old Iranian films and copies that were in the National Cinema, including one screen from the first color film called “The Foreign Bride”. When you saw the image of this film, it was as if it was not repaired, the color of the film was damaged and it was full of scratches. By using the digital and informatic capacities and the activities they do in the field of film restoration, that film screen was returned to its previous state.

Referring to the scenes from the old movie “The Bride” that was made in Gilan, he said: “If you want to see Gilan in 1336, there is no other document except for this film, the coffee houses are the same old coffee houses and the same cars and trucks that They were carrying loads.

Beheshti added: In this film, you see Gilan and not the North, but did the filmmaker intend to tell you this? No, the director wanted to show that the bride wants to rest in this town, have tea and then move on and leave. From the perspective of anthropology, anthropology, archeology, environment and ecosystem, if we want to bring a witness, I don’t think we can find a better and more complete witness than this. This issue can be seen in all movies, especially fiction works.

He continued: the filmmaker has the most intervention in telling the story by decoupage, by telling stories, directing the actors, determining the camera position, sounding and all kinds of preparations; But in documentary films, this intervention is less.

The former CEO of Farabi Cinema Foundation stated: There is a rule in cinema called the sneaky rule that the story must be told in a way that the audience believes. That is, it comes out of the will of the director. Sometimes the director has to adjust the dialogue, acting and rhythm of the film in a way that is believable. As soon as the story is supposed to be told in such a way that the audience believes it, the film is out of the director’s will, in this way, the film contains implications that are useful for experts in the field of cultural heritage.

Beheshti said: When you read the text of a historical inscription or a historical book, there may be a purpose in it and an attempt has been made to hide things from you, but those things that emerged outside the circle of will, because it was without purpose, are more It can be trusted, so the man-made things in this world are valued by those who work in the field of science related to cultural heritage. For this reason, this topic also includes the current state of film and cinema. That is, the film can testify to something else and be a document for something else; By the way, the film is different from other documents because in this document there is movement and time, the sound of birds, rain, etc. Because of this movement in expressing the concept, the film has more room for maneuver than other documents. Other documents cannot testify to the transparency of the film. Therefore, it can be said that cinema and film have an extraordinary value in terms of documents.

He continued: Researchers have rarely gone to cinema, usually those who research about cinema pay attention to that aspect of cinema which is in the field of will; And they pay attention to the same aspect that is in the field of the filmmaker’s will and pay less attention to the anthropological aspect of cinema.

Beheshti stated that all films have the property of being placed in a document, and said: All the films that are made, from the most vulgar to the best films, have this property and none of them can be thrown away. But another feature of cinema is that it can escape from the confinement of time and place and not be a product of its time. It is possible to make a film that is not a product of its time. Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh is not a product of its time and confinement in its time and place, and if it is, it will become stale over time and lose its credibility, if it has preserved its value for a thousand years.

The workshops of the second national multimedia festival of cultural heritage will be held in the Tehran section by the Research Institute of Cultural Heritage and Tourism, hosted by the National Museum of Iran.

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