Hadi Moghadam Doost’s statements about the new generation of cinema enthusiasts and some other stories

Charso Press: He, who previously depicted his desired genre of cinema with “Sar Be Mehr”, during the years of working together with Hamid Nematullah as the screenwriter of this director’s works, he also focused on human relationships and portraying special situations. Holding an ideation workshop in the form of the 100 Film Festival became an excuse to have a conversation with this screenwriter and director, the results of which you can read below:

Honestly, how effective do you consider attending workshops and experience transfer meetings for filmmaking?

If I want to speak very honestly and make my honesty a spice of frown and glory and regret, I have to say: Why was there no experience transfer workshop and meeting at the beginning of our interest or was there very little? What was the situation? Why were none of the filmmakers invited to speak for the movie lovers and share their experiences with them? I remember there was a film center called Khane Farhang that showed films and sometimes invited a filmmaker and talked about that film to the audience. The rest of the time, it was the enthusiasts themselves who were trying to get something out of it as a lesson and experience. Now the situation is different. Workshops have increased and working people share their experiences easily…those who are interested also learn well. They also find audio and video files from the classes of famous filmmakers from other countries and learn from them. In general, the workshop is a place to learn. The workshop makes the cinema enthusiast not to discover something that can be easily learned with difficulty and spending a lot of time and life. To be honest, these meetings and workshops are very effective. The idea that these workshops are not useful is completely wrong. The workshop accelerates the learning process of those interested and increases the self-confidence of the filmmaker, and most importantly, the film-making enthusiast learns things in the workshop that he would never have had the opportunity to learn if it were not for the workshop.

During the courses when you were taking the first steps in filmmaking, did you really participate in the course and workshop?

It was very little. The only available classes were the classes of the Young Cinema Society and before that, the center for the intellectual development of children and teenagers. After the dissolution of the filmmaking courses of the center, there was only the association, which was very active and busy, and of course, in non-educational situations such as the association’s classes, most of the time it had the image of a high-quality club and hangout. But the professional and experienced filmmakers did not have a workshop there, but for example, if we heard that Mr. Dariush Mehrjoui wanted to come to the farthest part of the city on the occasion of the Fajr festival and talk about cinema for an hour, we would try to find educational points from his words. In our period, even the film center was not enough, but we used it well. Now, in the field of educational materials and educational facilities and space, a significant amount has been found. Of course, sometimes negative reasons make public and low-cost and free courses decrease and paid and expensive workshops flourish. But a low-cost workshop is more productive than an expensive workshop. Of course, the owners of the school must have other opinions and their opinion must be respected, but when the class and workshop are very expensive, the learning mode is affected by the large amount paid.

What is the difference between festival workshops and university classes?

Basically, the difference between a class and a workshop is the difference between theory and practice, and the other difference is the duration of the workshop and class and the number of sessions, and the other difference is the difference between the person who runs the workshop or the class. The professor in the university class is basically a university professor and teaches in the university based on his own selected books or a certain lesson plan, but the workshop professor comes from outside the university, for example, he is a sound engineer or a stage designer or a production manager or a screenwriter, and in order to transfer experience or He organizes an experience transfer workshop or, if he has developed a personal training method for himself, he organizes a training course based on his own experiences and in his own language. The main difference between a workshop and a university class is the latter.

Obviously, the experience of attending the workshops of the 100 Film Festival, what distinctive feature attracted you?

What I received in these workshops from the total presence and companionship with young filmmakers was the acceptance and readiness to do joint activities and the space for artistic exchange and free ideation. I realized that most of the filmmakers have a passion for group activities and doing work individually is not an institutional trait or a fixed moral for them. I realized that artistic activity is very attractive to them and they do not have a self-sufficient spirit. They were ready to shape ideas together and help promote each other’s work. Basically, single-minded people do not like to attend workshops, or if they enter the workshop, they are the most isolated members of the workshops, or the people who drop out in the next meetings.

Is it true that the new generation has become less bored in all areas and are in a hurry to pass “theory” and reach “practical experience”?

Boredom is not a good attribute, it can be said that the new generation has the desire and expectation to achieve results faster, the world of communication and the growth of technology and more access to knowledge and more trust in young people have made the actual speed of getting results faster for newcomers, that is, if in two Decades ago, a person naturally and based on the conditions and facilities of the previous courses reached a conclusion at the age of thirty, now it is normal to reach a conclusion at the age of twenty. The facilities have also increased. Well, of course, when there are possibilities to benefit more from life and time, it is not rational to delay work and procrastinate, this is more a real expectation than boredom. The new generation does not deny theoretical education. They expect that time will not die because the speed of access to educational resources has increased and they do not want to spend time on theory like in the era when there were only a few textbooks and education was limited. Before, more time was spent because of the limited facilities.

Of course, it is possible that there are more people in a hurry these days, but they are not so many that one can call a generation lazy, because I have seen in these workshops that when it was necessary to spend a longer time on an idea, they stood at work and were patient. They didn’t say that we are a bored generation, so let’s get to the bottom of it as soon as possible. By the way, practical experience always takes more time than theory. Theory does not require much time, again in these workshops I see that the children have read theoretical books due to their access to educational resources and are eager for practical work and are willing to spend a lot of time on practical work. In my opinion, the new generation and future generations have a longer useful life, and ironically, what they should start earlier is practical experience. Right now, we can see in the cinema production and Fajr Festival that the youths are more present than in previous times and due to the increased possibilities, they have an official presence earlier than the previous generations.

How is teaching how to make a 100-second film different from teaching how to make a film in general?

Is there anything more specific that should be taught in these courses? There is not much difference. The essence of cinema is the mastery of narrative and filmmaking skills and creativity. If there is a difference, the skill of quoting and brevity is more. Although these three elements must also be observed in non-Hundred filmmaking. There is not much difference at all.

Can “idea-finding” for filmmaking really be taught?

It is definitely teachable. But education needs to be a practical and theoretical process together. Finding more ideas is the product of a trained observation and thinking; A targeted and accurate observation and this can be taught in training courses. Children have said many times that after the courses they have had with different professors, their vision has become more open, more accurate and more searching for ideas.

What features should an idea have in order to make a 100-second film?

There is really no difference between the idea of ​​a long film work and a hundred seconds. The subject of narration and understanding of human concepts and themes and understanding of human situations and discovering cinematic moments and elements. Any recommendation or any prescription for “this is hundred and that is not hundred” will hurt the process of filmmakers’ cinematic life. Filmmaking itself is a subset of understanding cinema and media, and it is the capabilities of the medium of cinema. Different sizes and cuts of media all have common points, and artistic and media people have a lot of knowledge in common, especially when their medium is the same. One hundred and one are cinematic sizes and do not have many specific rules. The rules and experiences are the same as the rules and experiences of cinema.

How effective is it for provincial students that the workshops are held in cities outside of Tehran?

Very much indeed. Centers should not be separate and unrelated. Being separated from each other causes isolation and feeling of deprivation. The work of communication is very simplified, cities must visit each other even virtually. These visits and connections raise the spirits and the reason is that they don’t think they have forgotten each other and at the same time they learn from each other. These workshops and gatherings are really uplifting.

The 13th International Film Festival 100 will be held in the beginning of March 1401 under the direction of Youssef Mansouri and under the auspices of Sourah Cinema Organization.