Iranian filmmaker who was a companion of Fellini and came from World War II
Khosro Dehghan raised in the cinema museum: Kamran Shirdel; Filmmaking seeks the truth
Charso Press: The screening of the restored version of the two films “On the night it rained” and “Tehran is the capital of Iran” by Kamran Shirdel with the presence of Khosro Dehghan was held last Wednesday, December 8, at the Ferdous Hall of the Cinema Museum.
According to the public relations of the cinema museum, Khosro Dehghan, the writer and film critic, started his speech by stating that “I am not a supporter of that group that says that attention should be paid to the work itself and not to its creator” and said: a work is the result of thought and thought. The reason should be told first about the producer himself, his life, and then about his studies and films.
He went on to say about Kamran Shirdel: Shirdel is like an iceberg, so we know little about him, and when we mention him, maybe we remember one or two movies, while he has more than a hundred movies. About 20 of his works are documentaries and the rest of his works and films are industrial, but they are all very valuable. He is now 84 years old and had educated parents and one of the reasons for his entry into the industry was that his father owned a sugar factory and he used to go to this place with his father. His father wanted him to become an engineer, but he entered cinema.
This film critic continued: Shirdel is one of the most exceptional artists and is one of the most exceptional filmmakers who is not the product of love and instinct, but the product of study and university. Before entering the university, he also had a hand in criticism, and when he was 18 years old, his father sent him to Italy to study architecture, but he abandoned engineering and pursued cinema and studied at the Rome Film School and made the documentary “Mirrors” for his graduation. Makes.
Referring to the effects of studying in Italy on the artist, Dehghan said: World War II had ended when he was studying, but its effects remained. He hung out with greats like Fellini and many others and learned neorealism. At that time, there was a lot of poverty, unemployment, and misery, that’s why in those days, the subject of movies were mostly ordinary people, and on the other hand, because the minds of Italian filmmakers were looking for the truth, realism was noticed and a new school called neorealism was formed, which wanted to say We pay more attention to the reality and pay attention to the inferior people. In this space, Kamran Shirdel goes towards the people, on the other side, the equipment changes from fixed mode to hand-held cameras. Of course, we must keep in mind that if Kamran Shirdel went to another country, the atmosphere of his films would definitely be different.
Dehghan pointed out the diversity of Kamran Shirdel’s films and explained: He made a fictional film called “The Morning of the Fourth” with his own funds, which did not sell much, and after that he entered the documentary, and then he was invited and entered the Arrow Factory. that the path of his life changes.
He continued: In neorealism, his teachers said that for this school you should not go for documentaries and you should make fiction films, but Kamran Shirdel was drawn to this path and he was asked to make documentaries. It should be noted that behind neorealism is truth-seeking. The reason why he is included in “That Night It Rained” instead is that Shirdel intended to approach the general audience. “Verism” is a school in Italy, and in it, it is emphasized that pure truth is in this school and it is the root of neorealism. It should be pointed out that the official period of neorealism is over, but it continues to find its way in other countries.
Dehghan also said about the type of filmmaking and documentaries of this artist: Shirdel has many emphasis and repetitions in his films, and this repetition is part of the main structure of his films to the extent that he emphasizes even a small subject.
He added: “He has done a strange thing in the movie Pikan, and in this work, no sound can be heard except for the gears of Pikan, and it becomes like the music of the movie, and he politely neither praises nor destroys anyone, and in fact, he could not be involved with that system. And he has dealt with the situation very cleverly.
In the screening of Kamran Shirdel’s documentaries at the Cinema Museum, which has been modified and restored by the Iranian National Cinema, George Petrousi, Lili Golestan, Hassan Agha Karimi and members of the Cinema Museum Audience Club were present.