“Making a film is not a cultural work!”

Charso Press: Gurban Najafi, a well-known theater, cinema and television actor, after 27 After years of effort and follow-up, he was finally able to make “Season of White Fish” as his first movie and after 4 years, he was able to show his work in cinemas. These days, he is fed up with the situation of showing his film in the cinema, from the municipality that tells him that “making a film is not a cultural work”, to the TV and cinema directors who have no cooperation with him in introducing his film to the audience. However, he says: “It is true that they are trying to make us the losers in the screening, but the main losers are those who do not understand the importance of cultural films.“

Read our interview with this director to understand the depth of the sad state of the screen.

It’s okay to talk about the sales of your movie at the beginning of the discussion, how is the reception of the movie “White Fish Season”?

People love the film, during this time I received very positive feedback from the audience who have seen the film. Without exaggeration, 95% of the audience were satisfied with watching the movie. Believe me, if the film is presented to the right audience, it will find its place and its audience. In my opinion, the issue of movie screening in the cinema is exactly like the famous example of the chicken and the egg. That is, the more theaters the film is screened in, the more sales the film will have. On the other hand, the cinema owner says that if the theaters and screenings are full, the film will get more screenings and more cinemas, but let me ask you a question; How does the audience know that the movie “Season of White Fish” is on the screen? Is the show of a movie that they can’t smell from the sky? This is where the sad discussion of mafia advertisements comes in and as a result, the film is faced with a series of strange indifferences. They don’t even put the stands of this movie in front of the cinema halls.

in what aspect?

In order to advertise and watch some movies. They told me clearly that it is in the hands of others. If there are more movie theaters, believe me, sales will increase. I said this because when the number of movie theaters is more, the audience whose movie theater is close to their home prefers to go to the same movie theater. I also go to any movie theater that is close to my house until I go to the capital to watch a movie. If this is the case, he must be very fond of cinema, otherwise, in this era of time, no one has time and no one is bored. has to choose the city center or popular cinema to watch the movie.

Did you talk to cinema owners about increasing the number of theaters for your movie?

The cinematographer says that the film itself should sell and sell. But how?! We don’t even have billboards in the city. We talked to the beautification organization of the municipality and in the end, our efforts did not go anywhere. They say that your work is not considered a cultural work, and is in the category of commercial work. How did you calculate and what is your criterion? A movie that so many artists have worked on is not cultural, and the slogans you put on structures are cultural?! Cultural work is the work of people like us and the municipality should support cultural work.

On the other hand, TV advertising requires a lot of money, which we don’t have. I spoke with Mr. Esmaili, the distributor of this film for TV commercials, and he believed that in the end they give two or three commercials to the film, but they broadcast it on TV in bad times, which is not worth the effort at all. Only later, these gentlemen claim and count billions of dollars on this advertisement and become indebted to us because we left no stone unturned for your film. In response to your answer, I want to say that the situation of our film release is very sad. I remember that there was a time when advertisements for movies had to be done equally so that the rights of the movies would not be unfair, but now a movie is made just for business. It is surprising that the system also supports these films and this film takes over all the internal and external advertising devices. We don’t have money to give some networks for advertising, but I know they give 250 thousand dollars to satellite, so it is clear that they are supported and they take all the advertising for themselves. If I sell my car and pay for advertising, I can’t last more than two weeks. As a result, there is no place for us. In my opinion, it is better not to broadcast the film in this situation. Because the audience does not know that the movie is being released. A battlefield has been set up that we can’t do anything about, and there is no place left for cultural-social films, which are films in the true sense of the word and have something to say, and they are closing down. While many of the works that achieve good sales with a lot of advertising and the decline of the audience’s taste are not called cultural works at all. It only wastes the audience’s time, forcefully takes laughter from them, and the audience gradually gets used to watching this type of movies. The decision-makers also believe that in this chaotic social situation, let people laugh, and people believe this, and they say that people don’t have the patience to read books. This saying has been repeated so much that this false belief has been gradually instilled in people that they don’t have the patience to think, read or study or watch a serious movie. A friend had a different interpretation, which seemed right to me, he said, “What’s funny in this situation and economic pressure?” One is not in the mood to laugh. I don’t know which one is right, judge with the readers. As I said, the situation is very sad.

Of course, the alarm of capital’s domination over all areas of life had been sounded long ago.

Believe me, the only thing that is not thought about is the mind of the children, what will their future be? If all parts of people’s lives were to be influenced by capital, so many good and lasting films would not have been made, so many good novels would not have been written, so many serious literatures would not exist in the world. At all, these works formed a large part of our personality.

Now my question is, what defense do we have from the current situation? Everything is money, money, money. At the end, a villa in Spain and… at the end of this story, who benefits? Is it good for the country? Does all this acquisition of capital have an effect on the country’s art? Believe me, it is not for anyone’s benefit. Let’s think a little, thinking, meditating on issues is not harmful at all.

Mr. Najafi, you are right, you complained about the moviegoers during your talk, but we discussed these points with the moviegoers many times, but they believe that the film should have sales potential.

I do not accept; Dear Madam, How can the audience know that my movie is in theaters? We have no teasers, no billboards, no advertising possibilities, all these first-class and professional agents and good actresses from three generations collaborated with us in this film, from the old generation to Ms. Jaleh Alou, who is attractive to the audience to watch a shot of this lady. Middle and new generation. Mr. Mohammad Reza Fortun, Mrs. Laden Mostofi, Elmira Dehghani and other good friends. Mr. Alireza Zarindast, with his unique frames, designed the stage of Mrs. Malek Jahan Khozaei, who is known in the world. What is the potential? What should it be?! The important thing is that they want people to see these types of films, that’s all.

If you remember, the son of the late Rasool Malaqlipour used various creative methods to get his film seen, which made a lot of noise in his time. With this concern that you have, what promotional action did you take for your film?

Believe me, we will do our best. We use all the capacity of virtual space, we have limited pages where we introduce the film to the audience. But it is not enough.

During your speech, you mentioned that some films are advertised in foreign media in Farsi.

Yes; They get $5,000 to $15,000 a week from the filmmaker.

But it was said that this advertisement is free.

No, not at all. But unfortunately, as we heard, one of these films paid an exorbitant amount of 250,000 dollars to these satellites and took all the advertisements for his film. If it was free and they cared about cultural activity, I would request them to advertise the film on their network. But believe me, it is completely commercial. And of course, our friends who are moviegoers have raised the price so that no one gets their hands on the advertisements there.

Let’s skip this discussion; Why was the public screening of your film canceled in Shiraz and the actors were not allowed to meet the audience?

We were given a special reception, but they canceled our meeting with the people without giving us the slightest explanation.

Could it be that the ceremony was canceled due to the women not wearing veils?

No; There was no problem with this. It was surprising; The movie was shown, the audience saw the movie very intelligently and left, but we stayed in the car in the cinema parking lot all this time and were not allowed to enter the theater. I was really surprised by this gentleman’s behavior. When they invite some people to a city, someone from the guidance officials greets this group and at least greets the artists who have been invited to their city. Well, nothing, why shouldn’t people see us? Do they want to make people mistrust us with this behavior? People have bought a ticket to see their favorite artist and came to see their favorite movie, then they cancel the visit without any explanation. Does that mean we didn’t have the right to explain the reason for the cancellation? The investor of the film, Mr. Kianfar, assumed the cost of the trip, Mr. Mohammadreza Froutan took the time for this trip, but canceled the program without any explanation.

After 27 years of acting, you were able to make your first film. With all these hardships at the beginning of the journey, it seems that you should give the gift of this profession.

Our duty is to fight; It is true that they are trying to make us the losers in the screening, but the main losers are those who do not understand the importance of the cultural film. In my opinion, investors like Mr. Javaid Kianfar, who invest time and money for people’s culture in this situation and do not think about making money in cinema, should be appreciated. Believe me, the movie “White Fish Season” would have set a record at the box office if it had been well introduced to the audience. Because it has various spaces. From the thematic variety, the very beautiful performances of the actors to the visual variety of colors and picture frames.

However, this investor is not thinking about making money and profit. We only want the film to be seen and the effort of a group not to be wasted.

But the interesting thing is that despite the passage of time and 4 years since the production of the film, the subject of the film has not been subject to time.

Yes, because it is taken from a very important classic work (The Cherry Orchard by Anton Chekhov) and the classic work is called classic because it is not dependent on a specific time.

Indeed, why was the film not shown in the Fajr festival?

This film was produced in 1998, and by the way, we filled out the participation form at the festival’s secretariat that same year. When I didn’t see the film in the list of the selection committee, I asked if they had seen my film. In response, they told me that we saw your film, but anyway, the general opinion was that the film should not be in the festival. Did I say that the quality of all the films that are present in the festival is higher than the “White Fish Season”? Of course, I really hoped it would be like this.

But you know better that the work of most festivals is lobbying and communication. I think we are facing a disease festival that needs basic surgery. While the festival should be a benchmark for young filmmakers, if I, as a filmmaker, want to make a film, I should look at the chosen ones of the festival, the festival should be a meter and a measure for me to continue my journey, but unfortunately, it must be said that the behavior of the film festival is like a store of goods of the time. This is the quota war. This year it is so-and-so’s turn, the next year it is the turn of another filmmaker, and many of our great actors and filmmakers have not won an award in our own festival. Of course, maybe they didn’t know how to cook a good vegetable soup.

What do you mean?

It means anything that is the will of the decision makers. Anything that makes them look at a person in a special way and we don’t see others even if their works are good.

Mr. Najafi, it has been seen many times that some actors enter the field of directing, but they do not last in this field and do not continue this path. How is the situation for you?

I have always been concerned about making films, since 1978 I wrote a script for a movie, which I gave to Mr. Mohammad Mahdi Dadgo for production. At the same time, digital filming had just begun. Mr. Dadgo told me to expand the script into a three-part series and film it digitally. After the movie is released, we will broadcast three episodes on TV. But since I was a raw young man, I said no, I want to film in the 35 way. I didn’t have anyone to guide me and say that if time passes, you will lose the making of the film, but it didn’t happen. Years later, I wrote a series for the children’s group, but it also encountered adventures that were not possible.

I want to say that I was worried about making a film all these years, but I didn’t have the opportunity. Be it acting, directing, or other fields of art, if there is an artistic flair in a person, it will show itself in one field anyway. During all these years, when I was unemployed and not playing, I was working on music or working on the radio or in the theater.

I remember you played roles with Afghan characters for a while.

Yes, I have the honor to be friends with many Afghans. I have trained 25 Afghan actors and now each of them is in their own field of art. If I am offered the role of Afghan again, I will accept. Because every geography and culture has countless characters that can be used.

Of course, it is important to mention that during the entire time you played, you played various roles.

All the cinema people are my close or distant friends and I respect them. Of course, I must say that considering the ability I have accumulated over the years, I have not been offered the role I should have played. A role that will challenge me and give me everything I have.