“Mud Room” press conference: the combination of epic and lyrical scenes has been our focus

According to Fars news agency, the press conference of the movie “Goli Room” was held on Wednesday, 19th of Bahman in the second screening for the media and the critics community at Media Cinema (Mellat Cinema Campus) with the presence of the film’s crew and the performance of Mohammad Reza Magdasian. Dawood Sabouri, the producer, Mohammad Ali Asgari, the director, Pedram Karimi, the writer, Hassan Najafi, the visual effects manager, Mohsen Khodabakhshi, the stage designer, and Fateme Safari, the costume designer, are present in this meeting.

*The film opens its place like a river

Davud Sabouri, the producer of “Ataqek Goli” said about his mental state at the beginning: I didn’t sleep at all last night because I was so stressed and I thought that the families of the martyrs would come and see what they would look like.

Mohammad Ali Asgari, the director of “Ataghak Goli” also stated: Any talk at the moment is an attachment of my words to the film. I believe that the film will open its place like a river.

He continued by pointing out that I was offered a story by the producer and said: In March of last year, after several months, we reached the initial version of the script. I accepted the invitation of the film producer to work on this film despite its difficulties. But in the field of cinema, I had any work as an assistant, they had a heavy production, and this made me go for such jobs. Of course, being a big production is not the reason for a good movie, but my interest is in this field.

* Unity builds Iran

Pedram Karimi, the writer of the film, also said about the story: In the first days when we were talking with the producer, we emphasized that there should be a carpet weaving workshop in the film and convey the concept of knots in unity. We wanted to say that this alliance builds Iran. Someone asked me when we made this film, and he said that it fits today’s events, but these concepts are eternal.

He mentioned: We would have liked to start the story from Dukohe, but many ethnicities were present in that region, and it was interesting for us to show it.

The director of “Ataghek Goli” further said about the hero in the film: the hero should be in this category of films, but the hero is from the people. Sometimes we see unsung heroes. Here, all efforts were made so that “Shahu”, who is the hero of the story, does heroic work as much as himself.

* A hero of the people

He clarified: War is a category that humanity has always been involved with, while it likes to be in peace. We wanted to have a hero in this space who, as I said, is from among the people. We also worked on the color and diversity of the character.

Asgari added: He is trying to save the villagers and then he is trying to create unity. We tried not to show any positive face of the hypocrites.

Hassan Najafi, director of special visual effects, also said: We had very little time in this festival, but we tried to move forward together with the group. There were some shortcomings that could have been better.

Fateme Safari, the costume designer, said: I was an assistant in the stage group at first. Finally, I was able to deliver the dress to the stage day and night.

* Record breaking in the use of war tools

Mohsen Khodabakhshi, the stage designer, also said in a speech: We reconstructed a village and completely built a village. We used a lot of tools that somehow broke the record in holy defense projects. It took about four months to renovate the space and I was in this project for nine months. At one point, we could not shoot in the area we were present in terms of security, and logistically we had to use special effects.

The director of “Ataghek Goli” further explained how he made a good work without using face actors: All my efforts were to find talented actors who would play brilliantly and be introduced to the cinema. The result can be seen in the films I collaborated with the directors.

Asgari emphasized: We had an actor here, Toraj Alvand, whom I previously introduced to Reza Mirkarimi in the movie “Night Watchman”, and now I used him here as well. Of course, I believe that a good movie is made up of a set of factors. I preferred to use actors who are not known faces in cinema. Despite the fact that Alvand has worked before and even Anahita Afshar was the same. Some actors were chosen from the theater actors because of their resemblance to some martyrs.

* Is it possible that he was a student of a professor and did not take a loan from him?

In response to a question about whether he borrowed a sequence from Majidi’s film or not, he said: Is it possible that he was a student of a professor and was not influenced by him? Working with Majid Majidi and Reza Mirkarimi has had an impact on me, but it has not been the case that I want to use their works in a specific way.

In response to a question about the ending of the film, the director of “Ataghek Goli” said: We considered different endings for the film, but the main elements of the film decided to reach this ending. The combination of epic and lyrical scenes has been our focus.

* The violence of war

In response to a criticism about the depiction of violent scenes in the film, Askari said: Is it possible not to show violence in war? If this does not happen, the violence of the war will not occur. I think if there is not enough violence, the movie will not be believable at all.

In another part of his speech, this director said about some flaws in the film: We were in a period of inflammation in the country, when we had restrictions on the production of the film, and maybe we knew some of the flaws, such as gunshots. If there was an exaggeration somewhere, I will correct it.

The author of “Mud Room” also reminded about violence: if we wanted to show what the hypocrites did in the film, it could not be played at all, so we adjusted it so that it could be shown. They had put out the eye of a martyr or worse things that could not be shown. We had examples where the camera goes towards the hypocrites and they become sympathetic to the audience, but we didn’t want it to happen like this.

* We tried to be faithful to the reality of Marsad operations

About how close the script was to the reality of the Mersad operation, Karimi said: We tried to be faithful to the reality of the Mersad operation. Saeed Gholamali Rajabi is martyred in reality at the very beginning of the story, but we wanted to pay more attention to him.

The director of the film also clarified about the actors of the film: some actors were selected from the beginning and were our first choice.

The producer of “Ataq Goli” further stated about some long dialogues in the war shown in the film: “In war, you have to make decisions and take action in the moment.” In the movie, maybe there shouldn’t be much dialogue, but in the battle scene, there should be enough dialogue to convince the audience. We tried to reflect the desired topic.

* Sacrifice and sacrifice in the film

The director of this movie also said about the drama part of the story: The biggest story in the second part of the movie is that some fighters go and save the villagers. During this operation, we see sacrifice.

The author of “Ataqeg Kelli” said about the world’s leading cinematic works: In some leading films, all plots are simple, such as “Saving Private Ryan”, which has a simple main plot, however, we have several stories in this work and it is not that simple.

Karimi stated that in addition to acting, he is also active in screenwriting: My main work is screenwriting, of course, based on my field, I should be a playwright, but because I don’t have money, I came to the cinema (laughs), otherwise my main work is acting.

In response to a question about the participation of institutions in the film, the producer of the film said: A social film cannot be completed with a single actor under 15 billion under the most minimal conditions. I signed a lunch and dinner contract for 45 thousand tomans, but within three months it became 95 thousand tomans.

* Holy defense films need a spiritual atmosphere

He went on to say: “Definitely, sacred defense films need a spiritual atmosphere, and the expenses should be done properly.” I tried my best to take advantage of the capacity of Kermanshah province. I can boldly say that this production, at the border point of the country, with about 75 war devices, is unprecedented in the history of holy defense. It’s also the cheapest film I’ve ever made. I began this work thanks to the Holy Defense Museum, which is a subsidiary of the Foundation for the Preservation of Antiquities. Then my friends said that I should contribute. The Fatah narrative foundation provided us with various tools and I also requested them not to take money from us.

At the end of his words about the richness of the script, the director of “Ataq Goli” said: We have loved the story since childhood. Storytelling has always been in the culture of the East, and in my opinion, films that have a poor story have failed.

*I went around institutions with this board for four months

The producer of the film also said about the board that was exhibited in the press conference: I used to go to the institutions with this board and with the image that has some kind of reality in it, I was trying to get help to make the film and with this board I spent four months. I went around the institutions.

In the end, did he worry about whether his film was shown as he wanted and was not destroyed? He noted: My film is related to Shahada. Martyrs are never destroyed. The film is related to Atta Bahiraei or Shahidan Muzaffar, Gholam Ali Rajabi. We have no worries and we will make these works again.

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