My movie made “Puzzle Band” famous / they joked about “Frost”!

Theater News Base: Ahmad تجری The director of the movie “Gol Behkhodi”, which is the only movie for children and teenagers in the composition of Nowruz 1401 movies اکران In the country’s cinemas, about cinematic records Self forward “I have been working in Iranian cinema for many years and I have recently emigrated abroad,” he said of making his first feature film. In Iranian cinema, I have a background in assisting, planning and directing short films. In several TV series, assistant directors such as Sirus Moghadam and Javad مزدآبادی And the power of God, peace be upon Mirzai.

He also explained about the initial idea of ​​”Flower by itself” and its central story: The story we had chosen was initially supposed to be made in a different way and in a completely different atmosphere. Surreal And fantasy to be narrated, but unfortunately, since we did not have the necessary equipment in Iranian cinema and the cost of the work was higher than the investor of the film, we completely changed our program and tried to change the story to the atmosphere. Real And let’s get closer today. In this regard, to the noble story and Simple We came across a few children and teenagers with Accompanying Several dolls enter a series of adventures. We tried to tell this story in simple and fluent language story do.

If they allowed, our film would be so much better!

تجری He also explained about the severe weakness of the “Flower by itself” script and its impact on the quality of the film: “Obviously, the script of this film has weaknesses and could have had more traction, but the fact is that if they allowed the original script to be made, it would definitely work.” It was much, much better than the current version. The original script was made during the licensing process and even later audited for the screening license, and some scenes were removed from it. Obviously, they were very strict about using Mr. Frost’s doll and even said that you should change its name in the movie, I do not know what the reason was! They did not allow such sequences to be made. At the time of receiving the screening license, they also said that there is a lot of happy music in the film and you should delete it. Whatever we explained, the film is for children and the atmosphere should be happy, but they did not allow it and said that the volume of music is high. In general, many factors went hand in hand to bring the film to its current quality. I believe that if they had allowed it, the film could have been much better than the current version.

Masoud Frost’s doll in the movie “Flower by itself”

He added: “In the beginning, when we wanted to make child labor, many people promised to support us, but in practice, there was no support. From the Center for Intellectual Development to the Farabi Foundation, they did not support us even as much as one thousand tomans. In the screening cycle, we also see that neither environmental advertisements have been given to the film nor we have TV advertisements. TV has only given a limited number of promotional subtitles for your network, training and a few other new networks, which I think the managers of these networks do not watch their own network, let alone ordinary people!

Regarding the difference between Iranian children’s cinema and children’s cinema in the world, the director said: “The reality is that there are many differences in this field.” Abroad, there is a huge investment in children’s films, and with a lot of publicity, the biggest film companies are working, and of course, they are getting good results. As we can see, some children and adolescent films experience far more in world cinema than adult films with the presence of movie stars.

He continued: “In Iran, but I do not know why children’s cinema is not looked at like this and there is no support for this cinema.” I am sure that in Iranian cinema, if the budgets of institutions such as the Center for the Intellectual Development of Children and Adolescents or the Farabi Cinema Foundation are properly allocated to support children’s films, and for example, instead of fifty ordinary films, spend the same money on a high quality film. Of course, we can also have something to say in the genre of children and adolescents.

The director also explained the reason for using Shaghayegh Farahani as a female actor in the role of a man in the film “Flower in itself” and considering the box office considerations for this decision: The fact is that we did not make such a decision to sell. In the story of the film, the role of Shaghayegh Farahani is a woman who makes herself up and becomes a man because of covering up the wrongdoings she does. It was not like we wanted to use an actress for a male role.

تجری Regarding the use of dolls, especially dolls similar to real characters in this film, he said: “Our plan from the beginning was to use dolls of famous characters in this film.” We also had a lot of dolls that unfortunately were audited and we could not use them. We had a lot of famous sports and art personalities in the film who unfortunately were prevented from appearing and we could not use them.

He continued: “It was not like we wanted to use this capacity to go viral in cyberspace and we did not even think about it.” I also explained about Ms. Farahani’s makeup that in the text of the story, she is actually a woman and it is not like she plays the role of a male character. If we wanted to think about the viralization of the film in cyberspace, we could do many other things, like many other films that use inappropriate words and dialogues, but we did not want to, because we know the dignity of Iranian children and adolescents is higher than this. If there is a joke and dialogue in the film, it is to the extent of these children, and we did not want a dialogue in the language of children in the film that is strange for the audience to understand.

Many identified the “puzzle band” with the “flower itself”!

تجری Regarding the presence of the “Puzzle Band” music group in this film and the advertising use of this capacity, he also said: “I definitely agree that this presence caused an advertisement for the Puzzle Band band.” Based on the feedback I received from the audience, many did not know there was such a group and they became known with our film. Of course, the “Puzzle Band” group was relatively well-known, but it certainly was not the case that they were general and everyone knew them. Appearance in the movie “Flower by itself” was advertised for them. On the other hand, nothing happened to our film that wanted to be promoted for the film, but being in this film was a good advertisement for them, and I hope they will get good feedback in line with the next success of this film.

He also said about the inappropriate quality of acting of the members of this band: “About bad plays, of course, the opinion of critics and experts is respected, but since our intention from the beginning was for these people to play their role in the film, naturally we did not want to act as actors.” Let’s play with them. Everything in the film is themselves. Ali Rahbari and Arian Bahari both play their roles. If they have performed live music in a good or bad movie, they are themselves and we did not want to add or subtract anything to them. We were not going to take subcutaneous games from them for the role of other people. Both good and bad, they are themselves. All we asked of them was to be themselves.

Tajri emphasized: “Our use of the” Puzzle Band “group was not commercial in nature from the beginning, because they were supposed to play their own role, giving concerts for homeless children as part of the story.” Of course, when we have a singer in the story who has to come with his band and perform a piece, we have to reach an agreement with a band, and that agreement was formed with the puzzle band. In any case, we needed the presence of singers to play their part. If we had wanted to consider the box office considerations, we could certainly have taken better measures to see the effect at the box office, but we were not really looking for that.

The director also said about the presence of the film “Flower by itself” as the only representative of children’s cinema in the composition of Nowruz screening: I must thank all the people who tried to have a representative of children’s cinema in this composition, but I wish we were not satisfied with mere presence, later support Presence is also very important. All the sales of our film to date have been the product of our own advertisements and a few movie screens in cyberspace. The four municipal billboards that were dedicated to the film were only four days old and then assembled.

We are a long way from the golden age of children’s cinema in the 1970s

He added: “The fact is that children and adolescent cinema has been oppressed in recent years, and we are far from the golden age of this genre in the seventies.” I hope the authorities will support this species more. The fact that I entered this field as a young filmmaker with private investment and without any support, we really have the courage and hope that we will be supported. The fact is that the colleagues do not support in this regard and some are even jealous! We should be more than that and support children’s cinema so that if there are any shortcomings, it will be eliminated and the light of children’s cinema will remain on. Maybe one day we will be able to return to the golden age of children’s cinema that we experienced in the seventies. Do not seek to destroy each other.

Tajri continued: “I could have made a comedy film with two prominent actors that would sell very well and everyone would do well, but when we came to children’s cinema, it was because we wanted to follow the people of the seventies.” They made us fall in love with cinema with their works. I hope this support will be formed and we will see the revival of children’s cinema.

He complained about the screening conditions of this film and said: “I do not know how long the screening of” Flower by itself “will continue, but in practice, our chances are decreasing day by day.” Suns are scheduled for us before 4 pm, while naturally children and adolescents do not go to the cinema alone and it should be in such a way that the family can be with them after office hours. On the other hand, the increase in ticket prices has had a great impact on the decline in the popularity of films. I hope that in general, everything will happen in favor of Iranian cinema.

In the end, the director of “Gol Behay” explained about the names of Fariba Azizi, Ali Ghaem Maghami and Ahmad Tajri as the three investors in the production process of this film: The main investor of our film was Ms. Azizi and the film is not a very expensive project. The fact is that investing in the child genre is a risk, and in cases where there are three people, 10 investors can be less!