The director of “Layers of Lies” left Iran annoyed / Which treasury?

Theater News Base: Mohsen Sarrafi, the producer of the film “Layers of Lies” directed by Ramin Sohrab, whose screening at the 40th Fajr Film Festival had many negative reflections and reactions, explained about the plan for the international release of this film after attending the Fajr Film Festival: Before The film will enter the second phase of production, and based on the filmed sequences, we had prepared a teaser of the film, which was screened at the Cannes Film Festival. The feedback we received there from international distributors was very good, especially since they saw products that they had not usually seen from Iranian cinema, and this was particularly appealing to them. Until now, no work in the action genre from Iran has been seen in the international arena.

He added: “This incident caused the Finnish producer of the film, accompanied by Ramin Sohrab, who was also the director of one of the film’s producers, to enter into negotiations with people in the same market, and in this regard, an American distributor became interested in this film.” He is also working to follow the process of distributing the film and its screening in genre festivals. We are currently accepted to one of the foreign festivals, which we will inform about later.

In response to the question whether the film will bring money to the Farabi Cinema Foundation as a domestic investor or not, the producer also said: The Farabi Foundation has officially announced that it has invested 20% in this film at a rate of one billion Tomans and This announcement means that the production cost of this film was 5 billion tomans. But I wish a production expert could tell me how a film with this production, with external factors and shooting in two phases can be collected for 5 billion tomans? It is clear that the production cost of this film has been more than 5 billion Tomans! But since Farabi came to work in the form of a set of services and properly, in addition to the financial cost, he also provided us with some spiritual assistance.

Statements that sprinkle salt on our wounds

He added: “Unfortunately, one of the critics of the” Seven “program also got involved in the production of this film and said on the air that this film did not bring any financial benefits to Iran!” In my opinion, the critic should do his job and not be allowed to enter into financial discussions related to a film. These sprinkle salt on our wounds. During the embargo, I imported 5,000 euros and 10,000 euros in two rounds, both with difficulty and because of Iranians who were personally interested in culture. These are my great pains that have been raised against us in the official media like this and they did not allow us to respond.

Sarrafi said: Farabi has always supported the first films and naturally has been supporting “false layers” in this direction. On the other hand, do we have an action film in Iranian cinema that we want to compare this film with? We did not have action movies in cinemas in the last 2 decades, and this movie has now advanced our cinemas for 2 decades. The cinema is not the only hall of Milad Tower during the festival.

Emphasizing that “Layers of Lies” will sell well in public screenings, the producer added: “According to the sales statistics of the films in the festival, this film has also been very popular in the cities.” A filmmaker comes to the official media and says that the film “Layers of Lies” is rubbish and can not be talked about, then when we look at the record of these, we see that they have all used the treasury. Another director said that while we were witnessing poor films at this year’s festival, the more experienced ones do not give us the facilities and money to make films! Then, when we look at the record of this filmmaker, we see that whatever film he made is left in his closet!

He added: “Layers of Lies” is a film that has an international release contract, and according to the plan, all our efforts were to be able to prepare the film for screening at the Fajr Festival. Today, the color correction of this film is being followed in Dubai and its sound is being done in Thailand. The film is a complete and ready film that can be judged in two months.

In response to the fact that “false layers” have more serious problems in the script section than the technical ones, Sarrafi said: “As a film producer who has been in different sections of cinema for many years, I know the screenplay problems better than all my friends and I accept them 100%, but My point is, have we had any serious action movies in Iranian cinema during these years? The quality of the action scenes of this film is a few steps ahead of Iranian cinema. The fact is that the original script of this film was written by Ramin Sohrab, who has not been in Iran for many years.

Referring to the reaction of the media to the film after its release at the festival, he said: “I do not believe that the friends of the media harmed the film. . What the children of the media know very well is that our attempt to Iranianize the space of the screenplay written by an American screenwriter with Ramin Sohrab was not a false and hypocritical attempt; An honest effort is a group that has no claim other than making an action movie. I have personally stated everywhere that this film is just an experience to revive the action genre in Iranian cinema. Ramin Sohrab also worked honestly and all his efforts were to present a beautiful image of Tehran.

The producer of “Layers of Lies” in response to whether he admits that this film was not suitable for the festival, emphasized: We do not accept this issue at all. In previous years, there have been other films at the Fajr Film Festival that are certainly not comparable to this film. In my opinion, they should not have been at the Fajr Festival either. I do not believe in bad feedback in the media, the media either talks about a movie or not. If there is talk in the media about a film and that film is not a neutral effect, it means that the film has followed its approach correctly. At the same festival and in some popular cinemas, I saw families with chips and popcorn in their hands to watch this movie. This movie is an action movie, and an action movie is not supposed to be a deep movie, neither in the script nor in the content. It is defined and accepted all over the world.

Adolescents who came to Ramin Sohrab with excitement

In response to the fact that the director had basically no knowledge of Iran and the film suffers from this point, he said: “You will see that the best films of the first action genre in the world, if their scripts are translated and made in Iran, do not have such a strong script.” The script is not really wrong, but the director’s lack of knowledge of the culture of his audience is possible and only possible for our film. I am not an exaggerator and I often saw teenagers at the festival who came to Ramin Sohrab with excitement and even applied to attend classes that could play a role in such films.

Referring to Habibail Beygi’s conversation with Mehr News Agency about finding “layers of lies” at the Fajr Festival, Sarrafi added: “Mr. Ilibigi really explained this issue professionally, correctly and from a cinematic point of view.” We have made a film and presented it to the festival selection committee, what can we do now that they like our film? We did not have any pressure in this regard, and I, like the others, noticed that the film was directed to the festival when the festival secretary announced the names of the films.

Regarding Behrouz Afkhami’s remarks as a member of the selection committee who announced in the middle of the festival that he had not seen the film “Layers of Lies”, he said: “By the way, he had seen the film and it is better for people to stand by their choices.” I personally knew that Mr. Afkhami had seen the film and happened to be one of the people who were interested in action films. I must say that I am grateful to Mr. Naghashzadeh for standing up to the criticism of the film’s presence at the film festival, although they themselves may not have been satisfied with the quality of the film.

Sarrafi added: “My main point is that which Iranian film has been the benchmark for judging the quality of” false layers “?” The production estimate for this film was even lower than other films considered by the weak media present at the festival. I am ready to announce the financial details of the production of this film. Why do they say we have wasted the Bethlehem while the film has an international distribution contract. Even if I do not have any financial income, I willingly and wholeheartedly return Farabi’s money because I consider it the share of another filmmaker who can help Iranian cinema with the help of this film.

The producer also said about the conditions of the public release of the film “Layers of Lies”: So far, two distributors have announced their readiness for the release of this film. In the field of international distribution, in the next two months, when the technical work of the film is completed, we will see its international presence in festivals. If we can, at the same time with the world release in the summer of next year, we will provide the conditions for its release in Iran. The film has a great potential to attract teenagers and young people to the cinema.

Sarrafi also explained about the reaction to the high volume of criticism during the screening of the film at the festival: Both Ramin Sohrab and I tried to patiently answer the critical questions and questions of the media. I have nothing to do with those who ruined the film, but I accept constructive criticism. I was really happy that there was talk about the film, but I was surprised by the position of some people who have worked in cinema themselves and some have even made films! I wish that in the face of Ramin Sohrab, who heard all the criticism with full respect, they also treated me with respect. If the festival and the jury were to be criticized, they would have to take the tip of the arrow in another direction. However, I believe the jury did the right thing. I wish some of these media outlets dared to invite me as a producer and make some accusations against me.

“Layers of Lies” was the right choice to attend the festival

He emphasized: “Layers of Lies” was the right choice to attend the 40th Fajr Film Festival, because after 2 decades, an action film has finally been made and we have not had any benchmark for evaluating this film. Some movie history movies might make people laugh if they were released today, but does that mean they are worthless? No, they had to be made so that today “false layers” would follow them. Other works must be created after the “layers of lies”.

Regarding Ramin Sohrab’s reaction to the negative media atmosphere surrounding the film “Layers of Lies”, Sarrafi said: “Many critics of this film were ruthless, and some, like Massoud Frost, even assassinated the character in” Haft “. These reactions were not fair to a young man who came to Iran with a world of enthusiasm at the age of thirty-five to make a film. I wish everyone was talking about “film”. There were many professions that bothered us. Some did not even consider Ramin Sohrab qualified for filmmaking! If these friends had known how hard and difficult Ramin Sohrab had paid for most of the cost of producing this film, they would not have made such statements.

In the end, he said: Ramin Sohrab’s character was assassinated in some media, this was a persecution that was done against this young filmmaker and it was not worthy. Especially since he did not respond to these persecutions and left Iran heartbroken. Let’s not forget that if we do not provide an opportunity for these young people to make films in Iranian cinema with such enthusiasm, you can be sure that no foreigner will help us. No one from Hollywood or Bollywood will help us. Ramin Sohrab went to the United States with his own capital and studied directing and acting, where he became an assistant. Sohrab left Iran with all his experiences, but he is happy that foreign filmmakers have welcomed his film, and we will soon see his film accepted at international festivals. These will definitely improve his mood.