They don’t let me see my film before the release!/ Soori producer’s problem

Charso Press: Ebrahim Shafiei, the director of the movie “The Last Word” produced by Ali Shahhatami, which is about to be released in the film group “Henro Taqbareh”, while expressing his dissatisfaction with the conditions of the release of his film, explained about this issue: “When we wanted to produce the movie “The Last Word” Kanim, a producer was formally present in the project. Of course, it was not meant to be only formal, but in the process of pre-production, production and post-production, even you will not find a frame of his presence in the project. Our producer, in addition to not being present in the work process, sometimes put a stick in our wheel! Sometimes he even pressured me to change a dialogue over the phone and threatened to stop working.

Shafi’i emphasized: Under normal circumstances, I should not have made these matters known to the media, but considering what happened today, I want to raise all these matters. I was the writer, director and producer. From the selection and bargaining over the price of the location to the agreement with the actors and all agents, I have personally followed up. When the filming was finished, we decided to deliver it to Fajr, and at that point I personally followed all the post-production work. At the same time, I wanted to show the film to some critics and members of the media, when the producer told me, you don’t have the right to do such a thing!

He added: We had a contract with the investor of the film, who was also the actor of the film. He has played a supporting role in the film and we entrusted him with a role that today is bought and sold for billions in Iranian cinema. According to the contract, a percentage of the film belonged to me, but after finishing the work, they suddenly said that you have no rights and they left me. At the same time, I filed a complaint in the Jury of the Cinema House so that I could get my share back in the film. I also had 15% in the film, but because of the name and reputation of the producer, they issued the first vote against me. I also took my complaint to the High Arbitration Council, and there Javad Toosi, who had a history of judging, supported my film and the verdict was issued in my favor.

I suddenly realized that my movie will be released on December 16!

Shafi’i continued: When this verdict was issued, the producer and investor suddenly became kind to me and said let’s negotiate about the release. My main problem was the presence of the film in festivals, which were not accepted by any of them. I even personally completed the participation form for the Fajr Film Festival, and two or three hours before the deadline for the submission of films, I was able to deliver the DCP copy to the secretariat. With all these negatives about the film, when they said we wanted to decide on the release, we were scheduled to have a three-person conversation. This did not happen until I found out that the film is going to be released on December 16 at the “Henro-Tabsarabeh” cinema group.

Pointing out that he does not have any copy of his film, he said: The producer and investor did not provide me with any copy of the film. That’s why I sent a message to the friends of “Henro Tzabareh” until I see the final version of the work, I won’t approve it for screening. When I went there to see the movie, they showed me the old version and that’s when suddenly one of the staff said that the movie had 4 corrections that were applied in the final version!

The movie that had a screening license got 4 amendments

The director of “The Last Word” said: The “Henro-Tabharbeh” group, without my knowledge and with the coordination of the producer, re-sent the film that had been screened a year ago to the cinema organization, and they imposed four new and extremely strange amendments to the film. It means that my film has been amended without my knowledge and the amendments have been applied to it! This story is like I have raised a child but now some other people are arranging a wedding for my child without telling me!

Criticizing the quality of Ali Shahhatami’s cooperation as the film’s producer, he said: He was the ostensible producer of this film, and we only used his producer’s card, and I wish this model of production would gather in Iranian cinema. Either a person is a producer of a film, or he is not. I wrote a letter of protest to the “Henro Tzabareh” group in protest against this situation, but when they contacted the producer, he said that he is the sole decision maker in this field!

The director of “The Last Word” emphasized at the end: My words are very simple and even a funny expectation; I say I want to see the final version of my film before the public release but they won’t let me! I am not satisfied with the release of my film like this. Auditing and corrections in cinema is a natural thing that everyone accepts, but I complain about my ignorance. It is even interesting to know that the name of my film was something else and it was in the production license that I came across the name “The Last Word”! The producer didn’t even inform me about the name change. This immorality is disturbing.

///.