Women in Iran have never been passive/ Men’s lack of companionship with women does not mean that men are bad

Charso Press: The movie “Hedgehog” as the first directorial experience Immigrant Drunk It is being screened in cinemas these days.

“Hedgehog” is one of the political comedies of Iranian cinema in recent years, which deals with the presence of women in politics and narrates the efforts of a woman who is trying to be the first female president of Iran. Mastane Mohajer, who previously worked as an editor and producer in cinema, also has films like “Esrafil” and “Jade Khaki” as a producer.

On the pretext of the release of “Hedgehog”, we had a conversation with this director, which you can read in detail below:

What characteristics did the “Hedgehog” script have that made you decide to direct it as your first feature film?

In the beginning, I was not going to direct this film and that’s why I chose “Hedgehog” script from the perspective of a producer, in fact, as a producer, I bought the script because I think that the topic raised by this script is a new topic and thought I believe it has not been mentioned much until today.

We came to a decision to make this film with a director, we also went through the pre-production stage, but unfortunately, for personal reasons, the director was unable to continue working with the project 48 hours before the start of filming, and finally, because it was a sensitive script, I decided to direct it myself. take over In fact, I had no intention of making this film as a director, and I did not choose the script as a director, and as a producer, the “Hedgehog” script had caught my attention.

Why do you think the presence of women in the highest political ranks can be an important issue for today’s society?

I am not a political person at all to say that I chose the script of this work simply because of its political approach and its focus on the presence of women in politics. Women are active in all fields. There is a special issue about the presidency, and that is that our constitution introduces politicians as political men, and many believe that the word man, regardless of its literal meaning, here means a human being, and the interpretation of this word as masculine or feminine is completely wrong.

This issue has always been subconsciously in my mind and I was thinking about the interpretation of why, based on it, a woman cannot be considered a politician. When I read this script, this issue became more serious for me, and since the script dealt with this issue, I found it interesting to make it.

I emphasize that I am a cultural person and not a political person, and I look at this issue from the perspective of culture, and the role of women in all fields is important to me. Iranian women are present in politics as MPs, members of city councils or as deputy ministers, and this presence can become more colorful with the passage of time. Ever since I was born, I remember that the discussion of women’s presence in politics and society has been a common topic, and it will probably be discussed after me, but women have never been passive and have always played a serious, influential and important role in the history of Iran. and if we look at history, we will come across the names of many women who may have been known more as intellectuals of their time and we have seen them less in political positions. For this reason, the issue of women’s presence in politics has always been an important issue in our country.

When dealing with the main character of the film, did you have a real character in mind or is the main character completely fictional?

No, it is not modeled after any real character and is completely made up by the minds of the writers, but anyway, the writer and director use the signs they know when dealing with a character, but in this film, it is not modeled after any political figure.

Many of our filmmakers today have turned to this type of cinema due to the success of comedy cinema. Was the narration of the story “Hedgehog” in a comedy atmosphere with the approach that the success of the work is more likely?

The production of this film began in 2018, when the production was inevitably stopped due to the spread of the Corona virus, and after some time, we started filming again. In fact, the film was released 4 years ago, and this shows that I did not make “Hedgehog” with the approach that comedy films are best-selling and successful today, and the film has not been released until today due to the spread of Corona and the social situation of the country. At the same time, the film obviously does not conform to the stereotyped formulas of that genre of cinema.

Everyone has their own reasons for making a comedy film and I don’t want to talk about it, but “Hedgehog” raises a very important issue in the form of humor and you can’t say that I made a purely comedy film. I must say that more than anything else, it was important for me to express the concept that exists in “Hedgehog” and I believe that this movie has an important message.

Do you think that the demand raised by “Hedgehog” still exists in our society after four years since the filming of this movie?

This demand that the movie “Hedgehog” talks about does not really have an expiration date. This is what we have always said in every context and every situation. We may have a desire and this desire is fulfilled, but we cannot say that the problems have completely disappeared and there is no more desire. In order to live better and have a better society, we raise the following demands, and man never stops his demands to achieve a better civil and social position, and for this reason, it cannot be said that the subject of the movie “Hedgehog” is limited by time and has an expiration date. In my opinion, the topic of the film is a big topic.

It is clear that great things have happened in these four years and there have even been advances, and women have been placed in better positions and people’s voices have been heard more, but these demands are not only related to Iran, and in the world, women are demanding rights in various ways. are themselves I consider the subject of this film to be even universal and if we want to look directly at the issue of women becoming presidents, there are countries that have female presidents, but the issue of the civil position of women in the same countries is still a topic of discussion and there are demands in this regard. which is definitely related to the requirements of that society and cannot be compared with any other society, so it cannot be said that this demand has disappeared altogether.

In your film, we see that men are not with women. Were you not worried that this lack of companionship in the film would create a negative view of men?

Personally, I don’t have a negative view of men, but men’s lack of companionship with women to achieve a better position is a reality in our society and we cannot hide it. Not being accompanied by men does not mean that men are bad. I think this lack of companionship can have various reasons, such as fear, type of upbringing, type of thinking, etc., but in the end, in the last shot of this film, we see that everyone is together with any thinking.

I made this film to say that with any thought, if we reach a balance, we can have a conversation and create great things together. We should not be against each other with any look or gender.

In “Hedgehog” we have a woman who works as a model, a woman who is active in politics, a man who is a policeman, or even among the characters of the film we have a student, and all these come together to create something. I’m not talking about which spectrum is better, and we don’t see judgment in this movie. I am really of the opinion that everyone is beautiful with their thoughts, opinions, clothing and social status, and the beauty of a society is that all these are together and not against each other; I have included this idea in the film.

Are you satisfied with the screening conditions?

I thank the group that works in the screening and promotion of this film. It is definitely important for us to sell more films and it has an impact on my filmmaking journey, but my view on the issue of sales is logical and I know how much “Hedgehog” can sell in today’s cinema conditions. The fact that the film has been seen so well so far is very valuable for me.

Fortunately, until today among those who have seen the film, in the feedback I had, most of the audience liked the film.