Human subjects do not know time and place

Charso Press: “Boys of the Darya” is the latest work of Afshin Hashemi, a well-known figure of cinema, theater and television, which is shown on the silver screen these days, and was made directly with the caption “about children and teenagers”. Directly because the audience is faced with a film whose main problem is children and teenagers and the story is not like some movies that are made under the pretext of children and teenagers but have secondary branches; In other words, “Boys of the Sea” does not have a sub-theme. In those films, the topic of the teenager or child is basically lost in the main story, or the creators of the work propose the topic of the child and the teenager during the main story, and this causes the topic of the child to be neglected; In this sense, in Afshin Hashemi’s film, the target is clearly teenagers and a narrative of their problems. A work that won the Golden Butterfly for the best young actor in the international section, the Golden Butterfly for the best screenplay in the international section, and the Golden Butterfly for the best film in the national section of the 34th International Festival of Children and Youth Films.

Nostalgia of children’s cinema
Whenever we talk about children’s and youth cinema or we review the history of this cinema with good and pleasant memories, we remember the destiny and fate of noble and noble people who once had a good fortune for themselves, but due to bad times, they fell ill and had a sad fate. they did A kind of compassion combined with the question why the children’s and adolescent cinema, which once had the title of the best-selling films in the history of Iranian cinema (The Doll Thief) and some films in this area even represented Iranian cinema to the world (Khane Dost) and basically owes a part of the growth of Iranian cinema This is cinema, today it has reached a stage where it doesn’t matter whether it was there or not; Many cinema owners do not want to screen these films, because if they are screened, they will not be allowed to play in the unhealthy competition with commercial films. The extent of the problems in this field has gone to the point where many filmmakers give this type of cinema a chance and work in another genre, even if only a limited number of them are linked to children’s cinema after many years (Ebrahim Froozesh) without a doubt, only love and interest is and nothing else.

The officials’ concern for children is more in words
Afshin Hashemi has re-entered this field after three experiences as a child and teenager, the best-selling of which seems to be the movie “Aunt of the Frog” produced by Zindayad Fereshte Tayerpour. We ask him about his interest in children’s cinema and his concern for teenagers, and why some filmmakers do not abandon this field even though children’s films are usually not successful at the box office. He says: “Honestly, I don’t look to see what movies don’t sell, what movies do sell, to make it; My selection criterion is stories and scripts that I like, and if it is possible to make it, I will make it.”

With these words of Hashemi, the question arises in the mind, is the return of investment important to him? which Hashemi explains: “It is impossible not to think about financial return while making a film; We filmmakers are obliged to preserve capital, but this preservation of capital does not necessarily mean giving in to the will of the market, but requires improving the quality of the film. The higher the quality of the film, the more viewers will be attracted to the film and the more likely the return on investment. Because even films that are made for sale at all have no guarantee of success. The effort of the filmmaker should be focused on producing a good film, and what is important next is the effort of the distributor and the places that have the possibility of supporting the film so that this cinema continues its life.

Since it is possible to open a special account on the age spectrum of children and teenagers, and it is possible to enter the topic of education and education, but this type of cinema is not supported by the authorities. The director of the film “Boys of the Sea” says: “I think that the officials at the higher levels of cinema and places that have the possibility to support cinema are not concerned about children and children’s cinema, and they care more about films that are directly related to the specific advertisements they want in They should focus on that period of time and not on human concepts.

Stories from the north and south
But let’s talk about the movie “Boys of the Sea”, which presents a painful subject with a happy mood to the audience; The story is about two adolescent boys, which is told in two episodes. These two teenagers are from two different parts of our country, North and South of Iran. The northern boy, nicknamed Lucho, has lost his father and his stepfather does not accept him at home, and he is forced to leave home and work with Iskandar, a traveling salesman. The second episode is about a boy named Mengosh who lost his mother and his father is in prison due to a fight with the navy officials, and he works with his grandfather’s friend until his father is released from prison.

The beginning of the story
The origin of the formation of “Boys of the Sea” started from a short film. The short film that Hossein Ghasemi Jami offered him to act in tells the story of a wrestler in the north of the country who could not wrestle himself, and continues to teach an orphan boy, and then, betting begins on the boy, but the boy abandons him, but then He returns from two years and the old and tired warrior looks at the boy. Afshin Hashemi Bonmaye considers this short film suitable for a feature film and suggests to Jami to design the relationship between the wrestler and the boy in a different way, children who have lost their parents and are looking for a replacement for their parents, and then divide it into two They expand towards Iran and in this case they reach a concept for two ends of one land and as a result the entire land of Iran.

The temporal and spatial inclusion of the subject of the film
Although the story of the film is told in two regions, north and south of Iran, it is not placed in the circle of time, and we can even say that what happened in the movie “Boys of the Sea” may also happen to children in other parts of the world. Hashemi himself says: “The plot of the human theme was more important in this film. The story of this film may take place in Iran 50 years from now or it may have taken place 100 years ago.”

High understanding of today’s children
The two teenagers in this film, who belong to the villages in the north and south, have a high level of understanding, which shows the understanding and understanding of today’s teenagers in the society. Hashemi says about this: “Today’s children have countless information facilities at their disposal and can easily search for any topic on the Internet, and as a result, they can know everything, so it is natural for them to have a high level of understanding.”

This is despite the fact that – for example – the children of the 60s and earlier had not been widely recognized and basically had no understanding of various issues. Hashemi explains in this regard: “In the 60s, the communication between young people and the world was cut off. If a book was written, it would take a long time to be translated and enter Iran. Apart from whether that book was allowed at all or not! The shadow of war weighed heavily on the people; In addition, we had two television channels and there was no open space for knowledge like today.”
Having strong information tools for children and teenagers of the new generation is an undeniable fact; If you have a child or teenager around you, you will find out how the virtual space has captured them; so that a kind of captivity and confusion is seen in most children of this generation due to excessive dependence on the Internet; But in the movie “Boys of the Sea” there is no news about the virtual space and the dependence of children and teenagers on the Internet, perhaps showing these scenes would have helped to make the atmosphere more believable. But the director of the film rejects this point and says: “It is not logical that everything that is in reality is also in the film, and the presence of anything does not help the believability of the film!” In addition, before Corona, children in villages around Iran were not at all familiar with the Internet and virtual space and did not have mobile phones. Even now, many children around Iran do not have such facilities.”

The issue of working children
But another point that is raised in the layers of the film “Boys of the Sea” is the issue of working children; Today, when talking about working children, memories of big cities come to mind; Innocent children who sell horoscopes or flowers at the intersections or are buried up to their necks in garbage cans. Maybe he thinks less mentally about working children in remote villages. “Boys of the Sea” is a drawing of working children from two important places in Iran; With the idea that they are powerful and not weak children. Afshin Hashemi points out that “when we talk about north and south, we mean the whole land of Iran.”

A sweet look at life comes from life itself
Although the film talks about painful topics for its audience (children working away from home), it has a happy tone; The director, who also used this tone in the films “Temporary Passage” and “Don’t Be Tired”, says: “Life is a combination of sadness and happiness. Sometimes we laugh in the saddest moments, and among our sad memories, there are also happy moments. A sweet look at life originates from life itself, and this is of course my wish for the lives of all people.

Don’t have impossible dreams
But one of the chapters of the film that may have a negative effect on the audience is the one-sided love between the southern girl played by Mona Farjad and the doctor, which Hashemi explains: “We never put the southern girl in the same frame with the doctor or if they They are standing together with spaces between them. Sometimes we don’t pay attention to the things around us and we don’t see them at all. Possessions with which we can reach peace, but we are full of unattainable emotions. If we can look for mana emotions than what is impossible and unattainable. In this season, Mengush is willing to do anything for Yemna, and for this affection, we had to put a bully rival so that the girl would notice the good things around her.

The difficulties of acting and directing at the same time
This film is made by two directors, Afshin Hashemi has previously co-directed with Mohsen Qaraei in the film “Don’t Be Tired”, and another noteworthy point is that the director acts in front of the camera at the same time. We ask him about the difficulty of acting and directing as well as the difference in taste with the other director of the film (Hossein Jami), which he explains: “With today’s cinema facilities, you can watch the recorded film again, and we had no problem acting and directing at the same time, and of course in The first piece Mr. Jami was the cameraman himself, and the mise-en-scène and acting were with me.

Low budget film
The film “Boys of the Sea” did not use well-known actors. Was it because the film’s budget was low or it was easier for Hashemi to work with non-actors? At the time of Corona, the smaller the group was, the better it was for the film; The film also had a low budget. As a result, we wanted to cooperate with a group for whom work is a priority and cooperate with us; Not that they are looking for a high salary. We preferred to make the film with the least facilities.”