Beheshti: Iranian cinema proved that peaks can be conquered

According to the Public Relations and Website Office of Khatam University, on the occasion of National Cinema Day, this morning, Saturday, September 11, a ceremony was held in cooperation with the Cultural Affairs Unit and the Public Relations Office of Khatam University in honor of the seventh art in the amphitheater of the Hakim Azam building.

In this program, a clip prepared by the Architectural and Research Arts Group was first shown. This section included excerpts from several interviews between Dr. Mahmoud Nouri, a member of the group's faculty, and a number of prominent world cinema theorists about the global view of Iranian cinema. Among those whose speeches were partially broadcast was Jonathan Rosenbaum, an American film critic and journalist, who made some remarks about the film "The House is Black" by Forough Farrokhzad in this video. Also, David Bordwell, an American film theorist and historian, and his wife, Christine Thompson, a well-known author in the field of cinema whose two books, "History of Cinema" and "The Art of Cinema," have been translated into Persian and published in Iran, made some remarks about prominent works of Iranian cinema, especially those that have shone in foreign festivals. Dudley Andrew, an American film theorist, also spoke in one of these interviews about the relationship between Iranian cinema and Iranian poetry and the impact of this relationship on world cinema.

In a speech at the National Cinema Day celebration, Dr. Esmaeil Bani Ardalan, a faculty member of the Department of Architectural and Research Arts at Khatam University, expressed his appreciation for the empathy and support of those involved in organizing this program, including the Public Relations Office, the Cultural Affairs Unit, and the Department of Architectural and Research Arts at the university, in organizing this event. He expressed his hope that this warmth and solidarity would spread to other departments of the Faculty of Arts and Architecture, and that with the participation of all faculty members, lasting works could be created.

Stating that a large number of Western theorists have spoken about Iranian art and cinema, he expressed hope that a series of speeches and interviews prepared in this regard will be broadcast to students starting in October of this year. He continued: "The most famous of these people is Andre Bazin, who makes very interesting points about Iranian cinema. He believes that we should not look at cinema only through the lens of the West. Iranian cinema is a window to life."

This faculty member of Khatam University also welcomed the presence of Mohammad Beheshti, a researcher and theorist of Iranian culture and art, and former CEO of the Farabi Cinema Foundation, at the National Cinema Day ceremony at Khatam University. While recounting memories of his youth as a philosophy student and his association with the seventh art, he mentioned Beheshti as a knowledgeable individual and a transformational manager in the field of art.

In his speech , Engineer Mohammad Beheshti, a researcher in the field of Iranian culture and art, former CEO of the Farabi Cinema Foundation, and former head of the Cultural Heritage Organization, discussed the successes of Iranian cinema in the years following the victory of the revolution and the brilliance of its prominent works in international festivals, as well as the root causes of these successes.

He first pointed out the different interpretations of the concept of the word "independence" and said: “The word independence is an oppressed word and we use it a lot and at the same time we do not tolerate the truth of this word very much. Many of us think of this word as meaning that we have nothing to do with others and even beyond that, we have our backs to others and are at odds with others and that if there were only us in the world, it would be enough for the whole world and that there are many others and God only likes us. But the truth of the concept of independence has a special connection with the concept of a mountain peak; in the sense that independence means that we have an ability and an essence that if it turns from potential into action, it means that we have reached the peak of our existence.”

He then raised the question, “If independence is defined in this way, what would it be?” and tried to answer it by giving examples, saying, “I think the Iranian carpet is a good example of the concept of the word independence; everywhere in the world, the floor is covered with a floor covering, but the pinnacle of floor coverings is the Iranian carpet. Even those who are our enemies acknowledge this.”

Beheshti continued by quoting memories from the formation of the Farabi Cinema Foundation in the years following the victory of the Islamic Revolution and added: “I remember in 1983, when the Farabi Cinema Foundation was established, we were on a trip to Madrid and one night we were talking with a colleague of the Foundation's international department, Mr. Alireza Shoja Nouri, about the future of Iranian cinema. He asked me what I thought about this future. I said that we should reach a point where Iranian cinema is taught in prestigious universities in the world, has a representative in all international festivals, and prestigious filmmakers in the world follow Iranian cinema. And all these ideas were in a situation where, despite the cinema that we had taken over, the category of cinema was not an accepted thing among many elders and celebrities, and was even considered reprehensible and even forbidden by many scholars. In addition, the general perception was that someone who works in cinema must have a moral problem and cannot be a healthy person!”

The former CEO of the Farabi Cinema Foundation continued: “10 years later, in 1993, I gave a lecture at Columbia University, where an Iranian female student said that she had difficulty working on her doctoral thesis on the history of Iranian theater because (at that time) there were not many resources available in English in this field. Regarding Iranian cinema, however, she said that the issue was different and that many resources were available to students. The next memory goes back to 2003, when we held an exhibition titled 7,000 Years of Iranian Art in various European cities. Among these cities was Rome, and the National Museum of Rome hosted the event. In an interview that the RAI network conducted with me at that exhibition, I saw that all the interviewer's questions were about Iranian cinema and not the exhibition itself. The truth is that as the then head of the Cultural Heritage Organization and the person in charge of that exhibition, I was shocked and struck by this issue. But later I thought that this is actually reality: why shouldn't Iranian cinema be in that exhibition, alongside historical works like the Party Man and historical objects?”

He further explained this issue: “This is the exact meaning of the word independence. Independence means being on the peak, and Iranian cinema was able to conquer this peak. Someone who conquers Mount Everest does not mean that he will always be on the peak of Everest. He may be standing next to you in the bakery line tomorrow, but the difference between him and you is that he has proven that Mount Everest can be conquered. This is also true for Iranian cinema; before 1983, we had not conquered a peak in world cinema, but gradually this path was paved and Iranian cinema shone in the world and proved that peaks can be conquered.”

The former head of the Cultural Heritage Organization said about the characteristics of Iranian cinema that have been able to achieve such successes: “The characteristic of Iranian cinema is the poetry of cinema, and for this you do not need to have special technology. Iranian carpets have also been able to be at the peak because they are the poetry of flooring. What has happened in Iranian cinema over the past 30 years offers many lessons for other fields, meaning that if Iranian cinema has been able to reach the peaks, why, for example, cannot our agricultural industry achieve similar success? When we have been able to conquer the peaks with cinema, we can certainly conquer the peaks in industry as well.”

Following the ceremony to commemorate National Cinema Day at Khatam University, Mohammad Beheshti was honored in the presence of university officials and vice presidents.

At the end of the ceremony, the movie "Dance with Me" was screened for the attendees.