Mania Akbari
This summer BFI Southbank will be celebrating the work of director Mania Akbari with a series of screenings.
We caught up her to chat about the move from painting to filmmaking, filmmaking in Iran and what lies ahead.
- This summer sees BFI Southbank celebrate your film career so far with a season dedicated to your work. How excited are you to head to London to talk about your films and meet fans of your work?
The reward of every artist or creative person is in the view of the audience. There is no doubt that being watched and paid attention to gives you greater motivation to continue in your chosen path.
Basically, a part of the subconscious is brought to the fore and uncovered by a perceptive audience, which is also very gratifying.
- You started off you career as a painter before moving into acting and then directing so why did you decide to make the change in your career?
Art is art whatever its title or description. It's the same life, only with different street names. Some mediums can only express certain concepts and lack the ability to portray what you have in mind.
The potential of painting for expressing the subject matters I had in mind was very limited. Very early on, I realized that I am a storyteller, and in my paintings I could not be content with form only, because it felt as though my stories were being perished within these restricted forms.
It felt like someone buried and unable to scream. Cinema represented a screen filled with stories and screams.
- How did you find the transition into acting and how was that first acting experience in Ten?
The film Ten is the true story of my life, which was opened to cameras. Sharing parts of your real life, with all its contradictions, challenges and concerns that you have faced with your son and family, on the huge cinema screen is a kind of participation and invitation to magic realism.
This is what is sought by cinema, in other words the direct impact of life itself. And, as such, it is undoubtedly satisfying.
- How difficult has it been making films in Iran in general? But also what restrictions have you faced given that you are a woman?
Filmmaking in Iran resembles open heart surgery, when your life is in danger every second. The first obstacle is the issue of gender. The second is the conception and idea that is supposed to be expressed from a woman's perspective.
This makes the work more complicated. Your life become a constant battle and a great part of your energy is spent on masking the fears and anxieties. Under such conditions, making [films] is indeed not an easy task.
- Your directorial debut came very soon after your acting debut so how important was if for you to make that move into filmmaking?
Before starring in films, I worked as an assistant [director] and cinematographer in documentary and experimental films. Filmmaking is not a process, but a decision.
Making these choices and decisions is more important than the circumstances leading up to them. My decision and resolve to create using the medium of cinema was solid and strong.
- You did have limited film experience so how was that first step into the director's chair?
Your experiences are your artistic resources. Your pains and sufferings are your gold and precious metals. You simply have to make the best use of your resources and make sure that you are in the right position to achieve spiritual rather than material fulfillment.
- 20 Fingers saw you tackle male-female relationships in Iran, highlighting differing attitudes towards such issues as virginity, fidelity, pregnancy and abortion - did you always plan to take on such bold subjects?
One of the possibilities of cinema is breaking taboos and conveying the cries of the spirit of our age. This is because it is a very effective medium which, at times, like a legendary hero, could make an impact and ultimately bring about a change.
Seeing your profound and inner fears played out loud on the silver screen is the start of a treatment and, ultimately, a diagnosis. Cinema can create public awareness, and sometimes public deception.
Films that break taboos in Islamic societies generate questions in the minds of the viewers, and the creation of these questions is the start of a growth process.
- As I said your movies are quite bold in the topics that they cover so how has your work been received in your native Iran?
Cinema in Iran is subject to a much greater state supervision than other fields owing to the extent of the medium's influence. It is monitored more closely and placed under greater pressure because it is the most popular medium.
For me working in Iran has involved constant hardship, restrictions and bans. I have not been able to acquire a permit for any of my films. I always felt fear, anxiety and danger when making films.
Making films in Iran is very perilous because the red lines are not clearly defined. But ultimately you have to take risks to express yourself properly; it would not be possible otherwise.
- We haven't seen you in the director's chair since From Tehran to London so have you any new projects in the pipeline?
My latest video art will soon be exhibited alongside those of two male filmmakers from Palestine and Turkey, at London's Rose Issa gallery.
The three of us filmmakers decided to exhibit our work from three different perspectives, namely Iran, Palestine and Turkey.
So that is my next project in London. I am not in a hurry to make a film in Britain.
I don't wish to be hasty in presenting in this new environment the fears and beauties that I have brought with me from another geographical area. I want my stories and tales to sink in and reach my desired result.
- Finally what is next for you?
I am already thinking about my life when I reach the age of eighty. In other words, where do I wish to be in the world of cinema forty years from now?
This mind-set condemns me to being patient, more protective of my career path and somewhat more self-centred. I have to take a long shot view of the painful details of my life, and forget about close-ups.
And then again drown myself in close-ups and ignore the long-shots. This game is my entire trajectory.
From Tehran with Love: The Cinema of Mania Akbari opens at BFI Southbank on July 14 and runs until the end of the month. One. Two. One is out on DVD on 22 July.