Directed by Ali Atshani, the movie centers on issues related to the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war, which is known in
Producer Hojjatoleslam Mohammad-Ali Zam attends a press conference after a screening of “Democracy in the Daylight” at the 28th Fajr International Film Festival at the conference hall of Tehran’s
Amir Sotudeh, a commander during the war who is currently an official in the public sector, goes into coma after an assassination attempt. His spirit finds itself in a dilemma, as it must respond to all the wrongdoings committed during life and intends to compensate for them.
Atshani, who is also the screenwriter, was the first speaker and said, “I have not imitated the idea for the movie from any other and totally believe in what I say. Some believe the idea for the movie is adapted from the Western ‘Matrix’”.
On choosing stars and superstars for the movie, Atshani explained, “Definitely anybody who is doing his first project prefers to use stars. To have this many stars was not the intention from the onset, but to our surprise and with the solid support of the producer, they all agreed to play in the film.
“I can not say I did not think of the box office at all, but making a good movie was my first priority,” he remarked.
Hoj. Zam continued, “One can make a movie any way he likes. When I first read the screenplay which is of course different with what you saw on screen today, the main character and the central theme of the story influenced me the most. I thought the movie could have the potential to talk about many unspoken things, so I began to rewrite the script.
“I did not miss a word while filming and even during the editing and the montage process. The movie clearly possessed a religious concept and I thought to myself that this movie with its deep theme needs influential actors, and we tried to select artists who have a good reputation with audiences,” he added.
On selecting superstar Mohamamdreza Golzar, he explained, “the issue of death is still something hated in our society and everybody tries to escape from it. This is rooted in the ambiguity a person feels about death and the future, with its inevitability and uncertainty. Death is really a ladder to the perfection of mankind, so we intended to portray death as something beautiful and we searched for a character with a powerfully attractive stage presence. The younger generation is fascinated by Golzar so we chose him as our depiction of death.
He also mentioned the high salary paid to Golzar and said, “His salary was no secret. We did not seek support from the public sector and I personally invested in the project. It is fitting that Golzar received 900m rials (about $90,000).”
Film editor Shahin Yar-Mohammadi also talked about the film’s rhythm and said, “We made use of the storyboard technique in this movie and we already had all the scenes and plans illustrated.”
Storyboards are graphic organizers such as a series of illustrations or images displayed in sequence for the purpose of pre-visualizing a motion picture, animation, motion graphic or interactive media sequence, including website interactivity.
Special effects manager Asghar Purhajarian ended the session and said, “It is an honor for me to have worked with a young team. At first, I felt a bit concerned that these young members were not very familiar with the war, but after several sessions, we arrived at good results. Working with this team reminded me of those years in the 1980’s where good movies on the war were produced.”
RM/YAW
END
MNA
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