Mehdi Khosravi, the anchor of the Khabar channel, announced the martyrdom of the supreme leader of the revolution with a voice that was filled with hatred. Since those days, when the people and the authorities could accept this horrible reality, the efforts to organize the farewell ceremony, funeral and burial of the pure body of Quaid Martyr began as magnificently as possible. Now, more than a hundred days have passed since this event, all the facilities have been prepared to hold this event, and people of art, especially documentary makers, as trustees of history for future generations, have started to record this event. For this reason, in this report, we intend to learn more about the details of these works in a conversation with these documentaries.
These days, with the announcement of the exact time of the funeral of the martyred leader and the timing of the public farewell ceremony with Ayatollah Khamenei, the momentum of these groups to document the ceremony has increased. Reza Mirkarimi, the producer of Yeh Habe Kand, Dokhtar and Qasr Shirin, is in charge of the production of a documentary about the farewell ceremony for the martyred leader in the artistic field, and a team of documentary makers is going to help him in this project. Mirkarimi, who had directed several documentaries at the beginning of filmmaking and his sports documentaries about the promotion of the Iranian national football team to the World Cup, has long distanced himself from the world of documentary filmmaking.
In the 90s, Mirkarimi took charge of the “Martyr Chiefs” project about the seven great martyrs of the Holy Defense (Shahid Chamran, Shahid Duran, Shahid Kharazi, etc.) in the Soura Cinematic Organization. He was the director of that animation project and Amir Mehran, a young filmmaker, was the director. That project, which was not aired on television at the scheduled time, ended a decade later with the change of management in the art field, and was aired on Channel Two. It should be seen that after the successful experience of a sugar cube and Mirkarimi’s distance from the artistic field, his cooperation with the documentary team will end in a remarkable result? He started negotiating and inviting documentary filmmakers and started working by completing his team.
A long shot narrative of a magnificent event
Hamed Shakibania, the producer of the unfinished documentaries for my daughter Samia, There is no place for angels, No one sleeps, Born in the burnt earth, is appointed as the guardian of the country’s cinema in the cinema organization. To make a documentary about the funeral ceremony. In an interview with Jam Jam newspaper, Shakibania explained the dimensions and narrative line of the documentary under production about the funeral and burial of the martyred leader.
In response to a question about how to create coherence in the narration of this documentary, considering the number of filming locations in different cities and countries, he stated: According to the suggestion of the cinematographic organization, it is decided to look at this story with a time gap so that we can present a long-shot narrative of the event. Of course, this does not mean to ignore the details, but our main focus is on a single story; The story of a city that is prepared and a ritual that includes different layers.
He added: This ritual includes a wide range of activities; From those who prepare the infrastructure to the servants who serve the people and the law enforcement and security forces who provide security. Our narrative approach in this project is “observant” and based on a timeline that begins with the preparation stages and continues until the funeral. Shakibania also clarified: Although different cities have their own stories in this story, we consciously avoid getting involved in minor subjects and marginal stories, because each of them has the potential to become an independent documentary.
Regarding the presence of famous figures in this work and the possibility of talking with them, this documentary maker noted: In this documentary, our look at the faces is only focused on their natural presence in the ceremony. If foreign guests, political figures or cultural and artistic figures are seen in the frame of our cameras and in their usual place at the ceremony, their image will be recorded as part of the attendees, but we do not have a plan to have an exclusive conversation or accompany these people.
In response to a question about the duty of the documentary maker in the face of such a huge event and the choice between recording the population or emotions, Shakibania stated: Both categories of population and emotional issues are an inseparable part of reality. With the passing of nearly four months since his martyrdom, my view is that this event is more than a mourning ritual, it is actually a “magnificent farewell ritual” for a character who architected a historical period, and today we are seeing the results of those strategies.
Referring to the idea of ”must rise” in the hidden layers of this work, he added: We do not look at this event as the end of a person’s life, but we see it as the beginning of a new era where the person in question was the most effective person in the formation of this beginning. We try to portray this look through motifs, metaphors, folk scripts and events that happen in front of the camera.
He also emphasized the importance of historical reliability in recording this event for future researchers: recording reality is always influenced by the cameraman’s point of view, environmental limitations and even personal views, but the final effect must convince the audience to see the correct part of reality. Our main concern is to approach the different layers of this event, despite all the limitations of facilities or perspective; Because this event is not only the presence of loyal followers, but also has many other layers that must be seen.
In the end, Shakibania shared his dream and professional desire for this national project and noted: I hope this project will be beyond my work. I wish we could encourage all the activists who are producing a documentary about this event to contribute to the production of a great national work. My dream is to create a lasting and reference work based on the custodian institutions, which can be referred to as a historical source even years later for those who did not understand this era.
Bloody heart condition 2
Behrouz Afkhami, the cinema director, also announced his preparations to make a film about the martyred leader’s funeral ceremony. In this regard, he said: This work will be made based on the narrative of people who come to Iran from foreign countries to attend this ceremony. Referring to his background in this field, he pointed to a short documentary entitled “Khunin Dolan” that he made a year after the death of Imam Khomeini (RA). Afkhami stated that he now plans to produce a similar version of that documentary for the funeral of the martyred leader.
In an interview with ISNA news agency, this director explained the details of his previous documentary and said: One year after the death of Imam Khomeini (RA), I made a documentary about those who had tried to come from faraway places for the Imam’s funeral. It is natural that at that time all the roads were crowded and the trains and planes were full and those who planned to attend the ceremony had many adventures.
The director of the movie “Farzand Sobh” went on to add: Now, with the same theme and considering those who come to Iran from foreign countries for the upcoming funeral ceremony, I plan to make a feature documentary. He mentioned about the implementation process of this project: We are currently contacting groups in foreign countries such as Iraq, Azerbaijan and Pakistan to find people to take pictures of and then we will follow the story of their presence inside.
Afkhami also expressed regarding the name chosen for this work: I think the name of this film should be “Pehlan Jahan”. In addition to Behrouz Afkhami, there have been other speculations about the making of a film about this ceremony by filmmakers called Cinema Iran, among which names such as Mohammad Hossein Mahdovian and… can be mentioned.
