08/04/2006

Iranian film tribute goes beyond the headlines

Mani Haghighi says interest high despite
problems between U.S./Iran

BY TOM CARR

tcarr@record-eagle.com

Record-Eagle/Tyler Sipe
Mani Haghighi during a panel at the City Opera House.

TRAVERSE CITY — Traverse City Film Festival attendees are getting a closer look at how Iranian people portray themselves, as headlines and talking heads dwell on tensions between leaders of that country and the United States.

Director Mani Haghighi whose film "Men at Work" — about three men obsessed with trying to move a boulder for no apparent reason — is one of three offerings in the festival's "salute to Iranian Cinema," said it's important to show the world how similar people are in different cultures.

"The only contact the American public has with the Iranian culture right now is CNN and FOX News and things like that, and they distort the reality of the Iranian culture so badly that, in fact, they do nothing but harm," he said.

The festival chose to pay tribute to Iranian cinema for

several reasons, said John Robert Williams, a photographer and festival co-founder.

"I think it's important to have them there for all the wonderful cultural things and symbolic nature they incorporate into their films," Williams said. "And for all the things they get away with and get through the censors."

The heated-up rhetoric between the two countries has done little to keep audiences here away from Iranian films, Haghighi said.

"I think the audiences who are interested in seeing films from other cultures are exactly the ones who are opposed to the foreign policy of the American government," he said. "So, in fact, as a form of showing their support for us, they come and see the films even more than before."

Filmmaker Michael Moore, also a festival co-founder, said during a panel discussion on Middle East cinema that he was at first surprised that "Men at Work" starts with upper middle-class professionals in Iran going on a ski trip.

Haghighi said those are some of the many traits Americans would find they have in common with Iranians if they visited Tehran.

"Anyone who's seen my film has commented on how similar the two people are," he said. "If you came to actually see the place for yourself, you'd be shocked because I think the perceptions of Iran are completely skewed."

People in Europe, in particular Germany and France, have been the most accepting of Iranian films, Haghighi said.

America is more open to free expression than Iran, but he said things may be shifting somewhat.

"The U.S. is suffering in a big way since the Bush administration came to power," he said. "I think free speech has suffered quite a bit since Bush. It's becoming more and more like Iran in that sense."

It's too early to know how President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will affect the freedom of expression, Haghighi added.

Haghighi's movie is to be released on DVD later this year by Film Movement of New York, he said, adding that he's glad to be part of the film festival.

"I think it's wonderful to have a festival that's not about selling films or finding distributors for films," he said. "It's simply about the experience of watching films and enjoying them and it's always great to meet your audience."