In Conversation With Mahnaz Mohammadi

Published in Janapadam

The 27th International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK) will honor Iranian filmmaker and women’s rights activist Mahnaz Mohammadi with the ‘Spirit of Cinema’ award. The announcement was made by Kerala State Chalachitra Academy President Ranjith at a meeting convened to constitute the organizing committee of the festival to be held in Thiruvananthapuram from December 9 to 16. Filmmakers, whose passion for cinema shines through even in the most difficult of circumstances, was first awarded to Kurdish filmmaker Lisa Callan. Ms Mohammadi, who has been a vocal for women’s rights in Iran for several years, was active in the ongoing protests in Iran following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini after she was arrested for not wearing a hijab. Government decree. Her major documentaries include ‘Women Without Shadows’, ‘Travelogue’ and ‘We Are Half the Iran Population’. In 2019, she directed her first feature film ‘Sun Mother’, which was premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival. 

Here's my interview of Mahnaz Mohammadi for Janapadam, the magazine of Information and Public Relations Department, Government of Kerala

1- Is film a powerful tool to fight for the truth about women?

I believe that it can be one if it is used as a mirror that reveals the reality of

women’s situation, especially when it is the point of view of women, and not men

whose hands are tied to the patriarchy. Then I can say that it will be the voice of

the voiceless.

2- Can you trace the changes that have occurred in the past two decades in

your filmmaking?

The greatest change perhaps in my opinion is that I have gone from portraying

women who were separated from the society by being behind bars in Women

Without Shadows to children who experienced separation within the society in Son-

Mother. The unchangeable element in all of these narratives are the literal and

metaphorical bars that dictate lives in Iran.

3- In your interview you did with Screen Daily, you pointed out the identity of

women as being guilty. You have even mentioned in many of your interviews

that just being a woman and a filmmaker is sufficient for you to be treated as

a criminal. What happened for you to say this? Are there limitations for you

as a woman?

You are automatically guilty when you deviate from a role that a society has

prescribed for you before you were even born. Such a society even assigns you role

models that perpetuate an ideal that strays and strips a woman from her wants and

assigns you the role of a mother who would be willing to send her son to be

sacrificed for the regime’s ideology. As a woman, if you so much as question this

role, contradict this fate, you have committed a crime.

4- Did the torture that you faced in prison turn you into a fearless filmmaker?

How do you see your evolution as a filmmaker?

This is a difficult question to answer because I believe that fearlessness is an

acquired character trait, and not an inherent one. My circumstances are not

inherent to any character traits. Let me put it for you in this way. Given my

circumstances, I have had no choice but to create a new path for myself. In the

beginning, I made movies as a path towards self-discovery and investigation of the

society, but right now I believe that I should merely occupy the place that I am in

without making any claims or commitments to what I may not be able to deliver.

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