In his 18-year directing career, Iranian director Asha Farhati has never left the global audience's vision, and he has won many film awards and has become a master in the hearts of countless film fans. At this year's Beijing International Film Festival, we had the honor to invite this world-class heavyweight guest to dig deeper into the theme of "Secrets and Answers: The Foundation of Farhati's Realism" and share his years of creative experience and insights. In this master class, director Farhati talked about the profound influence of drama on his filmmaking from his early creative experience, and carefully sorted out the beginning and end of the shooting of "Nader and Westminster: A Parting" and his shooting experience in Europe. In addition, the director also talked about his acclaimed new work "A Hero" this year, and gave warm blessings to Chinese films.
The guest of honor in this session is film scholar Wang Yao, who is also a member of the Fibisi International Film Critics Alliance and the Asia-Pacific Film Promotion Association, and has long been engaged in film research and film festival planning and judging.
Asha Farhati film master class dialogue scene
Farhati's early creative experience
Farhati said that he was associated with movies when he was a child, and his earliest experience of watching movies also planted the seeds of creation in his heart. "The first time I went to the movie was when I went to another city with my uncle's kids, I grew up in the suburbs, and when we went to the cinema, we didn't see the first half of the movie, and I remember that the movie was supposed to be an Eastern European or American movie, and we just started in the middle when we arrived, and unfortunately didn't see the first part. However, from the middle to the end of this movie I felt very happy, after watching it on the way home I told everyone that this movie is very good. Since I didn't see the first part, I kept thinking about how the first part should be, and I started to think about it, to create, and if it was me, how I should shoot the first part. ”
Before working on filmmaking, Farhati studied theater. He said the drama had a great impact on him, "it determines my future direction, and my future choices." "Working at a TV station made me think more about how to create stories that are more popular with a wider audience, how to win the attention of ordinary audiences and be liked by them." ”
In this year's master class, Ashar Farhati reviewed the creative process of his feature film debut, Dance in the Dust. He said, "I think every story creation has its own places to pay attention to, I will consciously deal with different plots, different parts of the script, some parts need to be strengthened, some parts need to be weakened, and the most important point is whether the story is credible." ”
Stills from Dance in the Dust
After "Dance in the Dust", Farhati made "Fireworks Wednesday" from a female perspective. For the shaping of female characters, Farhati said that when he first created the role, "I didn't completely distinguish whether it was a female character or a male character, and I didn't think there was anything that men did, women couldn't do, or only women could do it, and men couldn't do it." In films such as "A Parting", "About Eli", and "Past", I basically based on this template when I made character development: female characters basically seek change, but male characters basically want to maintain the status quo and maintain stability. Maybe that's the style of unconscious creation that I'm more adamant about. ”
The peak of social drama "A Parting" began and ended
Talking about the film "A Parting" directed by Director Farhati, Wang Yao, who teaches at the Beijing Film Academy, is deeply touched. He pointed out that in the past decade, social drama has had a decisive impact on international film festivals, and director Farhati is the pioneer and founder of this type of film.
In this regard, Farhati said that he did not expect the film to succeed at international film festivals and attract a wider audience, and the success of this film also gave him confidence, making him realize that he should shoot a film for a wider audience and with a more universal theme.
Stills from "A Parting"
Regarding the subject matter of the film, Farhati emphasized, "I like the themes and films that are related to daily life and reflect objective reality. Perhaps on the one hand, there are some episodes that are very episodic and the audience likes it very much, but it does not have much to do with daily life. I have been working to find a fusion of the two, both episodic and reflective objective reality. Farhati further elaborated on what he understood as the concept of "life." He argues that life is full of repetition and predictability, "but why should I insist on distilling stories from my daily life?" It's because I think there are a lot of things in everyday life that can be distilled, there are a lot of contradictions, a small thing can trigger a huge big crisis, and after the crisis we go back and we think about what signs there were before it happened. This kind of detail is actually very important. And these details that are all over life are also the meaning of life itself.
The theatrical art and the Italian neorealist style of the creation of "A Parting"
It had a profound impact on Farhati
Class has always been a very important theme in Farhati's films. In this regard, he said, "In the countries I have been to so far, I have seen the struggles and conflicts between different classes, and I have also found that social class change is very difficult, whether from a cultural point of view or from an economic point of view, social class change is a very difficult thing." Farhati believes that he is more concerned with the middle class when he creates unconsciously, and he himself undoubtedly belongs to this class.
Farhati also mentioned that the creation of "A Parting" also shows the profound influence of theatrical art and Italian neorealist works on him. In response to the former, Farhati said, "Through it (drama) I can find conflicts in daily life, accidents in daily life. For the latter, he said that there are many Iranian films that are internationally renowned, "among which Darius Mehrjuy's second film work, 'Cow', is something I really like." I was also deeply influenced by the films of Italian directors, and I liked very much de Sica and Fellini. Of course, I've seen almost all the movies of the two directors' days. ”
Creative experience in Europe
After "A Parting", Farhati also began to go to France, Spain and other European countries to create films, bringing us world-renowned works such as "The Past" and "Everyone Knows". Regarding his creative experience in Europe, Farhati said, "This experience is more interesting for me, we were able to learn about another culture in the process of making a film, and learned a lot about another culture, which greatly expanded my horizons and enhanced my worldview." ”
Filming in Iran and Europe is naturally a lot different, but Farhati says he didn't back down. On the one hand, he more truly appreciates the characteristics of Iranian filmmaking. He believes, "When I was shooting in Iran, because the environment, place and culture were very familiar, it would be relatively easier to shoot, and there were many ideas that could be better implemented." The biggest difference between filming in Iran and filming in a foreign country is that in Iran I can better execute and maintain the creation, and the execution of the filming in a foreign country may be unconsciously created is not so good, because it is all established, it is all arranged and planned. ”
Stills from "Past"
In the process, he also constantly thought about the similarities between the two places. "Different places and different people in different parts of the world are more similar than different, which is why I have the courage to shoot in other countries." When I was writing the script and shooting the film, I actually had only one audience in my head, and that audience was me, and I asked myself if I would believe it if I watched the film. "As an internationally renowned and world-renowned director, Farhati firmly believes that many films with universality can be called localized films," as the old saying goes, the nation is the world, and they all truly reflect the country in which they live and the environment in which they live. As I mentioned earlier, many of the great directors I have been deeply influenced by, such as De Sika and Fellini, they are actually very local, so localization and cosmopolitanism are not two opposing concepts. ”
Farhati stressed that I really like themes and films that are related to daily life and reflect objective reality
Whether in Iran or Europe, Farhati continues to focus on contemporary marital relationships in his work, which often end in rupture. For this preference of his own, Farhati said that he paid more attention to family relations than to marital relationships. "In my opinion, family relationships, some of the daily routines in the family are the source of filmmaking. Different characters are more realistic in the family environment and family atmosphere. I also hope to be able to enter into such a family situation and see their more authentic side. "To achieve this effect, Farhati is committed to fully integrating professional actors and non-professional actors." I actually spend a lot of time with the actors before shooting, not to teach them how to perform, but to understand their performance potential and performance style. This process still needs to make some plans in advance, not just to communicate with them, for example, let them have a real experience, real to a social environment to feel it. ”
About the new work "A Hero"
This year, Director Farhati's new work "A Hero" also held its premiere in Europe and was widely acclaimed. For the film, Farhati said, "This story is timeless, reflecting the most modern, real, and recent Iran, or the current situation in many other countries recently." ”
Among them, social media became an important clue to the film. Farhati explains, "In my opinion, social media has become an integral part of our lives today, and social media has had a lot of positive effects on our lives, making us more intimate, although we may be far apart, but we can communicate with each other." All in all, I think social media has had a great impact on social progress and understanding between people. ”
Farhati said that in the preparation of the film, it took a lot of time to select the actors, "In fact, this film is a bit similar to the documentary, all the actors are not so famous, I mainly use theatrical actors." And there are a lot of actors who have never been in a movie before, and only a few people have experience in movies, and I think there's a good chemistry between them. ”
Stills from A Hero
Regarding the film, Farhati said that he did not want to reveal too much, hoping that the audience could appreciate its charm on the big screen. At the same time, he also said that "A Hero" continues to implement his concept of "unconscious creation". "I believe that everyone has a huge treasure trove inside of us, and this treasure trove contains all our experiences from adolescence to growing up. So when we do script writing and film shooting, we will take out the part we want from the treasure house, maybe it's a small story, maybe it's a small piece of music, it's possible. We take it out and do a kind of creation. It is important that we understand and learn the art of cinema, and we have to find the key to open this treasure house by watching a lot of movies, and find the path to the treasure house. ”