The Green Fire

MNA - Mehr News - Tehran, Iran
Saturday, January 2, 2008

A discussion session on the movie “The Green Fire” directed by Mohammadreza Aslani was held on Friday at the Sahra Cinema Hall.

The director and several of the cast and film crew attended the session which was held to review the movie screened earlier that day for reporters at the Sahra Hall. The film is an entry in the national competition section of the 26th Fajr Film Festival.

Aslani made an opening speech, remarking, “I was always interested in the history of my country Iran and I am pleased that I was able to depict part of it in ‘The Green Fire’. There has been a good atmosphere in Iran’s cinema over recent decades and I observed how the viewers were engrossed in the movie.”

On his long absence from the cinematic scene, he explained, “I have made more movies than documentaries but most of them have not yet been screened. I hope this won’t happen to ‘The Green Fire’. I must admit that I still don’t comprehend why my films didn’t obtain screening licenses, but I know that it has not been due to political reasons.”

Aslani went on to say that we are never far from history, and that the story of Iranian cinema is also reviewed in this movie. He also remarked that it is this history which gives us life and that we should learn lessons from it.

On Iran’s national cinema, he remarked, “Our cinema is not limited to national stories. We must seek to create our own style in the narration of stories. Just as we have evolved a special style in our poetry, so must our cinema develop its own form.”

“Narration is important for me and I have tried to invent a new type of recounting in my recent production. A nation without narration is not a live nation,” he added.

Referring to his recent film as a valuable experience, he continued, “This movie is the product of long thought. Thinking about the world and understanding who we are were my major concerns.”

He emphasized that he has been influenced totally by Molana Jalal ad-Din Rumi, and referred to Rumi as Iran’s great narrator.

Ezzatollah Entezami, Farrokh Nemati, Ahu Kheradmand, Mahtab Keramati, Mehdi Ahmadi and Pegah Ahangarani are amongst the cast.

Aslani’s other credits include “Hassanlu Cup”, “Chess With The Wind”, “Abu Rayhan Biruni”, “Child & Exploitation”, “Our Cultural Heritage”, “Mash Esmaeil”, “Conference of the Birds” and “Memoirs of a 25-Year-Old Person”.