Tehran Has No More Pomegranates! is a postmodern documentary that is as witty and engaging as it is informative. The style of the film is fun and very visual, with the director, Massoud Bakhshi, using incredible archival footage, an original visual approach and terrific soundtrack that takes us through 150 years of Tehran’s history. Onscreen, Bakhshi may fail to complete his film, but he succeeds in both documenting Tehran’s history and entertaining us with its poignant contradictions.
ABOUT THE FILMMAKER:
Massoud Bakshi was born in Tehran, Iran and is part of the new generation of Iranian filmmakers. He earned his high school diploma in photography and cinema in 1990 and his BS in Agriculture Engineering in 1995. He later studied filmmaking in Italy and cultural sector financing in France. He has worked as a film critic, screenwriter, and producer. His films have won many international prizes.
FILMOGRAPHY:
Bagh Dad Bar Ber (2008)
Tehran Has No More Pomegranates! (2007)
Lost Windows (2004)
Praying for the Rain (2003)
When Behrang Meets Ayoumi (2001)
LEARN MORE:
Visit the filmmaker’s website.
Exclusive Interview with Director Massoud Bakhshi
I don’t know whether I’m one of those who “heaps ilunsts at” much of anyone–not unprovoked, anyway–but I’ll speak up.I’m in full support of the Iranian people who’re standing up for protecting the vote and increasing the freedom in their country. I’ve read conflicting reports about what it is they’re standing up for–& I suspect that there are different groups among the whole, fighting for different things, as in most large scale protests against one’s current government–but all of them seem to be demanding more power and more freedoms for the people of Iran.I neither think America or any American deserves credit for starting this revolution (directly or indirectly), nor do I think America or any American can or will deserve credit or blame for how it ends, be they successful or unsuccessful. This is about Iran and the Iranian people, not about us.
Confronted by the rare opportunity to enagge with someone from the Iranian Embassy, I couldn’t resist the urge to ask him a question I had thought about for years: “Sir, could you please tell me how many spies you have in Denmark”? The bearded gentleman laughed and answered: “My dear Mr. Alfoneh, we don’t need spies! Iranians show up and denounce each other at the embassy in such great numbers that we don’t even have the administrative capacity to register their information”!The bearded gentleman was partially right. Iranian exiles tend to hate one another more than they do the distant regime in Tehran. And thanks to decades-old political disagreements, petty personal conflicts, and jealousies, we denounce each other not for personal gain but for the delight we derive in harming our co-exiled Iranians.