Nasser Taghvaei's World: People, the South, and Unfinished Cinema

Iranian writer, photographer, and filmmaker Nasser Taghvaei was born in Abadan in 1941 and died on Mehr 22, 1404, at the age of 84. From 'Aramesh dar Hozur-e Digaran' and 'Nakhoda Khorshid' to the television series 'Daei-Jan Napoleon,' his career is tied to literary adaptation, an understanding of local culture, and attention to social relations. Alongside his completed works, his career also includes unfinished projects and long periods away from filmmaking.

Rihaneh Eskandari - Nasser Taqvai was one of the filmmakers who wrote stories and made documentaries before entering fiction cinema. The experience of living in the south of Iran, knowledge of oral culture and interest in literature played a role in shaping the world of his works. In films such as "Peace in the presence of others", "Nafrin", "Sadegh Karde", "Nakhoda Khurshid" and "Blank paper" and the TV series "Daijan Napoleon", Taqvai went to the characters whose behavior and fate were formed in connection with family, society and living environment. In the last years of his career, he rarely made films, and his last feature film, "Bulletless Paper", was released in 1380. Examining his portfolio, in addition to reviewing his key works, is an opportunity to know the path that began with literature and documentaries and continued with strict choices in filmmaking.

From Abadan and literature to the first cinematic experiences

Naser Taqwai was born in Abadan in 1320; A city where the port, refinery, movement of different social groups and connection with the outside world were part of the daily life of its residents. His father was a customs official and as a child, Taqvai got to know different cities and ports in the south due to family circumstances. In the following years, this experience became one of the fields of formation of his view on geography and local culture.

Before becoming a filmmaker, Taqvai was interested in literature and wrote stories. The story collection "Summer of the same year" was published in 1348. Interest in telling stories and getting to know characters, along with the experience of living in the south, can also be seen in many of his film works; Works in which the place is not just the background of the events and plays a role in shaping people's behavior and destiny.

In his autobiography, which was republished after his death, Taqvai wrote about his childhood: "As a child, I was a professional tourist and traveled with my father to the most distant ports of the South Sea." In the continuation of the same article, he mentions returning to his hometown after years of living in different cities and explains his childhood experiences with the image of "a teenage Sinbad". This personal narrative is one of the important clues to understand his interest in southern geography.

Taqwa's familiarity with cinema was formed through practical experiences. He got in touch with Ebrahim Golestan's filmmaking workshop and was in the technical group of the film "Kasht and Aineh" made by Golestan, produced in 1344. Then he turned to documentaries and made a series of documentary films in the 1340s. This path, from literature to documentary and then fictional cinema, was important in the formation of his work style; Because observing the environment and knowing the details of daily life was part of his professional experience before telling a story.

documentation; Record culture and daily life

Before he became known for his feature films, Taqvai made documentaries on various topics. Among the works of this period are "Taximeter", "Aftab Hairdresser", "Illiterate Bakers", "Forugh Farrokhzad", "Shamsher Dance", "Punjshanbezaar Minab", "Nakhel", "Bad Jen", "Arbain" and "Southern Music".

This list shows that documentary for Taqwai was not just a preliminary step to reach fiction cinema. He went to jobs, rituals, social relations and local cultures and recorded issues that were rarely seen in public narratives of Iranian life.

One of the important works of this period is the documentary "Bad Jen" which deals with the Zar ceremony in the south of Iran. In some coastal communities, this ceremony is linked to the belief in the influence of winds and invisible forces on the human body and soul. By recording the ceremony and the social atmosphere around it, Taqvai dealt with the way a part of the people of the south faced suffering and illness. The importance of the film is that it does not limit the subject to a report about a local custom, but also reconstructs its cultural atmosphere using image and sound.

"Arbain" is also one of the important piety documentaries. This work deals with mourning ceremonies in southern Iran and shows how he used crowd movement, sound, architecture and image composition to record a ritual. In such works, the observation of people is related to the visual structure; For this reason, his documentaries can be examined both from the point of view of recording culture and from the point of view of cinematic narration.

In these works, the south of Iran is not a decorative image of local life, but a living environment with its own relationships and beliefs. This knowledge was later continued in pious fiction films; Especially in "Captain Khurshid", where the coastal geography and life relations in the port form part of the logic of the narrative.

"Peace in the presence of others"; The first feature film and facing the society

In 1347, Taqvai made his first feature film, "Peace in the Presence of Others"; A film based on a story of the same name written by Gholamhossein Saedi. This work was one of the prominent films during the formation of the new wave of Iranian cinema; A trend that in the 1340s and 1350s, along with commercial cinema, went to different narratives, complex characters and social issues.

"Calm in the presence of others" is about a retired colonel who faces the weariness of his position and the distance between the past and the present in the family environment and in the face of the young generation. Instead of placing the characters in simple moral forms, the film shows chaotic and tense relationships. The title of the film also has a meaningful relationship with the world of the characters: the presence of others does not necessarily mean communication, understanding or peace.

Taqvai's cooperation with Saedi in this film is an example of the connection between literature and cinema in his career. Adaptation for piety did not mean the mechanical transfer of the story to the picture; He used the possibilities of cinema to rearrange situations, create space and show layers of relationships.

Peace in the Presence of Others was created at the beginning of Taqvai's career, but its public release was delayed. This film should be seen in the context of its time: a work that dealt with the deterioration of social status, family crisis, and the gap between generations, and in the way of narration, it also distanced itself from common patterns. Its importance can be found in the link between theme and form; The characters and their relationships are known through details and situations, not just through direct explanation.

"cursed" and "honest"; Two different narratives of human relations

"Curse" is one of the other pious feature films that was made in 1352. Using a remote space, this film promotes the relationships between the characters in connection with power, ownership and the desire to dominate. The limited environment of the story intensifies the social distance of the characters and separates their relationships from the usual everyday relationships.

In this work, instead of relying on successive incidents, Taqvai uses the situation and relationship to advance the narrative. The geographic space in "The Curse" helps build tension, and the characters are placed in an environment that limits their choices.

"Sadegh Karde" is also one of the important works of the pre-revolution period of piety. The film, centered on the character of the same name, deals with violence, revenge and individual reaction to bitter experiences. Here too, piety does not separate the character's behavior from its social context and to explain his actions, he pays attention to the situation and conditions in which the character is placed.

These two films, along with "Calm in the Presence of Others," show that piety was not limited to a single type of story or space. He could go from family crisis and exhaustion of social status to power relations in a remote environment or a narrative of violence and revenge. The common denominator of the works is attention to the human situation and the influence of the environment on his behavior.

"Napoleon's cousin"; An adaptation that entered the collective memory

If "Peace in the Presence of Others" and "Nakhoda Khurshid" explain an important part of Taqwa's position in Iranian cinema, the television series "Daijan Napoleon" shows another side of his ability: creating a humorous narrative of family and social relations, without turning the characters into one-dimensional types.

This collection was made in 1355 based on the novel by Iraj Mesichezad. The story takes place in a big house and among the members of a large family; A family whose internal relationships are shaped by suspicions, memories of the past, heroic claims and personal perceptions of reality. Daijan, the central character of the story, defines his past with the memory of the war and confrontation with the British forces, and in the interpretation of everyday events, he sees traces of the same old enemy.

The strength of the collection is that it does not limit Daijaan's suspicions only to his personal characteristics. Family relationships, rivalries, the desire to maintain prestige and trying to control others all play a role in shaping the world of the story. Humor arises from the collision between the claims of the characters and the reality of their lives.

By selecting actors, designing the atmosphere and maintaining the tone of the narrative, Taqvai created a world whose characters remained in the public memory. The success of the collection cannot be attributed only to the fame of Mesichetszad's novel; The transformation of the novel into a television work required choices about rhythm, acting, mise-en-scène and narrative style.

"Napoleon's Uncle" also shows that Taqwai used humor to observe power relations. His world was not necessarily bitter or serious; Humor could also be a means to reveal the intellectual and behavioral mechanisms of society. In this collection, the family becomes a space where suspicion and personal perceptions influence reality.

"Captain Sun"; Hemingway in the geography of the South

"Captain Khurshid" is one of the most important pious feature films that was made in 1365. This film is a loose adaptation of the novel "To Have and Have Not" written by Ernest Hemingway. Taqvai moved the story to the southern part of Iran and based on the coastal geography, economic relationships and character relationships, he created an independent narrative from the source text.

In the film, Captain Khursheed is a man who lives with his boat in a port environment and gets involved in a situation that turns his decisions into a difficult test. His character is neither an invincible hero nor a person whose behavior can be explained solely by good and evil. Economic constraints, the necessity of survival and the pressure of the situation play a role in shaping his choices.

Transferring Hemingway's story to the south of Iran is not just moving the place of events. The coastal atmosphere and the relationships between the characters are linked with the cultural experience of the region. The sea, the boat, the harbor and the relationship between people are the building blocks of the movie world, and geography becomes part of the story's internal logic.

"Captain of the Sun" shows how piety uses environmental constraints to build suspense. The atmosphere of the film is not closed, but the characters are trapped in relationships that are not easy to get out of. The sea, which can be a sign of the possibility of movement and liberation, is also associated with danger and insecurity.

This film received attention in domestic and foreign festivals and found a special place in Taqvai's career. Its importance, in addition to the success of the festival, is in the way of dealing with the literary adaptation: the filmmaker transfers a non-Iranian story to an environment that he knows and in this way, instead of imitating the original work, he provides the possibility of a new reading of it.

"O Iran"; School as an image of society

Taqvai made the movie "O Iran" in 1368; A work that deals with the 1357 revolution and its story takes place in a school in the north of Iran. The presence of the military, the hierarchical structure of the school and the change in power relations provide a platform for the humorous narrative of the film.

In "O Iran", the school becomes a small space to observe social transformations. Administrative order and military authority face challenges in the face of developments outside the school and people's reactions. Instead of directly recreating political events on a large scale, Taqwai chooses a limited situation to show the effect of social changes on everyday relationships.

The humor of the film is formed from this contrast. The characters are faced with developments that they do not have full control over and their behavior is more dependent on their habits, interests and social status than from a clear and consistent position.

"O Iran" along with "Napoleon's Cousin" shows that Taqvai used humor to observe power relations. With the difference that in the TV series, suspicion and historical memory circulate within the family, but in the movie, the school and the military structure become an arena for facing social changes.