Stories of Heroes Unseen: The Mission of Art and Creating New Perspectives

The director of the documentary 'A Place to Stand,' criticizing the state of support for and screening of documentary films, spoke about telling the stories of heroes who are never seen.

Arman Qalipour, the director of the documentary "A Place to Stand", explained in a conversation with Mehr reporter about the topic of this documentary: Since my place of birth and residence is in the geography of Zagros and among the Bakhtiari people, I have always tried to choose stories that are narrated by heroes from this region. Those who, despite all the problems, have hope in their lives and are trying to reach a desired point. When this is my general idea and vision, the main priority for my films is determined. The documentary "A place to stand" and the life of our main character, Mansoor, was not out of this frame either. I have always wanted to live with the characters first and make films along with them. In fact, this life experience and this camera is an excuse to live with the people and stories I choose.

Heroes who are not in front of the eyes

He continued: I had previously made the documentary "Zari" in this area. When Ms. Zari knew my concern, one day she sent me a video of a person who is born disabled and cannot walk, but is doing hard construction work. I asked him to connect me with this character so that with the tools we have, we can be the voice of these heroes who may never be seen. Generally, the characters of my films are introduced by the people themselves. People are kind to us and if they feel there is an interesting character or idea, they share it with me and I start working after research.

Referring to the reaction of the audience, this director said: The feedback we received during the screening of the film at the "Cinema-Ghekrit" festival showed that no one looked at this character sympathetically or from the point of view of disability. What appeals to the audience is the will and effort that this character has behind his disability. This movie gives a good feeling to the audience and motivates the person to try again. The most interesting thing is that the character himself was present at the screening of the film and everyone called him "hero". This person is so born and determined that we are faced with a self-confident character throughout the film.

The mission of art is to create new views

Qalipour said about the economic challenges of documentary cinema: Unfortunately, the conditions for documentary filmmakers have not been good at all. This film and my new film, which recently won 2 important international awards, were not supported by the institutions in charge of documentaries even with one thousand tomans. Although the documentary plan was registered in the association's production system, in the end there was no support and the film was made completely independently. If the support happens, the documentary maker has freedom of action and will not have financial worries. I believe that the noticeable decline of documentary cinema in these years was due to the lack of support for films. The financial concern is there from start to finish for the independent filmmaker, prompting a rushed production to at least make it to the festival season. The filming location was two to three hundred kilometers away from where I live. Certainly, if there was support and I could spend more time processing the story, this film would have been made a few steps higher.

In the end, the director of the documentary "A place to stand" said: "Unfortunately, documentary cinema in Iran has a problem with screening. Except for the "Cinema-Ghekrit" festival, all other festivals are held in the medium of short films and they place documentary cinema as their number one priority. I have always emphasized that the original home of documentary film is television, but the opportunity for broadcast is very limited except at the television festival itself. Documentaries like this can be an example and create hope for those who have limitations or do not see enough will in themselves. The mission of art is to create a new perspective in society. If the documentary film is seen more by the documentary network or platforms, people will become more familiar with this space and this wide presence will be a very happy event for the audience.