Exploring the Rituals of the South: Documentary Cinema Lacks a Distribution System
The director of the documentary 'Silent Waves of the Southern Coasts' criticized the state of investment in and distribution of documentaries in Iranian cinema, and spoke about the portrayal of seafaring rituals and environmental challenges in the film.
Mohammad Ehsani, the director of the documentary "Silent Waves of Southern Beaches", explained in a conversation with Mehr reporter about the topic of this documentary: The topic of the film is related to the environmental issues of Hormozgan province and, of course, mainly Bandar Abbas. This documentary deals with issues that threaten the environment and pays special attention to seafaring customs; Rituals that are considered related to seafaring culture. "Silent Waves of the South Coasts" is actually a combination of these themes, which deals with the historical, ritual and cultural values of the region, and examines the environmental issues of Hormozgan, mangrove forests and the importance of these very important habitats in the life of the Persian Gulf and that land.
Exploring the land of maritime rituals
Referring to the challenges of filming this documentary, this director stated: Basically, working in the field of environment is very difficult. There was a lot of expansion in this area and we were facing difficulties. But anyway, it is a requirement of this profession and these difficulties should be overcome. In the process of producing this film, I first conducted extensive research on this topic and then made several trips to those areas. Finally, the locations and characters to be interviewed were selected. This process took about a year.
Ehsani said: The audience who has no knowledge of that geography, after watching this documentary, the first thing they get is a general knowledge and perspective of those regions. But my film is not made to introduce only the tourist attractions of the region or its beauty, but the main theme is the rituals that have a deep connection with the seafaring culture; Rituals that have been formed over centuries and are mainly African in origin. Our goal is to deal with these rituals as well as the environmental problems that have increased in the Iranian part of the Persian Gulf.
He continued: In terms of the environment, mangrove forests are very important in those areas. Because of the water softening devices, especially on the side of the United Arab Emirates, serious damage has been done to the areas of Iran and parts of the mangrove forest. In the discussion of rituals, we have also discussed "Noban" rituals and culture related to seafaring; Likewise, the rituals of "Liva" and "Razif", which are among the important rituals of the southern regions of Iran and Bandar Abbas, have been examined and introduced in our documentary.
There is no proper mechanism for screening the documentary
The director of the documentary "Silent Waves of the South Coast" pointed to the economic challenges of documentary production and stated: The production stage has many problems and the most important problem is the financial issue. The lack of funds always hinders the work of the group and this project is one of them. But as much as I could, I tried not to let this matter stand out too much and not to harm the work.
In the end, Ehsani said about the issue of screening documentary films: the screening opportunity for documentary films is very limited; Of course, the situation has improved a little recently and there are screenings in places like the artists' house and the contemporary art museum, but these opportunities are very limited and mainly take place in Tehran. These things rarely happen in Iran, despite the fact that we have made these films for people and we want people to see them. The screening platform is very limited and basically there is no extensive mechanism that you want to comment on; Because these screenings are not comprehensive, wide-ranging and important programs, and the documentary cannot have a wide impact.