(Negaah)
Iran-Australia– DV- Color-81 min
Fictional Documentary-
(Writer, Cam, Dir, Ed,)
Produced by: Bahram Badiee-Marishan Production
Maani Petgar-Unexposed Films
Executive Producer: Touraj Aslani
Associate Producer: Kambiz Safari
Music: Klaus Schulze
Cast: Anahid Saaber, Danesh Eghbashavi,
Ali Tavassoli, Farnaz Badieev
'…I was studying Media in London and part of our subject was concerned with camera and cinema.
I remember once our teacher said: "there are about 40 original films in the cinema, all the rest is remaking of the same stories and concerns. And at the end, like the real life, we’re all just looking for happiness…"
I sometimes feel she was over simplifying things…but maybe simplifying life isn’t really a bad thing…
Anyway, at the end of the year, when we had to choose a project, the other students brought up the idea of happiness, which later on became the main subject for our project. 'What happiness is?'
Now, we just started our journey. Maani is researching for his next film and I'm also wondering what I can do for my own happiness.’(Excerpt from the opening scene)
The idea for Looking Through started as a fictional film in 1993. The story of a Native American woman who comes to Iran to see the land of her beloved; Bijan. She’s on her own since Bijan will be conscripted for 2 years, if he returns to Iran. While in Iran, taking the same route that Bijan had taken 15 years earlier, she collects some images for her lover, back in US.
In 1997 a Japanese producer liked the idea which was later on adapted and written through the eyes of a Japanese-American woman, but I had to quit the project -in 1998- because of some differences with the producer, during the casting of the film.
Until the time that Mr. Mohammad Ali Hussein-Nejad (who has always been very supportive of my films and a very good consultant as well), edited and translated 18 pages idea to English. Later on through his contact, a French producer shown some interest on making the film, but when the second Iraq war began, they postponed their plan...so, at last Looking Through became what it is now, a kind of documentary with a fictional ending…again with Mr. Hussein-Nejad's help...
"The Eyes are the Windows to the Soul" in text
"The Eyes are the Windows to the Soul" in video(mp3 format)
An Interview by Sara Yokoyama, Shiho Kimuro
Sceerings:
1.Yamagata Int. Documentary Film Festival 2007
2.ViBGYOR Film Festival, Kerala- India 2008
3. Global Peace Film Festival- Orlando- USA 2008
Film frame