Documentary film Salaam Isfahan has just taken the Grand Prix du Public at the 2010 Festival International de Cinema de Nyon. Directed by first-time filmmaker Sanaz Azari, Salaam Isfahan was shot in the streets of Isfahan. A resident of Brussels, Sanaz returned to her native Iran with a director of photography and a sound engineer, and armed with a photo camera, a video camera, and two tripods. Stopping passersby to ask if they would be willing to pose for a photo, she engages them in conversation while taking their picture, and all the while the video camera is rolling.
Coincidentally Sanaz started shooting the film just as the fraught recent elections in Iran were beginning to unfold. Gradually the politics and the events surrounding the election begin to creep into the conversations. So while Salaam Isfahan presents glimpses into the lives of the people it includes, the movie at a point takes an unexpected turn, and becomes a unique document of this historic election.
Sanaz intended to shoot the film over the course of two months—one for location, one for filming—but in the third week of shooting, her small crew was kicked out of the country with the journalists. Sanaz stayed to continue working, and finally managed to leave Iran with the footage of the movie.
Sanaz, the girlfriend of Base’s Brussels-based graphic designer Arno, brought Base on to design the opening title sequence of the movie, film poster, and postcards. The idea of hiding/revealing in the graphic treatment is based on the climate of censorship and the lack of real democracy in Iran today.
Stay tuned for an interview with Sanaz next week.
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