Iranian cinema has gone through a turbulent path from its birth until now: from Mirza Ibrahim Khan Akasbashi and Khan Baba Mo’tazeddi, who filmed the first movies in this country, to Ebrahim Golestan, who made the first silent film in Iranian cinema, to the present time where everything, including film screenings, has become digital and even due to the spread of COVID-19, is rapidly moving towards online screenings on internet platforms.

But regardless of all the historical events that are noteworthy and worth examining, the discussion of government oversight and perhaps, to put it better, guidance, which has been imposed by the ruling authority on this widespread phenomenon (deliberately avoiding the term “art” for cinema because I see it more as an industry that has been created from the beginning for the entertainment of people; but I will not delve into this topic as I know it requires a lengthy and challenging discussion).

Sociologists know well that any phenomenon that is related to the masses and has the potential to influence society as a whole, quickly becomes the focus of political rulers, and naturally, cinema is no exception.

In Iran, the introduction of cinema took place during the late Qajar period, where it spent its early years solely within the royal court. Then, with the massive influx of modernity and modernization during the early Pahlavi era, it emerged among the masses and transformed from a special and aristocratic phenomenon to a popular and universal form of entertainment.

I do not intend to delve into the detailed history of Iranian cinema here, but in order to examine the history of censorship in cinema, I am obliged to mention some important historical points, including the approval of the first regulations for controlling the quantity and quality of cinemas in the Ministry of Interior in Khordad 1329 (May/June 1950), and then the establishment of the Ministry of Culture and Arts in 1343 (1964/1965) which was later transformed into the Ministry of Islamic Guidance after the 1979 Revolution and then changed its name to the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance in 1365 (1986/1987).

In the historical process of Iranian cinema, scattered and brief signs of censorship on films made during the Pahlavi era can be seen. However, there are no written and specific laws that contain supervision and, most importantly, the implementation of guiding and supportive policies for films. What we have heard about the treatment of filmmakers is summarized in incidents that have occurred for some of Ibrahim Golestan’s films or changes that have been made to Masoud Kimiai’s film “Deer”, which have mostly been carried out by judicial and military organizations rather than cultural and artistic officials of the Ministry of Culture.

What we have witnessed from the actions of organized guidance and strict supervisory laws, goes back to a time when there was no news of the “Ministry of Culture and Art” and we are faced with the strange and mysterious title of “Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance”. In my opinion, this simple replacement of “art” with “Islamic guidance” in the title of this ministry can say a lot of things.

“Art” cannot be directed, but for “guidance”, which literally means “showing the right path” and “guiding the way”, the path of guidance is very open and smooth. Professional filmmakers in the 1960s and 1970s are well acquainted with the highly influential “Farabi Film Foundation”; a foundation that was established in Khordad 1362 (May/June 1983) by the order of Fakhr al-Din Anwar, the then Deputy of Cinema at the Ministry of Guidance, and some officials, including Seyyed Mohammad Beheshti, were responsible for dealing with cinema and restarting it in Iran after the revolution. In those years, almost all the hardware facilities of cinema, including cameras, filming equipment, and consumables such as negative and positive films, and even editing tables, were at the disposal of this foundation, and practically no film could be made without coordination with it. In addition, the entry and screening of

Fire and Reed

(Saeed Ebrahimi Far) and

Love’s mark

(Shahriar Parsipour) was; of course, the enthusiasm for these special supports was so high that even the prominent action film director of Iran, Samuel Khachikian, was inspired to make a film like…

Chavoush

It was noted that its result was similar to other supportive works, a futile effort, and only money and resources were wasted for the whims of the rulers.

Among them, some filmmakers were supported and it is better to say that they were trained and essentially educated to make films desired by the rulers. Mohsen Makhmalbaf, Abbas Kiarostami, and Majid Majidi were among the most prominent ones, and of course, we should mention that many filmmakers received occasional support and only one or two films were made with large budgets and then disappeared. People like Karim Zargar, Mohammad Reza Eslamloo, Ali Asghar Shadrouvan, Ebrahim Soltani Far, Rahim Rahimipour, and many others who made government films and only spent money on Iranian cinema and nothing else; of course, there were also people who were supposed to be cinema managers and initially made films or vice versa, they were managers and then made films. People like Javad Shamghadri, Mohammad Mehdi Asgarpour, Farajollah Salhshoor, Jamal Shorjeh,

The cinema officials who were faced with the old generation of filmmakers such as Mehrjui, Taqvayi, Beizai, and Kiarostami, who were not very talkative, adopted two major policies: promoting filmmakers like Majid Majidi who had international presence, against prominent filmmakers like Kiarostami who were noticed by reputable foreign festivals, and also nurturing filmmakers like Hatami Kia who could attract a large domestic audience, against highly popular filmmakers like Mehrjui. This was while Hatami Kia would sometimes make two films a year, while Beizai and Mehrjui and Taqvayi would make one film every few years; meaning unequal conditions for fair competition.

Among these, a film festival called “Fajr” was also established, which initially forcefully carried the title “International”, but after a while, the officials themselves realized its ridiculousness and changed its timing. This festival, like other government-sponsored festivals organized with the support of the Ministry of Guidance, was a platform to encourage filmmakers who, lacking a share in reputable foreign festivals, did not want to be left behind and wanted to add their Simorghs to their achievements. The situation got to the point where a filmmaker of the Islamic Republic (Ebrahim Hatamikia) considered the Simorghs of this festival to be his rightful property, and when in 2017, a few Simorghs were awarded to other supportive filmmakers, he protested on stage, calling himself a filmmaker of the system and complaining to the officials.

The result of all these years of supported and guided cinema can now be seen in the current production conditions of Iranian cinema. In the 60s and 70s, filmmakers such as Beyzai, Taghvai, Mehrjui, Hatami, Kiarostami, and Kimiavi competed with each other in the competition section of the Fajr Film Festival, while now Abyar, Mahdavian, and Hatamikia are competing.

The result of the Ministry of Guidance’s cinema policy in all these forty-three years has been the exclusion of prominent filmmakers from the Iranian cinema scene, the forced exile of some young filmmakers, the banning of filmmakers such as Panahi and Rasoulof, and the creation of a cultural monopoly with figures like Abyar and Mahdavian. It is up to the audience to judge where we have come from and where we have ended up.