 |
| Kamran Shirdel at the exhibition. Photo (c) Houshang Golmakani |
The Curious and the Downcast: An Interview with Kamran Shirdel
By Houshang Golmakani
An interview with the distinguished Iranian filmmaker, photographer, and writer about his latest exhibition of films and photographs taken during the days of the Iranian Revolution. I commissioned this for a winter 2019 issue of Underline magazine but by the time this was translated and edited, the Underline project was abruptly folded. I publish it here for the first time. — EK
As we approach the 40th anniversary of the revolution that saw the monarch of Iran overthrown and replaced with an Islamic republic, renowned documentary filmmaker and photographer Kamran Shirdel is now exhibiting his photographs and raw, unedited footage of the historical event for the first time at a gallery in Tehran. Born in 1939, Shirdel originally studied architecture at the University of Rome before going on to study film at the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia. Upon his return to Iran in 1964, he produced a number of documentaries on Iranian social issues in the space of just a few years, the most famous of which include Women's Prison, Women's Quarter, Tehran Is the Capital of Iran, and his satirical masterpiece The Night It Rained. Due to their controversial subjects, all of these early documentaries were banned at the time of their release and Shirdel had several encounters with the Shah's secret police force SAVAK as a result. With the exception of his first and only feature-length film, The Morning of the Fourth Day (1972), Shirdel was forced to pursue industrial documentary filmmaking in the years that followed. 1978 saw a rise in strikes and social unrest that fuelled the fires of an impending revolution: the event that Shirdel had been waiting for ever since his return to Iran. Armed with a video camera and a camera, Shirdel took to the streets of Tehran, tirelessly documenting every development throughout the course of the revolution.
40 years later, and for the first time since they were taken, Shirdel's photographs and footage from those days are now being exhibited at the Nabshi Centre in Tehran from 30 November 2018 to 25 January 2019. Shirdel, who was 39 years old at the time of the revolution, will turn 80 later this year. Despite his age and a spinal condition that requires him to use a walking stick, Shirdel still attends the exhibition almost every day in order to see the effects of his work first-hand. The exhibition itself is relatively large, covering two floors, with mostly large-scale photographs displayed on the walls and 40-year-old, antique television sets showing 8mm footage on repeat. Unfortunately, Shirdel's 16mm footage was confiscated in the days following the revolution and no trace of them has been seen since then.
 |
| Photos from the exhibition by Houshang Golmakani |
HOUSHANG GOLMAKANI: Why is this the first time? Why have these films and photographs never been shown before over the past 40 years?
KAMRAN SHIRDEL: That's what I'm used to! My work has either been suppressed or lost and rediscovered years later so many times throughout my life that it has reached the point of madness for me. Sometimes, I file them away myself in order to …
GOLMAKANI: … Keep up with tradition!
SHIRDEL: Yes! And to put my mind at ease. But then, even I forget about them! I've been so caught up with life over the past 40 years that I never thought about showing these films and photographs to the public. I began to feel a lot of pressure and demand from people who were aware of these films and photographs and told me that they shouldn't be kept filed away because they're a part of history. After finding an investor, a passionate exhibition producer, and a respectable venue to stage the exhibition, I spent the last two or three years preparing for it.
 |
GOLMAKANI: From what I saw on the busy, opening day of the exhibition, at least 90% of visitors were young people who had not yet been born during the time of the revolution.
SHIRDEL: That was also the case for the days that followed — over 95% of them were young people.
GOLMAKANI: Do you think there really are so few people left who witnessed the revolution or who can recall those days? It is quite astonishing how disproportionate those percentages are!
SHIRDEL: That is partly down to the fact that I have always connected with young people on a more sincere and meaningful level. Younger visitors to the exhibition often approach me and thank me for putting these films and photographs on display. They tell me, ‘We weren't around during that time to see what actually happened, but this exhibition has transported us to the events of revolution and the atmosphere surrounding the city during those days.’
I do wonder, however, whether this interest is being attracted by the actual content of the exhibition or if it is just a new trend to visit galleries these days.
GOLMAKANI: Even if it has become trendy to visit galleries, the proportion of young people attending your exhibition is still quite amazing. It is only natural for young people who weren't around to witness the revolution first-hand to be curious about the events that took place during that time and attend your exhibition in order to gain some insight into those days. But my question is about the absence of older generations; as someone who was 24 years old at the time of the revolution, I believe that older generations may be avoiding the exhibition because they don't want to awaken fresh memories of those days.
SHIRDEL: Actually, one of the reasons I organised this exhibition was to awaken memories; to make sure that we don't forget those days and to remind ourselves of our own part in that historical event; to stop us from saying, ‘We weren't there!’
Some people like to say, ‘We weren't even in Iran during those days!’ and try to hide away, even though I know that they were here and I know exactly where they were too!
 |
GOLMAKANI: The absence of those generations at your exhibition seems to be a sign of their resistance against awakening those memories.
SHIRDEL: Most likely! I see young people leave the gallery each day feeling satisfied that some of the questions they had going into the exhibition were answered. Older generations, however, seem to leave the exhibition feeling pensive, weary, and downcast.
GOLMAKANI: Do you regard the photographs on exhibition as historical documents or works of art?
SHIRDEL: They are more historical documents, in my opinion. If I had viewed them as works of art, I may have put them on display much sooner. This exhibition is a trove of history that I only opened for everyone to see when I thought the time was right. I'm afraid that my best photographs are not on display, however; this exhibition only includes between 30 and 40% of my photographs.
GOLMAKANI: Where are your best photographs? What is stopping you from displaying the best ones?
SHIRDEL: There was simply not enough space for all of the photographs. Furthermore, the curator insisted on only selecting photographs that followed the theme of being on the ‘outskirts’, even though I wasn't on the outskirts — I was right in the middle of the revolution. I am now trying to negotiate and plan for another exhibition that will focus on the centre, not the outskirts, of the revolution.
 |
GOLMAKANI: Some of the photographs appear to be unintentional or throwaway shots that may not be particularly valuable or obvious representations of history, but have been transformed into works of art.
SHIRDEL: Yes, I said that myself during an interview with one of the newspapers. There are actually a lot of people who like those photographs. There was a representative from the Victoria and Albert Museum in England here a few days ago who took a liking to those photographs and made an offer to purchase them.
GOLMAKANI: Like the blurry photograph of a man standing alone in the middle of the street, with his hands held in the air …
SHIRDEL: On the contrary, that was exactly how I intended to capture it. At some point, I grew tired of taking photographs in sharp focus and I began to run and move with people instead. In my opinion, those photographs really capture the movement and fiery energy of the revolution.
GOLMAKANI: Are you planning to take the exhibition overseas?
SHIRDEL: There are plans to hold the exhibition in Shiraz, Isfahan, and Kish Island but there is also a lot of demand coming from people abroad. We are discussing the possibility of staging the exhibition in Italy and England right now, but it will certainly be coming to other countries too.
No comments:
Post a Comment