Iranian Filmmaker Ban to Attend India’s Goa FilmFest

Iranian Filmmaker Reza Dormishian Faces Exit Ban to Attend India’s Goa FilmFest for Backing Nationwide Protests

Reza Dormishian, an Iranian filmmaker and the producer of Dariush Mehrjui’s “A Minor”, which is slated to have its world premiere in the International competition category of the 53rd Goa Film Festival, India, has not been granted a permit to leave Iran so as to attend this prestigious cinematic event.

The A Minor producer was supposed to go to India, as invited by Goa International Film Festival, to screen this movie in the prominent and A-grade cinematic event, however, he could not leave Iran. Dormishian’s passport was confiscated at the airport, and he was referred to the court of law for prosecution.

Throughout the nationwide protests in Iran, Dormishian shared various posts on his Instagram account to show support for the significant developments in recent days.

This Iranian filmmaker has made feature-length movies such as “Hatred”, “I’m Not Angry!”, “A Minor”, and “No Choice”, all featured in eminent international film festivals and won several awards; movies criticizing the circumstances of Iranian society all of which underwent much censorship and years-long bans to be screened domestically. His film “White Chairs” was shot in New Zealand.

Dormishian acted as the producer for Dariush Mehrjui’s latest film “LA Minor”. Mehrjui is the oldest filmmaker in Iran’s New Wave cinema. His movie “The Cow” was one of the first films in Iranian cinema to be featured in international festivals. “A Minor” is the 27th feature-length film made by Mehrjui, creator of the most significant films in the history of Iranian cinema such as “The Cow”, “Hamoun”, “Santouri”, “Mum’s Guest”, “Leila”, “The Cycle”, “Mr. Naïve”, “Sara”, “Pari”, “The Pear Tree”, etc. He has many times participated in prestigious festivals such as Berlinale, Cannes, Venice, Tokyo, Chicago, San Sebastian, Nantes Three Continents, Mar del Plata, etc.

Reza Dormishian is a screenwriter, director, documentary maker, and producer, born in 1981 in Tehran; he made his first film “Hatred” back in 2011 in Istanbul, Turkey, followed by titles including “I’m Not Angry!”, “Lantouri”, “White Chairs”, and “No Choice”; controversial films welcomed by the audiences as well as civil and social activists, critics, and screenwriters, and featured in numerous international festivals namely the Berlinale, Karlovy Vary, Warsaw, Mar del Plata, Shanghai, Montreal, Vancouver, Istanbul, Tallinn Black Nights, Stockholm, Zurich, Goa, Hong Kong, Romania’s Transylvania, Sao Paulo, Belgium’s Mons, India’s Kerala, etc.

Back in 2014, Dormishian was granted a prize in the 8th Asia Pacific awards ceremony which is the Asian Oscars, and also earned three awards in the 17th round of the Shanghai International Film Festival, recognizing him as “A Talent in Asian Cinema”. Other honors received by Reza Dormishian include Argentina’s Buenos Aires Human Rights, Netpac, Hamburg’s Human Rights, Best Film in Istanbul’s Independent Film Festival, Best Film in Germany’s Brunswick, Best Film by Audience Score in France’s Vesoul festival, Best Film by Audience Score in the Netherlands’ Cinecitta, Best Film by Audience Score, Best Director, and Best Film in Rome’s Asiatica festival, the Abbas Kiarostami badge in Hafez Awards, Best Director, Best Film Director, Creativity and Rising Talent in Iran’s Critics and Screenwriters awards ceremony.

Numerous well-known actors including Navid Mohammadzadeh, Bahram Afshari, Mehdi Koushki, and Reza Koolghani had their breakout roles in Dormishian’s films.

Dormishian has formerly attended festivals such as Poland’s Warsaw, India’s Pune, and Iraq’s Sulaymaniyah as an international juror. As a producer, beside his own movies, he has served as the line producer and film producer of Dariush Mehrjui’s movies such as “Orange Suit”, “Good to be Back”, and “LA Minor”.

For more information:

https://iffigoa.org/international-competition/a-minor/

https://instagram.com/rezadormishian?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

https://m.imdb.com/name/nm2934166/