BASSIDJI
Inside the Iranian regime
A FILM BY MEHRAN TAMADON
S Y N O P S I S
In a desert, on a hill, men and women in chadors and children
wander through a vast open air «museum» dedicated to the
memory of the martyrs of the Iran-Iraq war. It is Iranian New
Year and we are close to the Iraqi border. I’m following my guide.
He’s tall and charismatic. His name is Nader Malek-Kandi. For
almost three years, I’ve decided to immerse myself among the
most extremist supporters of the Islamic republic of Iran (the
Bassidjis), to get a better understanding of their way of thinking.
We come from the same country yet there’s an enormous gulf
between us. Being an Iranian man living in France, an atheist, and
son of Communists activists under the Shah’s rule should put me
on a collision course with the convictions of those who follow the
current regime’s dogmas. And yet a dialogue opens up. However,
beneath the charm offensive and the rhetoric, the moments of
frankness and the reality of the political and religious system
they support, to what extent are our respective beliefs likely to
accommodate a real understanding of ‘the other’?
F I L M M A K E R
MEHRAN TAMADON
Iranian architect and filmmaker, Mehran Tamadon arrives in France at the age of 12, in 1984. He attends the school of Architecture of
Paris-La Villette, and receives his diploma in 2000.
In 1999, he participates in the creation of the review L’Arrosoir devoted to issues of city and land usage. In the year 2000, he returns
to Iran for four years and works as an architect, realizing a house and a building in Tehran.
Since 2002, he has given his career a distinctly artistic orientation. During an exhibit of conceptual art at the Museum of Contemporary
Art in Tehran, he showed an artistic installation called “From the eyes of a stroller”. He also published two essays in Farsi (Moments
of agony, 2003 and Friendship, 2005). Then, in 2004 he realized his first medium-length documentary, Behesht Zahra, Mothers of
Martyrs, presented in numerous international festivals. Bassidji (2009), about the defenders of the Islamic republic of Iran, is his first
lenght feature documentary.
A T T E N D I N G
Mehran Tamadon (director), from 15 to 19 September
I N T E R V I E W S
Tuesday 15 & Wednesday 16 September
S C R E E N I N G S
Press & industry screening : Saturday 12 at 9:00am, AMC 5 (AMC Yonge & Dundas 24, 10 Dundas Street East)
Public Screening : Thursday 17 at 06:30pm, AMC 4 & 5
Public Screening : Friday 18 at 03:15pm, AMC 4
D O W N L O A D S
