Iranian Movie ‘A Separation’ Gets Oscar Buzz, Political Flak
The Daily Beast / Omid Memarian
08-Feb-2012 (4 comments)

Masoud Dehnamaki, Ekhrajiha’s director and a pro-regime filmmaker, is known in Iran as formerly a radical Islamist journalist and a pressure-group leader in the crackdown on Iranian democratic and secular uprising in late 1990s. He is a man who is not only suspicious about any recognition for Iranian movies abroad but also sees the Oscar nominations for A Separation as politically motivated.

“This is a bitter film,” Dehnamaki told The Daily Beast in a telephone interview from Tehran. “They created a face-off between this film and [my film] Ekhrajiha at the theaters. The BBC and Voice of America were supporting this film by claiming that one of these films represented the rulers and the other represented the opposition. All of this was done objectively.”

“I think the hidden side of this story is that after the nuclear issue, the U.S.’s next challenge with Iran will be the discussion of human rights,” Dehnamaki said. “Giving a Nobel Peace Prize [to Shirin Ebadi in 2003], or an Oscar, and the way these recipients are created is symbolic, and all this is for using them during future challenges. This is the hidden part of the story that appears cultural on the surface but in fact it is political in essence.”

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mikehussey

Need an oscar!!

by mikehussey on Wed Jun 27, 2012 06:29 AM PDT

Nice movie the world has appreciated the story and the screenpaly. Good mesage to all audience. Part 3 is not good as part 2.Hope the other part might work. 

Bollywood movies


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Esfand Aashena

The first Ekhrajiha was to a certain extent.

by Esfand Aashena on Thu Feb 09, 2012 10:53 AM PST

Ekhrajiha 2 and certainly 3 were just to whitewash everything and show allegiance to regime and regime's brutality.

The first Ekhrajiha had a human touch to it to the extent that it replayed the days when ordinary Iranians would be shunned and not allowed to go to the front lines.  i.com's editor one live example!

However, once they went to the war front, the film went through some "reasons" about why only the most loyal should've gone becase THEY were the one who "won" the war.  They were the one who did the heavy lifting and not the regular Army and such.  

The parts about the MKO terrorist and his wife was also half-hazardly put there somewhere for political scores in the movie. 

Ekhrajiha 3 was the most blatant slap in the face of those who lost their lives under the most brutal circumstances standing up to thuggery and corruption at the highest levels.  Khamenei himself had to admit to the tortures in Kahrizak but they swept it under the rug.

Anyway, I think there has been few films about the green movement and the aftermath of the 2009 elections but they're just being shown.  There will be more movies and certainly some good ones.  History of those days will never die and will always be a fresh topic for a good movie. 

Everything is sacred


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expat

I thought ekhrajiha..

by expat on Thu Feb 09, 2012 10:00 AM PST

..ridiculed the regime? Certainly that's the impression I got when I saw it.  


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Esfand Aashena

It wasn't Ekhrajiha, it was Ekhrajiha 3!

by Esfand Aashena on Thu Feb 09, 2012 09:55 AM PST

The original Ekhrajiha had some success and soon thereafter Dehnamaki made the sequel and then last year he made the 3rd version and replaced the color blue with the color green and he ridiculed the 2009 green movement.

As expected people boycotted the 3rd making and it just so happened that they were both released at the same time.  In fact Separation was not widely celebrated at the time in Iran.

And now Dehnamaki is bitter calling A Separation a "bitter" film!  The irony! 

Everything is sacred


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