My Tehran for Sale
Encyclopedia
My Tehran for Sale is an internationally acclaimed 2009 Australian-Iranian feature film written and directed by avant-garde poet turned filmmaker Granaz Moussavi
, produced by Cyanfilms and starring Marzieh Vafamehr
, Amir Chegini and Asha Mehrabi.
Officially selected by Toronto, Rotterdam, Pusan and several other international film festivals, this debut art-house, explores the contemporary Tehran and its underground art scene focusing on the life of a young actress who has been banned from her theater work. Struggling to pursue her passion in art as well as her secret life-style in a socially oppressed environment, Marzieh gets involved in some subsequent and unexpected events leading her to a decision-making dilemma regarding her survival and identity. My Tehran for Sale has been compared with Palme d'Or winner Cristian Mungiu's film 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days
by Parviz Jahed, the prominent Iranian critic and film scholar.
Unlike already acclaimed Iranian exotic cinema which is mostly known in the West by its portrayal of rural life, nature landscapes, as well as socio-economically deprived children struggling for survival in the outskirts of Tehran, the writer/director of My Tehran for Sale attempts to depict the middle class people and the uncertainties in their every day urban life. My Tehran for Sale has a poetic language to address critical issues such as double life of young people, women oppression, HIV issue, secret abortions, underground art, massive immigration, crisis of identity, people smuggling and also asylum seeker detention centers.
Made guerrilla style with wobbly handheld cinematography the film reflects the chaotic nature of current life in Tehran. Some underground music are employed through out the film presenting a number of emerging alternative singers such as Mohsen Namjoo
, Iran's Bob Dylan
, according to New york Times,. The borders between documentary and fiction are seemingly dissolved in many scenes using a poetic language with a non-linear narrative and an open ending.The alternative movie has dared to breakaway from the norms of Iranian mainstream cinema and sneaked into the reality of the lives of many forced underground and wasted in drugs and other traps which has never portrayed as such in Iranian cinema previously.
My Tehran For Sale is the winner of Independent spirit Inside Film Awards 2009. It won the jury award for best feature Film at the TriMedia Film Festival in 2010. Apart from various festivals and universities the film was screened at Museum of Modern Art
MoMA
in New York as well as Cinémathèque Française
in Paris.
The film has been an official selection to Toronto International Film Festival
TIFF (Sep 2009), Vancouver International Film Festival
(Sep-Oct 2009), Busan International Film Festival BIFF
(formerly PIFF) (Oct 2009), International Filmfestival Mannheim-Heidelberg
(Nov 2009), Museum of Modern Art
MoMA
(New York, Jan 2010), International Film Festival Rotterdam
(Jan 2010), International Film Festival Prague - Febiofest
, 2010 Cinema Novo Film Festival Brugges 2010, CPH:PIX
Copenhagen International Film Festival
2010, Guadalajara International Film Festival
Mexico, Sydney Travelling Film Festival, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria International Film Festival
, Human Rights Arts and Film Festival
HRAFF 2010, Focus on Asia Fukuoka International Film Festival 2010 , Global Lens USA 2010, Dialogue of Cultures Film Festival New York 2011 and SVAW Film Fesival Melbourne 2011, etc.
Controversy surrounded the film when unauthorized copies of the film hit the black market in Tehran extensively. In July 2011, Iranian authorities arrested Vafamehr, reportedly for acting in the film without proper islamic hijab and with a shaved head. She was sentenced to one year in prison and 90 lashes, but an appeals court later reduced her sentence to only three months imprisonment. She was released in October 2011.
The irony of this incident is that the plot of the film is as follows:
"Marzieh is a young female actress living in Tehran. The authorities ban her theatre work and, like so many young people in Iran, she is forced to lead a secret life in order to express herself artistically. At an underground rave, she meets Iranian born Saman, now an Australian citizen, who offers her a way out of her country and the possibility of living without fear."
Granaz Moussavi
Granaz Moussavi , is an Iranian-Australian contemporary poet, film director and screen writer. She is primarily renowned for her avant-garde poetry in the 90's...
, produced by Cyanfilms and starring Marzieh Vafamehr
Marzieh Vafamehr
Marzieh Vafamehr is an Iranian independent filmmaker and actress living in Tehran. She is married to the film director and screenwriter Nasser Taghvai. Marzieh Vafamehr was arrested at the 29 of June 2011, reportedly due to her acting in Granaz Moussavi's 2009 Iranian-Australian film My Tehran for...
, Amir Chegini and Asha Mehrabi.
Officially selected by Toronto, Rotterdam, Pusan and several other international film festivals, this debut art-house, explores the contemporary Tehran and its underground art scene focusing on the life of a young actress who has been banned from her theater work. Struggling to pursue her passion in art as well as her secret life-style in a socially oppressed environment, Marzieh gets involved in some subsequent and unexpected events leading her to a decision-making dilemma regarding her survival and identity. My Tehran for Sale has been compared with Palme d'Or winner Cristian Mungiu's film 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days
4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days
4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days is a 2007 Romanian film written and directed by Cristian Mungiu. It won the Palme d'Or and the FIPRESCI Award at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival....
by Parviz Jahed, the prominent Iranian critic and film scholar.
Unlike already acclaimed Iranian exotic cinema which is mostly known in the West by its portrayal of rural life, nature landscapes, as well as socio-economically deprived children struggling for survival in the outskirts of Tehran, the writer/director of My Tehran for Sale attempts to depict the middle class people and the uncertainties in their every day urban life. My Tehran for Sale has a poetic language to address critical issues such as double life of young people, women oppression, HIV issue, secret abortions, underground art, massive immigration, crisis of identity, people smuggling and also asylum seeker detention centers.
Made guerrilla style with wobbly handheld cinematography the film reflects the chaotic nature of current life in Tehran. Some underground music are employed through out the film presenting a number of emerging alternative singers such as Mohsen Namjoo
Mohsen Namjoo
Mohsen Namjoo, , is an Iranian musician, singer-songwriter. born in 1976 in Torbat-e Jam, a small town in northeastern Iran. The New York Times called Namjoo "Iran's Bob Dylan".-Career:...
, Iran's Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
, according to New york Times,. The borders between documentary and fiction are seemingly dissolved in many scenes using a poetic language with a non-linear narrative and an open ending.The alternative movie has dared to breakaway from the norms of Iranian mainstream cinema and sneaked into the reality of the lives of many forced underground and wasted in drugs and other traps which has never portrayed as such in Iranian cinema previously.
My Tehran For Sale is the winner of Independent spirit Inside Film Awards 2009. It won the jury award for best feature Film at the TriMedia Film Festival in 2010. Apart from various festivals and universities the film was screened at Museum of Modern Art
Museum of Modern Art
The Museum of Modern Art is an art museum in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, on 53rd Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It has been important in developing and collecting modernist art, and is often identified as the most influential museum of modern art in the world...
MoMA
Moma
Moma may refer to:* Moma , an owlet moth genus* Moma Airport, a Russian public airport* Moma District, Nampula, Mozambique* Moma River, a right tributary of the Indigirka River* Google Moma, the Google corporate intranet...
in New York as well as Cinémathèque Française
Cinémathèque Française
The Cinémathèque Française holds one of the largest archives of films, movie documents and film-related objects in the world. Located in Paris, the Cinémathèque holds daily screenings of films from around the world.-History:...
in Paris.
The film has been an official selection to Toronto International Film Festival
Toronto International Film Festival
The Toronto International Film Festival is a publicly-attended film festival held each September in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. In 2010, 339 films from 59 countries were screened at 32 screens in downtown Toronto venues...
TIFF (Sep 2009), Vancouver International Film Festival
Vancouver International Film Festival
The Vancouver International Film Festival is an annual film festival held in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada for two weeks in late September and early October...
(Sep-Oct 2009), Busan International Film Festival BIFF
BIFF
BIFF, later sometimes B1FF, was a pseudonym on, and the prototypical newbie of, Usenet. BIFF was created as and taken up as a satire of a partly amusing, partly annoying, mostly unwelcome intrusion into a then fairly rarefied community.- Origin :...
(formerly PIFF) (Oct 2009), International Filmfestival Mannheim-Heidelberg
International Filmfestival Mannheim-Heidelberg
Mannheim-Heidelberg International Filmfestival is an annual film festival held jointly by the cities of Mannheim and Heidelberg in Baden-Württemberg. The festival was established in 1952. In Mannheim there are six cinema centres and 19 single cinemas.The festival presents arthouse films of...
(Nov 2009), Museum of Modern Art
Museum of Modern Art
The Museum of Modern Art is an art museum in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, on 53rd Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It has been important in developing and collecting modernist art, and is often identified as the most influential museum of modern art in the world...
MoMA
Moma
Moma may refer to:* Moma , an owlet moth genus* Moma Airport, a Russian public airport* Moma District, Nampula, Mozambique* Moma River, a right tributary of the Indigirka River* Google Moma, the Google corporate intranet...
(New York, Jan 2010), International Film Festival Rotterdam
International Film Festival Rotterdam
The International Film Festival Rotterdam is an annual film festival held in various cinemas in Rotterdam, Netherlands held at the end of January. It is approximately comparable in size to other major European festivals such as Cannes, Venice, Berlin, and Locarno...
(Jan 2010), International Film Festival Prague - Febiofest
Febiofest
Febiofest is the largest film festival in the Czech Republic and the second most prestigious festival in the country . The festival presents a wide spectrum of contemporary and retrospective examples of high-quality film including alternative, film-school and amateur works to a diverse viewing...
, 2010 Cinema Novo Film Festival Brugges 2010, CPH:PIX
Cph:pix
CPH PIX is an annual film festival in Copenhagen, Denmark. The festival resulted from the merger in 2008 of the Copenhagen International Film Festival and the NatFilm Festival to create an organisation called Copenhagen Film Festivals, which also manages the documentary film festival CPH:DOX and...
Copenhagen International Film Festival
Copenhagen International Film Festival
Copenhagen International Film Festival is a film festival held in Copenhagen, Denmark. It was first held in 2003, and is held annually. The main award at the Copenhagen International Film Festival is the Golden Swan, which will be awarded for Best Film, Best Director, Best Actress, Best Actor, Best...
2010, Guadalajara International Film Festival
Guadalajara International Film Festival
The Guadalajara International Film Festival is a week-long film festival held each March in the Mexican city of Guadalajara. The festival is considered the most prestigious film festival in Latin America and among the most important Spanish language film festivals in the world...
Mexico, Sydney Travelling Film Festival, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria International Film Festival
Las Palmas de Gran Canaria International Film Festival
The Las Palmas de Gran Canaria International Film Festival is an international film festival that is held in Las Palmas in the island of Gran Canaria in the Canary Islands. The festival takes place every year...
, Human Rights Arts and Film Festival
Human Rights Arts and Film Festival
The Human Rights Arts and Film Festival was formed in 2007 in Melbourne.The Festival founders, Evelyn Tadros and Naziath Mantoo, were inspired by human rights film festivals held overseas such as The New Zealand Human Rights Film Festival, the New Orleans International Human Rights Film Festival,...
HRAFF 2010, Focus on Asia Fukuoka International Film Festival 2010 , Global Lens USA 2010, Dialogue of Cultures Film Festival New York 2011 and SVAW Film Fesival Melbourne 2011, etc.
Controversy surrounded the film when unauthorized copies of the film hit the black market in Tehran extensively. In July 2011, Iranian authorities arrested Vafamehr, reportedly for acting in the film without proper islamic hijab and with a shaved head. She was sentenced to one year in prison and 90 lashes, but an appeals court later reduced her sentence to only three months imprisonment. She was released in October 2011.
The irony of this incident is that the plot of the film is as follows:
"Marzieh is a young female actress living in Tehran. The authorities ban her theatre work and, like so many young people in Iran, she is forced to lead a secret life in order to express herself artistically. At an underground rave, she meets Iranian born Saman, now an Australian citizen, who offers her a way out of her country and the possibility of living without fear."