In this blog post I will research not so well-known artist - Ali Soozandeh. I have seen his debut movie when I was 16 and it really impressed me. In 2017 I was a part of a youth jury on a TOFIfest movie festival and that meant, I needed to go and see all the competition movies. At that point in my life I saw myself in a film school, pursuing directing. I was into mature cinematography, independent cinema and really deep messages. It's been four years and I have changed in that time. I became more interested in children psychology and creating content for kids. I became more inspired by animation and the magic of it. However, everything I have learned when I was watching movies daily is still with me. When I saw Soozandeh's animation, it was the first time I thought about animation as a media that could also be directed at adults. A media that would raise incredibly difficult topics and problems. The specific animation I am mentioning here is called 'Tehran Taboo' and I am going to look more in depth into this piece of art. I chose to look at it, because 'Tehran Taboo' raises very difficult and delicate subjects in a way that a viewer memorizes them.
Ali Soozandeh was born in Iran, studied art in the capital city of Iran - Tehran; he moved to Germany when he was 25 years old (Semaine de la critique Cannes, n.d.).
'Tehran Taboo' is an animation that raises some real issues of the middle east countries. It visualize the problems of that world that people from western countries do not see, because they really are a taboo. The main problem that the movie talks about it sexuality in Iran. In an interview in Cannes, Soozandeh mentions that the movie is mostly about the taboo that people make out of the subject of sexuality, not only in Iran but in general Iranian people even when they live abroad (Soozandeh, 2017). It is about the culture that they were raised in. The culture where sexuality is something no one talks about, something that makes people ashamed of themselves.
This is where I see a link to my own project. Even though my project has nothing to do with what 'Tehran Taboo' is about, my animation will focus on something that in many cultures is still considered a taboo subjects. There is a stigma around mental health that people should feel ashamed when they are struggling and they should not show their weakness to the world. This is something I am trying to fight, exactly like Soozandeh tried to raise awareness of the taboo that is sexuality in Iran. I just see it as two normal things, that are taboo for no reason since both of them are natural for human beings.
Here is a trailer for 'Tehran Taboo': [Trigger warning: nudity, sexual violence, violence, bad language, death].
As I have mentioned in the trigger warning, the movie touches highly delicate subjects and is very difficult for people any age. The director explains that there are two types of people: the ones who love this movie and the ones who hate it; the second group hates it because they don't like what the film shows them about themselves (Soozandeh, 2017). I think a movie so relatable that people chose to dislike it because of how honest it is, is truly a masterpiece.
In an interview with Sandrine Marques, Soozandeh mentiones that he remembers his childhood in Iran colorful, but later in life those colors would fade away and it is why large parts of this movie are shown from a child's perspective (Soozandeh, n.d.). Generally children do not see the bad things until they start understanding what is going on. Understanding comes from education and children that don't have the education to understand big problems, just do not see it. The movie shows very dark problems, but the child's perspective makes it more hopeful, makes it seem not as bad because of the lack of understanding. Just that makes people wish they were children and they did not understand certain things, it would make it all easier. Even going further that direction, there are movies about the Second World War shot from a child's perspective and the lack of understanding is helpful in those cases, for instance an Italian film from 1999 'La vita e bella'. This is a perfect example of when the fact that a child does not understand a problem, makes the problem nonexistent for them.
Going back to 'Tehran Taboo', I also wanted to mention the type of animation that is used in this piece.
'Well, animation was one way to avoid censorship. But I think that animation gives us the opportunity to talk about the problems with a distance that we don't have in live action. Since the images are not as concrete as a live action, they create a bigger space in the minds of the audience for self-imagination. (Soozandeh, 2018).'
This is a very long quote, but I think it is very real and I just think it is important mentioning. Animation causes the sort of distance and when issues are extremely delicate, the distance is needed. For me personally, if this movie was a live action, it would be too heavy. It would make me uncomfortable with the amount of graphic scenes that were highly difficult to take and understand. It would be difficult for me, a person who has nothing to do with the Iranian culture, I cannot even imagine how it would be for people born and raised for this culture. Animation does take some of that seriousness away, but it does not make the film not difficult or not serious. It makes it more bearable. I think this is why animation is a good media to talk about difficult subjects. It makes people understand it but not feel attacked or offended. I like this thinking and I think it is true.
The method the movie is animated in is called rotoscoping. Rotoscoping is changing the live action into animation by drawing over the frames of the live action movie. Soozandeh chose this method because he wanted to tell an authentic story and for that he wanted the characters to look real (Soozandeh, n.d.). I can see how this was a good idea in this case. It makes the animation real but still animated. It is difficult to explain but it somehow makes sense.
This research gave me ideas on how to approach difficult subjects. I could link this movie to my project work through thinking about how it is considered taboo. I also learned that people tend to not like something that makes them learn about their own personalities and makes them see something they don't like about themselves. I also got to observe an animator from a Middle Eastern country that created an animation that was awarded on multiple international festivals and was nominated to an award in Cannes. I think that shows the success of the film itself. I like observing animators from different countries and see their way of achieving success, because it shows me different understanding of achievement and different works from all over the world. I can see how this artist created about something he felt passionate about and something he knew was a problem. It reminds me of myself with this term's project. I feel passionate about the subject, I see it as a taboo and I want to change it. The urge to change the world is good, I will not change the entire world but I may change the world for one person. I am sure some people who watched 'Tehran Taboo' felt relieved after watching it, they realized that some things they were doing or believing were normal and that they were not alone. I want my animation to do the same for people. I want them to feel understood and surrounded by others.
Soozandeh, A. (2017), Interview Ali Soozandeh (TEHRAN TABOO), Interviewed by Semaine de la critique Cannes, [Online Film] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xHRX8L57Co (Accessed: 21/04/2021).
The thing about using animation to tell stories such as this is we get drawn into it, thinking it will have a 'softer' approach than live action, when in reality telling a serious story hits harder as we are not always expecting it. This is relatable to what you are doing this term, using animation to discuss and raise awareness of mental health issues.
The thing about using animation to tell stories such as this is we get drawn into it, thinking it will have a 'softer' approach than live action, when in reality telling a serious story hits harder as we are not always expecting it. This is relatable to what you are doing this term, using animation to discuss and raise awareness of mental health issues.
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