Art triumphs over politics at popular fest

"There is fear here, yes, but not panic," says producer-director Bahman Farmanara, who moved back to Iran from the U.S. to make films. His "A House Built on Water" -- which won both the best film award in this year's national competition and a mention from the international jury -- is relentlessly frank in describing the disillusioned, aimless lives that many Iranians say they lead.

Despite the alarming international climate, however, most of the regular distribs and fest programmers showed up on schedule for the event, which ran Feb. 1-10.

The thriving arthouse market for new Iranian films has shown no signs of abatement after Sept. 11. On the contrary, it has provoked greater curiosity about the Middle East and has proven a boon for films like Mohsen Makhmalbaf's "Kandahar," set in Afghanistan and featured in fest's 30-title sidebar on the country.

The director's new digital-video docu "Afghan Alphabet" explores kids' education, or lack of it. He and his prize-winning family of filmmakers, including daughter Samira ("The Apple," "Blackboards") and wife Marziyeh Meshkini ("The Day I Became a Woman"), have set aside new film projects to concentrate on the Afghan Children Education Movement, which they founded last year to put pressure on the Iranian government to educate the 500,000 young refugees who are living in the country illegally, and to build schools in Afghanistan.

The refugee situation was reflected in a personal drama involving an Afghani actor. Jalil Nazari, the talented young lead in the Cannes prize-winning film "Djomeh," was refused re-entry into Iran after attending last year's Hamburg Film Festival. As an Afghani without legal documents, he ended up in a German refugee camp. His plight is movingly chronicled in the docu "Heaven's Path" by Mahmud Behraznia.

Focus on society's ills

Social themes dominated the 22 new Iranian films presented this round. Despite the unprecedented, one-week arrest of film director Tamineh Milani in August, filmmakers were bolder than ever in showing the oppression of women, abortion, drug addiction and poverty. Most of these films seemed to be of more sociological than artistic interest and to have little chance of going far.

There were exceptions, such as Farmanara's "A House Built on Water" and the charming but chilling portrait of an unwed mother, "I, Taraneh, am 15," directed by veteran Rasul Sadr-Ameli.

Though snubbed by the juries, Dariush Mehrjui's "Bemani" impressed many observers. In this provincial horror story, three young women's lives are destroyed by the ultra-conservative society in which they live. Ebrahim Hatamikia's "Low Altitude," an exhilarating mix of comedy and drama about an airplane hijacking, may be of interest to adventurous distribs.

Omitted from program

Three of the most significant new productions weren't screened at the fest for various reasons. Abbas Kiarostami is wrapping post-production on "Ten," a film about women that he shot by himself on DV. "Letters in the Wind," the feature debut by Alireza Amini about young soldiers on leave in Tehran, was removed from the program by producer Sureh Cinema, which recently switched to more conservative management.

Finally, the hard-hitting first feature "Women's Prison," based on a year's worth of research by director Manijeh Hekmat, was not only kept out of the festival but, when the producers arranged a private screening for foreign guests, Hekmat was threatened with arrest in a phone call from the national security service. The screening was canceled.

'Love' in the air

In a simple, finely staged closing ceremony, which for the first time included music, song and dance, Jean Luc Godard's "Eloge de l'Amour" (In Praise of Love) received the best film nod, with "Joint Security Area" by South Korean helmer Park Chan Wook getting the special jury prize.

The one U.S. winner was Jack Nicholson, named best actor for "The Pledge." Career awards went to former Berlin fest chief Moritz de Hadeln, who presided over the international jury, and Paris-based cinematographer Darius Khondji ("Evita," "Seven," "Alien 3: Resurrection") It was Khondji's first trip to Iran since he left the country in 1958, when he was 3.