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M&C
interviewed director/writer Bahman Ghobadi of the
Iranian AMPAS entry for Best Foreign Film, “Turtles
Can Fly” (Lakposhtha hâm parvaz mikonand). Ghobadi
is emerging as the pioneer film maker of the
Kurdistan region of Iran/Iraq. His two previous
feature films are “A Time for Drunken Horses” and
“Songs of My Motherland.” “Turtles” will open in the
USA on a limited basis on February 18, 2005.
Ghobadi made “Turtles” with completely untrained
child actors that he recruited from the region. He
made the movie expressly to show how the lives of
the children are affected by the war, and how the
people are affected by the encroachment of foreign
media in the area.
The interview by was conducted by telephone via
an interpreter with Ghobadi in Iran.
M&C: You were born in Iranian Kurdistan.
Where did you live after that?
Ghobadi: I never
lived outside of Kurdistan or the country of Iran. I
was born and raised in a city in Iranian Kurdistan
on the border of Iran and Iraq. At the age of
eleven, my father moved our family to avoid the
violence of the area. We moved away from the border
to another city, still in Iran. When I am in Tehran
I don’t like the smog, the pollution and the noise.
I can’t think or work well in the city. I much
prefer to be in the country working on films, in
peace.
M&C: Why did you shoot “Turtles” in Iraqi
Kurdistan? Why not Iran, your native country,
considering the areas look alike and the Kurdish
people are indistinguishable across the borders?
Ghobadi: Iraqi
Kurdistan is definitely worse than the Iran side
with regard to land mines and orphaned and abused
children. There is little difference in the
geography of Kurdistan in either country, but there
are more mines in Iraq. I would love to shoot a film
in Turkey if the country would allow it, but that is
very unlikely. I want to see all sides of the
conflicts and I want my audience to see all side as
well. The Kurdish people do not recognize the
borders of any of the three nations. They are their
own nation regardless of the other borders.
The situation in Turkish Kurdistan is far worse than
in either Iran or Iraq. Iran and Iraq had foreign,
British and Brazilian, troops on hand when the
genocide of the Kurds was taking place. In Turkey
there are no such troops to even slightly leak news
of the atrocities. They take place in secret and
continue unchecked as the figures in power proceed.
There is no recognition of the Kurdish people as
human beings in Turkey. They are slaughtered
namelessly and without record. There are no crimes
against humanity because there is no visibility.
M&C: Describe how you identified the (child)
actors in the film. Were there auditions? Are the
children from Baghdad or Kurdistan?
Ghobadi: It was
a very long process. There were 300 people to help
me with pre-production. As there are no professional
actors in the region, no film industry of any kind
and not even a concept of acting, we had to find our
own cast. My pre-production army drove from city to
city with cameras and took pictures of many children
who could possibly be suited for the roles. All of
the children are from Iraqi Kurdistan. The girl lead
(Avaz Latif) lived in a village with no
electricity—a very rural environment. Soran Ebrahim
(Satellite in the film) is the only child who knew
about television. I lived with the children for
quite a time and respect them immensely. The camera
is secondary to their comfort and well being, and
the acting. They must be comfortable to be
themselves and portray the accurate picture that is
required on screen.
M&C: Do the children of Kurdistan really dig
up land mines and sell them? Did Hirsh Feyssal lose
his arms in a mine incident?
Ghobadi: Many
children who lost arms to various forms of mines and
unexploded shells are traumatized and will hardly
speak, let alone get in front of the camera. This
child was very different. When he was seven years
old, he was playing in an area with old artillery
shells and unexploded bombs, a former battleground.
There were downed high voltage power lines or there
were lines that had been covered and were uncovered
by the explosions. He saw a bird caught in the
electrical cables and he freed the bird from the
cables. But in so-doing he was electrocuted by high
voltage and his arms were burned off. In spite of
this, he had no fear of the camera and agreed to be
in the film.
M&C: The film shows the children digging up
the mines and selling them to the local
mine-monger—was this part of a UN humanitarian
program? What did the buyer do with the mines?
Ghobadi: It is
very much a reality that Kurdish children dig up the
mines and sell them. The buyer is part of a bigger
organization that resells the mines back to the
government. The government then re-buries them in
the ground as required for future conflicts. The
cycle is never ending. The children are killed, the
mines are dug up, they are re-buried, and more
children are killed in digging them back up. This is
the tragedy of the region.
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