Tehran without permission |
Slide me
Written and Directed by Sepideh Farsi - Photo : Sepideh Farsi Jean-Jacques Mréjen - Music: Hichkas - Editing : Sepideh Farsi - Producer : Javad Djavahery
Tehran as you have never seen it before!
An immersion into this fascinating, fast changing megalopolis.
Showing different facets of the city which gives the pulse to the whole country, with all the tensions and contradictions it contains.
| This is Tehran, a city Where everything is provocation A provocation to the soul A dump… Where you think you're scum In a world of wolves, you can't be a lamb Open your eyes Damn it, this is Tehran, This is no joke No place here for free candy and roses It's a jungle Eat or be eaten up People are half crazed, half savage With a gap between rich and poor That makes you sick They ride side by side In the same cab And no one wants to pay the fare The truth is clear but I'll make it clearer Just stay right here and don't run off Wake up God Wake up God This scum wants to talk to you The peddler's cart standing next to the Mercedes Him and his belongings, barely equal to one tire We all come from the same drop But look at the gap I need to talk to you |
You haven't seen any thing This is just the beginning The earth doesn't turn on gravity It turns on money And nowadays money comes before God You're either a master or a slave You wanna play with an orphan But your dad says no 'Cause the orphan's shirt is dirty And he’s only got one We're all aware of the catastrophe How the Angels have gone Refuse to get involved in this hassle But we don't need anything Your tears are enough Only those who suffer understand me And I’ve got a lot to say Wake up God We gotta talk Wake up God Don't get mad at me You haven't seen anything It's just the beginning Wake up God This scum wants to talk to you Excerpt of the opening song of the film Tehran (Asphalt Jungle) by HICHKAS |
Director’s statement
The above lines, well illustrate the atmosphere of Tehran, even if, only underlining the social issues and not the other complexities of this fascinating megalopolis.
Tehran Without Permission is a collage-like-portrait of Tehran. A city, which I left in my teen-years, but to which I remain extremely attached, and which in my opinion, gives the real pulse of the country. The situation now being extremely tense, in terms of the economical pressure, which Iranians endure, as well as the repression, which everyone, specially the younger generation, is subject to.
As such, the city of Tehran carries many contradictions, in a combination of religion and laicism, tradition and modernism, poverty and wealth, youth and coming of age, high-tech and retro urbanism, all that mixed with a strong doze of urban culture.
I decided to shoot the film with a pocket camera (a Nokia, to be precise) in order to be totally anonymous. As a result of which I not only escaped the supervision of the authorities, but also reduced the presence of the camera and mingled with people (with hardly any intermediary), yet managed to keep my mobility while shooting, in order to share the physical sensations of Tehran with the spectators.
The film is an attempt to give another picture of Tehran, a very fresh, casual, yet intimate one.
Festival dei Popoli (Florence) : Best documentary Prize / Nov 2007
Sguardi Altrove (Milan) / March 2008
FrauenFilmFestival (Cologne) / April 2008
Tekfestival (Rome) / May 2008
