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Ebrahim Hatamikia

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Ebrahim Hatamikia
ابراهیم حاتمی‌کیا
Hatamikia in Fajr International Film Festival 2020
Born (1961-09-23) 23 September 1961 (age 63)
Tehran, Iran
NationalityIranian
EducationScreenwriting
Alma materTehran University of Art
Occupation(s)Film director, Screenwriter, Cinematographer and Actor
Years active1979–present
ChildrenNayereh
Yousef
Esmaeil
AwardsFull list
Military career
AllegianceIran
Service / branchRevolutionary Guards
Years of service1980s
UnitAudiovisual unit
Battles / warsIran–Iraq War

Ebrahim Hatamikia (Persian: ابراهیم حاتمی‌کیا, romanized: Ebrāhīm Ḥātamīkīā; born 23 September 1961) is an Iranian film director, screenwriter, cinematographer and actor. Hatamikia is a prolific proponent of films depicting the Iran–Iraq War's impact on Iran.[1] His films are considered some of the best ever made in the genre of Iranian war cinema[2] and most notable for their attention to social changes brought about by the war.[3] Also, he is best known for his explorations of the trauma by the war; both on returning soldiers and those who await them, unable to mourn effectively without knowing the fate of their loved ones.[4]

Career

[edit]

Ebrahim Hatamikia is among of the filmmakers of the new generation of the cinema of Iran after Iranian Revolution,[5] who is internationally renowned for his role in the cinema of Iran in the 1990s. He was born in 1961 in Tehran to a Persian father and Azeri mother. He began his directing career with some short films and documentaries about the Iran–Iraq War. His movies are considered to be the best that tackle the war and the issues surrounding it. His works have often received admiration in national film festivals. The Glass Agency and In the Name of the Father have won him the best screenplay and directing awards in the sixteenth and twenty-fourth Fajr International Film Festival respectively.

I truly did not come to the war from cinema; rather,
I discovered cinema through being in the war.

— Ebrahim Hatamikia[6]

Hatamikia is now considered as an icon of professional religious filmmakers in Iran.[7] The name of Ebrahim Hatamikia was heard for the first time in the short films section of the 3rd Fajr International Film Festival. His The Path (1985) received honors and was recognized by the jury for excellence in presenting a theme related to the war.[3] Hatamikia's early war-related features The Scout (1989) and The Immigrant (1990) explored the psychological and sociological impact of the war on the home front. In his subsequent glossy feature From Karkheh to Rhein (1993), he explored the psychology of a disabled veteran on a medical trip to Germany, adding to the war theme the tension of the direct contact with the West and of displacement to foreign lands.[8] From Karkheh to Rhein considered as an anti-war film.[9] Hatamikia in From Karkheh to Rhein and The Glass Agency have depicted the complex processes of re-integration and re-assimilation, particularly for veterans who were chemically injured or suffered chronic illnesses.[10] The two are particularly praised by Hezbollahi citizens in Iran.[11] Also, Hatamikia's in From Karkheh to Rhein is particularly interesting in connection with the discourse of the Iranian diaspora during the war.[12]

The Glass Agency (1998) portrayed the feelings and life conditions of those who expunged from the public sphere and lost out from Rafsanjani's neoliberalisation. It tells the story of two former soldiers which despite enduring sacrifices by participating in the war, did not enjoy any of the material rewards coming from post-war reconstruction,[13] and had criticized the government's hypocrisy of turning veterans into symbolic heroes but not actually caring for them.[14] By the film, Hatamikia had provoked the government, which then took him to court over the film and barred its release for a while. The Glass Agency is a metaphor for the glass house that Iran became after the war, where internal conflicts have been more salient than international ones.[15] As Esha Momeni noted, it seems that Hatamikia is criticizing the state for that issue, however martyrdom's glorification by him, continues to serve the state by covering up its deficiencies in the post-war era.[16] As Hamid Naficy notes, the film deals with the crisis of reintegrating war veterans into a society that nearly a decade after the war's end seems apathetic to their plight. in addition to criticize the government, it critiques society, which revered the soldiers but now wants to get on with life.[17]

In Amethyst Color (2005) was banned from screening by the order of the Ministry of Intelligence because the film depicts the image of a security official. His other film, Dead Wave (2001) was also prohibited from screening by the demand of military officials. However, that both films were screened in Iranian cinemas at a later time.[18] Despite the IRGC's strong footprint on post-revolutionary cinema, many of Iran's most important directors such as Ebrahim Hatamikia, Rasoul Mollagholipour, Mojtaba Ra'i [fa], and Ahmad-Reza Darvish, who were products of this system of support, have increasingly moved away from the war movies promoted by the IRGC. The situation has reached a point where an important war movie director, Ebrahim Hatamikia publicly criticizes the interference of military personnel in cultural and artistic activities.[19] He talked about this in the press conference for his new film Dead Wave, which has yet to be released despite the fact that it was produced by Ravayat-e Fath Foundation. In fact, reportedly the producer prevented the movie, which is about a military commander obsessed with attacking an American warship who also has problems with his son, from being screened. A very high quality video of this movie was however widely and illegally distributed.[20]

Cinematic style

[edit]

As of Richard Peña, The Red Ribbon (1999) reminds a bit of some of the later absurdist dramas by Fernando Arrabal. It is a dense and highly metaphoric drama involving three characters and set in a tank graveyard in the no-man's-land between Iran and Iraq.[21] He aspires to the technical sophistication of Hollywood.[22]

Hatamikia was one of the few war filmmakers with a previous background in Super 8 and animated film production who joined Jihad's Television unit and the IRGC's Audiovisual unit in 1986.[6] He uses the war and its extreme situations as a vehicle to negotiate camouflaged taboo topics.[23] In From Karkheh to Rheine a few veterans doubt about their participation in the war.[24] The television series The Red Soil (2002–2003) momentarily exposes the absurdity of the concept of the nation as a homogeneous entity, with depiction of the confusion around which side of the border belongs on during the Iraqi occupation while portrays in-between spaces of an Iranian Arab and an Iraqi Arab.[25]

His films brilliantly deal with the different and unexpected types of returns. Through the image of exiles seen in From Karkheh to Rhein and The Scent of Joseph's Shirt, Roxanne Varzi notes that the audience come to understand the international scope of the war, and that what binds a nation is so much more than land. Hatamikia believes none Iranian could escape the mark of war, by virtue of association. Therefore, every Iranian takes part in the act of mourning.[26] His films open a new and safe realm for mourning through presenting the nation with its death in a beautiful and artistic way. Aftermore, by influences of Morteza Avini in The Chronicles of Victory (1986–1988) war documentary television series, Hatamikia depicts returning from the imaginary realm through the very visual realm that made that journey possible. At the same time that these films reinstate the importance of faith, they stress the importance of remaining in the realm of the real, with those who are still with us.[27] In The Glass Agency, he envisages martyrdom as the only possible and proper ending for a war veteran.[16] He draw on the themes of the Karbala paradigm, specially martyrdom and self-sacrifice,[28] and employs elements of the Ta'ziyeh.[7] Also, concept of Mostaz'af is present in his films.[29]

In particular, Hatamikia's melodramas have been the hallmark of war films after Morteza Avini's films of the Sacred Defense. Hatamikia's films centered on the trauma of war veterans and the destitute lives they have lived in the post-war period, while Avini's films promoted the heroism of soldiers and the necessity of fighting for the Islamic Republic, however both directors have upheld a somber vision of the war hero.[30]

Even though the war cinema addresses the ideological, charismatic and populist characteristics of the political system, these are raised in the context of war, not as political criticism. In effect these films belong to the war genre rather than a political genre. Because of the agitated political atmosphere of the country, many films were considered political. This was because people were searching for symbolism when analyzing these films.[31] Ebrahim Hatamikia shot From Karkheh to Rhine in Germany, a country in the West. The film is a call for reunion, for the return of women who have been alienated by the Revolution, especially those who have physically left home for the West. In this film, the split between men and women — in this case brother and sister — and the cultural space between them are shown by the different countries in which they live. The westernized sister has to be reconciled with her radical religious Iranian brother.[32] the film was a powerful indictment of the failures of the state to honour its soldiers. Though highly acclaimed by Adineh [fa] and other art magazines, Kayhan was quick to denounce the film as yet another example of failure of the cinema to mark the successes and glories of the war. The paper warned its readers about the new immoral trend and noted that yet again the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance was at fault; its cinema section had provided a $1 million budget for the film.[33]

The Scent of Joseph's Shirt (1996) is Hatamikia's first female-centric film. The female characters in Hatamikia's films usually have a visible presence even though they may not be the main characters.[34]

The war era has become the theme of many films, with some of them representing the situation of cities in the wartime. Hatamikia in Union of the Good (1992) portrays the general image of Tehran as a quiet city that turned to a location of a rocket war and sometimes this calmness and quietness breaks with the sound of ambulances and fire-fighting alarms.[35]

Recognition

[edit]

Hatamikia is one of the most notable members of a group of Iranian filmmakers who experienced the Iran-Iraq War[36] and one of the first Basij filmmakers that took a critical look at post-war Iran by portraying the disillusionment of war veterans and their treatment by both secular society and the government that reneged on its promises. His films appeal to a broad audience because they delicately tread the thin line between what many secular Iranians define as typical Basij government propaganda and the secular anti-government sentiment. In so doing, his films have allowed a space for Iranians to begin to think about and debate the war. Also, they have encouraged a generation of young Iranians to rethink the war and revolutionary values in general.[37]

His ability to translate an American film scenario for an Iranian audience and make it look like the Iran-Iraq war points to the universality of war, is an issue which overlooked by film critics. However The Glass Agency (1998) was dismissed by American critics as nothing more than an attempt to make an Iranian version of Dog Day Afternoon (Sidney Lumet, 1975), Hatamikia went on to make other imitations, like The Red Ribbon (1999), which looks a lot like The English Patient (Anthony Minghella, 1996).[38]

Political views

[edit]

He criticized assassination attempt of the reformist Saeed Hajjarian by writing an open letter to the nation.[39]

Filmography

[edit]
Key
† Denotes films that have not yet been released

as director

[edit]

Short films

[edit]
Title Year Credited as Notes Ref(s)
Writer Other
The Promised 1982[a] Yes — Animation film
Proud's Sequel 1982[a] Yes —
Blinds of Heart 1982[a] Yes —
Sacred Soil 1985[b] Yes No [40]
The Path 1985[b] Yes No [41]
The Red Carcanet 1986[b] Yes Yes Also cinematographer [42]

Feature films

[edit]
Title Year Credited as Notes Ref(s)
Writer Other
Identity 1987[b] Yes No [43]
The Scout 1989[b] Yes No [44]
The Immigrant 1990[b] Yes No [45]
Union of the Good [fa] 1992[b] Yes No [46]
From Karkheh to Rhein 1993[b] Yes No [47]
The Green Ashes [fa] 1994[b] Yes No [48]
The Scent of Joseph's Shirt 1996[b] Yes Yes Cameo [49]
Minoo Watchtower 1996[b] Yes No [50]
The Glass Agency 1998[b] Yes No [51]
The Red Ribbon 1999[b] Yes No [52]
Dead Wave [fa] 2001[b] Yes No [53]
Low Heights 2002[b] Yes No Co-written with Asghar Farhadi [54]
In Amethyst Color 2005[b] Yes Yes Co-edited with Sohrab Khosravi [55]
In the Name of the Father 2006[b] Yes Yes Co-produced with Mohammad Pirhadi [56]
Invitation 2008[c] Yes Yes Cameo; Co-written with Chista Yasrebi [57]
The Report of a Party [fa] 2011[b] Yes No [58]
Che 2014[b] Yes No [59]
Bodyguard 2016[b] Yes Yes Cameo [60]
Damascus Time 2018[b] Yes No [61]
Exodus 2020[b] Yes No

TV series

[edit]
Title Credited as Original air date Network Ref(s)
Writer Other
The Red Soil [fa] No No 25 September 2002 – 15 January 2003 IRIB TV1 [62]
The Green Ring [fa] Yes No 20 October 2007 – 23 February 2008 IRIB TV3 [63][64]

other works

[edit]

Short films

[edit]
Title Year Credited as Director(s) Notes Ref(s)
Arise 1984 Cinematographer Nosratollah Karimi Documentary film [65]
Fátima 1995 Cinematographer — Documentary film [66]
The Glass Meeting 2017[b] Producer,
Screenwriter 		Yousef Hatamikia [67]

Feature films

[edit]
Title Year Credited as Director(s) Notes Ref(s)
Paranoia [fa] 1986[b] Camera Assistant Saeed Hajimiri [fa] Cameo
Transition 1989[b] Producer Kamal Tabrizi [68]
The Love Squadron [fa] 1998[b] Screenwriter Saeed Hajimiri [fa] Co-written with Saeed Hajimiri [fa] [69]
The Private Life of Mr. & Mrs. M [fa] 2012[b] Actor Rouhollah Hejazi [70]
The Eye of War 2016[b] Producer Yousef Hatamikia,
Mehdi Borjian 		Documentary film [71]

TV Series

[edit]
Title Year Credited as Director(s) Notes Network Ref(s)
The Chronicles of Victory 1987 Cinematographer Morteza Avini S04E05: "Magic or miracle?"
Co-photographed with Hassan Pirhadi 		IRIB TV1 [72]
1988 Cinematographer Morteza Avini S05E10: "Another shine (1)" IRIB TV1 [72]
1988 Cinematographer Morteza Avini, Himself S05E11: "Another shine (2): Mr. Saeid" IRIB TV1 [72][73]
Oil's Journey 2000 Cinematographer,
Screenwriter 		Ebrahim Asgharzadeh [fa] Documentary series in 13 episodes
Co-Written with Ebrahim Asgharzadeh [fa] 		Sahar TV [74][75]
Kolah Ghermezi 88 2009 Actor Iraj Tahmasb Himself at episode 7 IRIB TV2 [76]

Documentary appearances

[edit]
Title Year Director(s) Notes Ref(s)
The Chronology of An Unfinished Script 1999[b] Ebrahim Asgharzadeh [fa] Dead Wave [fa] making-of [77]
Friendly Persuasion: Iranian Cinema After the 1979 Revolution 2000 Jamsheed Akrami [78]
Voice of Golich Valley 2004[b] Ali-Mohammad Ghasemi [79][80]
Iran: A Cinematographic Revolution 2006 Nader Takmil Homayoun [81]
Heart-dependent 2007[b] Omid Najvan The Glass Agency making-of [82][83]
The Green Route 2008[b] Omid Najvan The Green Ring [fa] making-of [84]
The Red Ribbon 2009 Reza 'Atefi The Red Ribbon making-of [85]
Mud-Brick and Mirrors 2009 Shadmehr Rastin [fa] [86]
Root in the Soil 2010 Mohammad Khalilzadeh [87][80]
Wild Ducks 2015 Yousef Hatamikia The Report of a Party [fa] making-of [88]
Gohar Kheirandish: A Filmography 2015 Pouria Heidary Oureh [89]
Ebrahim's Dream 2017 Mahmoud Karimi Che making-of [90]
Ebrahim's Rushes 2018 — His works' making-of in 13 episodes [91]
The Robin † 2020 Sajjad Imani [92]

Awards and nominations

[edit]
Main article: List of awards and nominations received by Ebrahim Hatamikia

Footnotes

[edit]

Notes

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c Product year. The film was not screened.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af Premiere year on Gregorian calendar.
    Note that in Cinema of Iran, production year of each film on Solar Hijri calendar is considered as specific year of that film, which is a Gregorian year before the date showed here.
  3. ^ The film premiered on the same Gregorian year which the film was produced on it.

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Keddie & Richard 2003, p. 301.
  2. ^ Abecassis 2011, p. 392.
  3. ^ a b Riahi 2016, p. 184.
  4. ^ Ginsberg & Lippard 2010, p. 176.
  5. ^ Akrami 1992.
  6. ^ a b Naficy 2012, pp. 26–27.
  7. ^ a b Wittmann 2015, p. 79.
  8. ^ Naficy 2001, p. 186.
  9. ^ Ghanoonparvar 2009, p. 160.
  10. ^ Behrouzan 2015, p. 50.
  11. ^ Saeidi & Vafa 2019, p. 12.
  12. ^ Strohmaier 2019, pp. 14–15.
  13. ^ Rivetti 2020, p. 77.
  14. ^ Bajoghli 2019, p. 56.
  15. ^ Varzi 2006, p. 180.
  16. ^ a b Momeni 2019, p. 191.
  17. ^ Naficy 2012, p. 28.
  18. ^ ASL19 2014, pp. 235, 238.
  19. ^ Farhi 2004, p. 113.
  20. ^ Farhi 2004, p. 120.
  21. ^ Peña 1999, p. 71.
  22. ^ Zeydabadi-Nejad 2008, p. 133.
  23. ^ Wittmann 2015, p. 78.
  24. ^ Moallem 2018, p. 493.
  25. ^ Moallem 2018, p. 499.
  26. ^ Varzi 2006, p. 192.
  27. ^ Varzi 2006, pp. 192–193.
  28. ^ Lotfalian 2009, p. 165.
  29. ^ Moallem 2016.
  30. ^ Kim 2014, p. 159.
  31. ^ Haghighi 2002, p. 113.
  32. ^ Saeed-Vafa 2002, p. 208.
  33. ^ Omid 1994, p. 175.
  34. ^ Ghorbankarimi 2015, p. 112.
  35. ^ Goharipour 2016, p. 50.
  36. ^ Sadr 1999, p. 33.
  37. ^ Varzi 2006, p. 177.
  38. ^ Varzi 2006, p. 258.
  39. ^ Varzi 2006, p. 172.
  40. ^ "The Earth". Chronicle of Iranian Cinema. Retrieved 29 April 2020.
  41. ^ "The Way". Chronicle of Iranian Cinema. Retrieved 29 April 2020.
  42. ^ "The Red Carcanet". Chronicle of Iranian Cinema. Retrieved 29 April 2020.
  43. ^ "Identity". Chronicle of Iranian Cinema. Retrieved 29 April 2020.
  44. ^ "The Scout". Chronicle of Iranian Cinema. Retrieved 29 April 2020.
  45. ^ "The Immigrant". Chronicle of Iranian Cinema. Retrieved 29 April 2020.
  46. ^ "Union of the Good". Chronicle of Iranian Cinema. Retrieved 29 April 2020.
  47. ^ "From Karkheh to Rhein". Chronicle of Iranian Cinema. Retrieved 29 April 2020.
  48. ^ "The Green Ashes". Chronicle of Iranian Cinema. Retrieved 29 April 2020.
  49. ^ "The Scent of Joseph's Shirt". Chronicle of Iranian Cinema. Retrieved 29 April 2020.
  50. ^ "Minoo Watch-Tower". Chronicle of Iranian Cinema. Retrieved 29 April 2020.
  51. ^ "The Glass Agency". Chronicle of Iranian Cinema. Retrieved 29 April 2020.
  52. ^ "The Red Ribbon". Chronicle of Iranian Cinema. Retrieved 29 April 2020.
  53. ^ "Dead Wave". Chronicle of Iranian Cinema. Retrieved 29 April 2020.
  54. ^ "Low Heights". Chronicle of Iranian Cinema. Retrieved 29 April 2020.
  55. ^ "The Color Purple". Chronicle of Iranian Cinema. Retrieved 29 April 2020.
  56. ^ "In the Name of the Father". Chronicle of Iranian Cinema. Retrieved 29 April 2020.
  57. ^ "Invitation". Chronicle of Iranian Cinema. Retrieved 29 April 2020.
  58. ^ "Report a Celebration (The Report of a Party)". Chronicle of Iranian Cinema. Retrieved 29 April 2020.
  59. ^ "CHE". Chronicle of Iranian Cinema. Retrieved 29 April 2020.
  60. ^ "Bodyguard". Chronicle of Iranian Cinema. Retrieved 29 April 2020.
  61. ^ "Damascus Time". Chronicle of Iranian Cinema. Retrieved 29 April 2020.
  62. ^ "Hatamikia's The Red Soil will be on air from first Wednesday of Mehr" (in Persian). Iranian Students News Agency. 12 August 2002.
  63. ^ "Hatamikia's The Green Ring will launch from 28th Mehr" (in Persian). Iranian Students News Agency. 9 October 2007.
  64. ^ "In praise of love, in praise of life". Jam-e-Jam Online (in Persian). 1 March 2008.
  65. ^ "Arise". Chronicle of Iranian Cinema. Retrieved 29 April 2020.
  66. ^ Saffarian, Nasser (4 December 1995). "…thou wilt deprive the religion of splendour". Salam (in Persian). p. 7.
  67. ^ "14th Festival - The Glass Meeting". Resistance International Film Festival (in Persian). Archived from the original on 18 April 2019. Retrieved 18 April 2019.
  68. ^ "Transition". Chronicle of Iranian Cinema. Retrieved 29 April 2020.
  69. ^ "The Love Squadron". Chronicle of Iranian Cinema. Retrieved 29 April 2020.
  70. ^ "The Private Life of Mr. & Mrs. M". Chronicle of Iranian Cinema. Retrieved 29 April 2020.
  71. ^ "The Eye of War". Chronicle of Iranian Cinema. Retrieved 29 April 2020.
  72. ^ a b c Ostadi, Massoud (June 2008). "A look to film-making career of the Matryr Sayyed Morteza Avini". Shahīd-i Yārān (in Persian). Vol. 31, no. 31. Foundation of Martyrs and Veterans Affairs. pp. 90–95. OCLC 244453769 – via Noormags.
  73. ^ "The Glass Agency - Director's Biography". Varahonar film company. Retrieved 15 May 2020.
  74. ^ Najvan, Omid (June 1999). "Oil; from sea to…". Film (in Persian) (235).
  75. ^ "Sahar TV turned seventeen" (in Persian). Young Journalists Club. 16 November 2014.
  76. ^ Soufi, Parya (25 March 2009). "Hatamikia's episode of Kolah Ghermezi postponed to tomorrow". Our Cinema (in Persian). Archived from the original on 29 March 2009.
  77. ^ "The Chronology of an Unfinished Script". Chronicle of Iranian Cinema. Retrieved 29 April 2020.
  78. ^ Holden, Stephen (23 March 2001). "FILM REVIEW; Even Veils Can't Hide The Artistry Of Iranians". The New York Times. p. 22.
  79. ^ "Second day of Kish Documentary Film Festival screened Voice of Golich Valley and Sound of Moon" (in Persian). Iranian Students News Agency. 25 January 2004.
  80. ^ a b Zandi, Neda (8 August 2011). "Documentaries about the cinema". Experimental Cinema (in Persian).
  81. ^ Edwards, Russell (17 April 2007). "Iran: A Cinematographic Revolution". Variety. Vol. 406, no. 10. p. 23.
  82. ^ "A film which only one bullet is fired in it" (in Persian). Mehr News Agency. 12 May 2007.
  83. ^ Tahaminejad, Mohammad (April 2010) [September 2007]. "Portrait and biographical documentary: differences and methods (Part 2) (New edition)" (in Persian). Iranian Academy of the Arts – via Anthropology and Culture website.
  84. ^ "A documentary about an unlucky TV series" (in Persian). Mehr News Agency. 9 March 2008.
  85. ^ "New season of "A Film, An Experience" will be on air from next week" (in Persian). Mehr News Agency. 9 April 2009.
  86. ^ "Documentary Reflecting Filmmakers' View on Tehran Finished". Mehr News Agency. 9 January 2009.
  87. ^ "Root in the Soil documentary screens on the second anniversary of Nader Ebrahimi" (in Persian). Iranian Students News Agency. 24 May 2010.
  88. ^ "The director's anxieties for making of a work which that banned". Khabar Online (in Persian). 21 February 2015.
  89. ^ "Gohar Kheirandish: A Filmography premieres tomorrow in the Mellat Multiplex". Cinema World (in Persian). 11 September 2015.
  90. ^ "Ebrahim's Dream discussed" (in Persian). CinemaPress. 28 November 2017.
  91. ^ "When Hatamikia directs Low Heights" (in Persian). Holy Defense News Agency. 27 March 2018.
  92. ^ "Editing of The Robin finished" (in Persian). Borna News. 1 June 2020.

Sources

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