Djomeh Interview: Hassan Yektapanah

Q. You worked as an assistant director for long time before this debut with Djomeh. A. I was an assistant director for 19 years, and I spent 13 years with Ali Hatami. Then I became an assistant director for Abbas Kiarostami and it felt like a whole new world opened up in front of me. I had chances to debut as a director even before meeting him, but I could not use these chances because I was not sure what I wanted to shoot. At last, when I met Ali Hatami, I discovered something I had been looking for. This encounter with him not only changed my vision of filming, but also that of my life. Q. Why did you choose a young Afghani as the main character? A. Currently, there are 4 million Afghanis in Iran. Marriage between an Afghani and Iranian is prohibited. One of the reasons I chose to portray a young Afghani as the main role is to protest against those things. I don't believe in categorizing people all over the world. People need bread and water, and people need love even more. The idea that there is a need for love that has nothing to do with religion or nationality was one of my motives in creating this film. Q. It seems like Iran is producing young and talented directors one after another. Is there any reason for this? A. The history of Iranian film did not begin overnight. Before the Islamic revolution there were great directors such as Sohrab Shahid-Saless. The technical standard of Iranian film is not high, but if we can improve it, we will see even greater film from Iran. Director's Profile: Born in Iran in 1963. Has worked as an assistant director for many Iranian filmmakers including Abbas Kiarostami and Jafar Panahi. Djomeh is his first feature-length work.