"Actress's Ears" Put Film Screening in
Jeopardy Iranian ActressPantea Bahram Reacts to the Removal of Film from Iranian Film Festival
Iranwire, Saturday, Jan 30, 2021
We
pay the price for being woman. Being "woman" and being in this cinema is not
easy!
Objections have been raised to a new horror
and crime thriller, directed by Hamid
Nematollah, at Iran's 39th Fajr Film Festival because of the shaved head of Leila Hatami, the film's leading
actress. But is it the hair or the ears that are the problem?
Panthea Bahram, a famous Iranian movie and theater
actress whose presence last year with shaved head at the press conference to the movie Butterfly
Swimming made news ; by publishing a note reacted to the removal of "Killer and
Wild" from the Fajr Film Fest event.
Last week, when the news about the removal of "Killer and
Wild" from the Fajr Film Fest was published, local news agencies said that the main
reason for the film's exclusion was the leading actress, Leila Hatami's, shaved head and her exposed ears.
Panthea Bahram has now
written a note referring to this issue: "These days we again hear a lot
about ears, censorship, cinema and women! About the ears of "women", which seem to have been
created only for listening to the commands of "men"!
Oh, I'm sorry! I have to say something "good". Rules of "etiquette"
demand that I say something that "can" be said! In the midst of this repetitive uproar, they say:
Other films too have been screened in recent years in which
women appear with shaved heads, but nothing did happen!
No friends! Not this much easy! We pay the price for being
"women" by mixing concepts, arguments, legal or religious matters, and lawless issues that do not
become lawful! I also paid a price by attending the press conference to a film in which I appeared in the
same form!
Being "woman" and being in this cinema is not easy!
Hamid Nematollah is an
Iranian scriptwriter and director. He received a Diploma of Honor for the Best Screenplay for ‘Penniless’ (2008) from
the Fajr International Film Festival.