 On The Border of DesperationWe hear about Iran and Iraq in the news but this doc shows the desperation we never see. Read what filmmaker Nima Sarvestani tells us about creating this film.
Question: What is your background in documentary filmmaking? A:Before I came to Sweden I was a journalist at a newspaper. As I came here in 1984 I started to make documentary films. One reason for this was that my knowledge of Swedish was not enough to work as a journalist. As time went on I gained a good command of Swedish and started to cooperate with the Swedish television and Film Institute. Q: Briefly, what or whom is your documentary film about? A: As a former political activist in Iran I am mostly interested in social topics. Most of my documentaries are about social problems outside the daily political reporting’s of the media. The characters of my films fight against miserable life conditions and I try to show their struggle for a better life. Q: What led you to create this doc? A: I was a reporter for the Swedish television during the war against Saddam Hossein. While I was working there I saw a large number of dead horses alongside the roads. I grew curious and asked for the reason of this. I then understood that a number of people are engaged in smuggling different things, especially petrol, from Iran to Iraq and that the horses were shot by the Iraqi police and custom officers. There the idea of the documentary was born. Three years later I went back in order to make a research on this matter. I soon learned that miserable life conditions were the reason for this kind of smuggling and decided to create this documentary. Q: What were the obstacles to overcome while producing the film? Dangers? A: One of the main obstacles while filming in areas of this kind is that you have to cope with a prevailing insecurity. The insecurity does not only regard the dangers that are combined with the lives of the people, engaged in smuggling, but also to the governments that issue admissions they can annul at any time.Filming in Iran needs different kinds of admission that are hard to acquire. To film in the Kurdish part of Iran is still more restricted. Filming on the border is combined with great danger as the authorities can regard you as a spy and you can actually been condemned to death. Q: Where is your film being shown, any plans for distribution? Will it be available to see in Iran or Iaq? A: To begin with the film was shown by the Swedish television. The response was overwhelming. Many people said that it was a great idea to show how people lived in this part of the world and they had never seen anything like this. Some people even offered themselves to help the characters of the film.I asked SVT sale to distribute the film. Up to now several institutes have shown interest. Norway, Denmark, and Belgium have decided to broadcast the film. Iran would not accept any film of the kind to be distributed or broadcasted, because they regard it to be against the regime. There is a chance that the film will be shown in Iraq though. Q: Next projects for you? A: I am making a film on the situation of Afghan women and their struggle for human rights and emancipation. I have already started producing the film that is called “I was worth 50 sheep”. During the last five months I have traveled to Afghanistan together with my team several times and hope that the film will be finished in 2010. Website or any other plug you might want to include in this article? Next Airing dates are: July 9th @ 3pm ET July 15th @ 6pm ET July 21st @ 7pm ET Aug 7th @ 8pm ET
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