Documentary Producer Hasin Lamei Protests to IRIB: This Was Not My Work
Hossein Lamei, director and producer of the documentary “Saint,” complained on his Instagram page about the “mutilation and slaughter” of his work after it was broadcast on IRIB Channel 3. He wrote: “The documentary broadcast on Channel 3 was not my work.”
On the second day of Mordad (July 24), coinciding with the death anniversary of Ahmad Shamloo (Bamdad), the renowned contemporary poet, Iran’s third television network broadcast a documentary called “Saint” produced by Hossein Lamei.
The documentary is about great figures of Iranian literature such as Nima Yushij, Forugh Farrokhzad, Ebrahim Golestan, and Ahmad Shamloo. However, the filmmaker stated in a protest posted on Instagram that the film had been “slaughtered.”
Hossein Lamei wrote: “Tonight, the documentary ‘Saint’ was broadcast from IRIB Channel 3 under conditions that bore no resemblance whatsoever to the documentary I made. My ‘Saint’ was 73 minutes long, but the broadcast documentary was only 50 minutes! About 23 minutes of it was not censored—it was slaughtered. Demolished. Destroyed. Had I made a pornographic documentary that it would be so mutilated?!”
In his protest statement, the documentary filmmaker explained that his film was about Forugh Farrokhzad, Nima, Ebrahim Golestan, and the great figures of Iranian literature and art, and he had dedicated it to Ebrahim Golestan and Nima, but IRIB Channel 3 deleted 23 minutes of it “shot by shot.”
Apparently, because Iranian television broadcast this film on the anniversary of Shamloo’s death, they shortened other sections. Lamei wrote that “my criticisms also stand by Shamloo.”
The broadcast of this film on IRIB Channel 3, which apparently at least in its broadcast version is against Ahmad Shamloo, faced significant criticism on social media. Yashar Sultani, a journalist, wrote on Twitter: “Farrokhi is a fine-toothed comb of Adel Haddad Gandhi. With just one person alongside Adel-killing, they drain the audience of national media and with Mazdak-scattering for foreign media, they court the audience, and then disgust the rest of the audience by scratching Shamloo’s face. Which cultural infiltrator can conduct such destructive activity against Iran?”
Another user named Amir Raei-fard also wrote on Twitter: “The management team of IRIB Channel 3 led by Farrokhi is attacking Ahmad Shamloo in the most despicable way possible. Rootless fools should know that as long as the world exists, Shamloo will remain, and it is thieves, embezzlers, and infiltrators who will be forgotten.”
On Wednesday, the second of Mordad, coinciding with the broadcast of this documentary from IRIB Channel 3, when those interested in Shamloo intended to visit his grave, they faced obstruction by security personnel.
The Iranian Writers’ Association had previously issued a call for a Shamloo commemoration, but according to eyewitnesses, personnel blocked the doors of Imam Zada Tahir and prevented attendees from entering the cemetery grounds.
Nineteen years have passed since Ahmad Shamloo’s death. His gravestone at Imam Zada Tahir has been attacked and broken several times. Gatherings at his grave have also been met with bans and sometimes arrests of participants every year.
Source: DW
