The strong Iranian presence in Venice reflects the country's cinematic energy

Iranian cinema is having a great year despite the many obstacles directors face, including the imprisonment.< /p>

Reflecting this burst of irrepressible cinematic energy, after a strong screening of Iranian cinema in Berlin, Cannes and Karlovy Vary, Venice has five films from the country, two of which are in competition. Additionally, Leila Hatami, star of Cannes festival jurist Asghar Farhadi's "A Separation," is a member of Venice's main jury.

"We have never received so many submissions from Iran, and many of them are good," says Venice chef Alberto Barbera. He notes that "the paradox is that this is happening at a time when the Iranian regime is among the most rigidly conservative and repressive in the world", and responds to uprisings sparked by the country's difficult economic conditions by re-incarceration of leaders such as Jafar Panahi. , whose latest film "No Bears" was released in Venice, fellow dissident filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof and others "who are trying to freely express their opposing views".

Barbera calls Panahi's "No Bears", which weaves together two parallel stories where lovers face off against hidden obstacles, including the strength of Iranian superstition and the country's power dynamics, "his best film in a decade", noting that "this is not a political film. He's actually a novelist."

Panahi and Rasoulof, in a statement released during the festival on Saturday from Evin prison in Tehran, declared that "the hope of creating again" is a "raison d'être". They also underlined that "independent cinema reflects its time. It is inspired by society. And cannot be indifferent to it."

"Somehow there is more potential in suffering", says the Iranian author Vahid Jalilvand, speaking from Tehran, whose third feature film "Beyond the Wall" premiered in competition at Venice. His first two films, "Wednesday May 9" and "No Date, No Signing," have already played in the festival's Horizons sidebar.

"There are more dilemmas, so there is more drama," adds Jalilvand. "Maybe in other Western countries or in the United States, artists have to look for the drama. But in Iran, the drama is there. We just have to find it and take it back."

Jalilvand points out that "Beyond the Wall", which is the story of a visually impaired man whose life changes when he crosses paths with a fugitive woman from the police, "is not necessarily a reflection or a portrait of Iranian society", but rather "a portrait of the world".

Emerging Iranian filmmaker Houman Seyedi, whose "World War III" premieres in the Horizons section of Venice, seems to embrace the idea that he made a political metaphor for his country and beyond. "World War III" is about a homeless day laborer at a construction site named Shakib. He is hired to work as an extra on a film shot on the site about the atrocities committed by Hitler during World War II.

Shakib must then face the filmmakers tyrants of the photo and a secret lover who jeopardizes this that could be a life changing opportunity.

"Societies ruled by totalitarian regimes are the most effective creators of anarchists," said Seyedi in the statement of his director. "I have always wondered how much longer tyranny and oppression can exist in the world and who are the people who will be crushed by the powerful rulers of such tormented societies."

But for Iranian filmmakers, the fear is: how long will it last, as Iranian films surface on the international circuit is sure to ruffle feathers.

"No one has a clue what movies we'll be getting next year because of all the pressures and restrictions the authorities place on filmmakers,” says international distributor Mohammad Atebbai, whose Tehran-based independent Iranian shingle sells “World War III.”

Atebbai and other members of the Iranian film community fear that, in addition...