Following Pressure on the Ministry of Culture, the Screening of 'House of Father' is Halted

The screening of the film 'House of Father' directed by Kianoush Ayari was halted after only 10 showings over two days due to pressures exerted on the Ministry of Culture. This film is among those for which the Cultural Commission of the Iranian Parliament had previously requested in a letter to the Ministry of Culture that it not be screened and be banned. It is said that the Cultural Commission requested the censorship of certain scenes in the film and gave Kianoush Ayari a deadline until January 1 to implement these changes. In this context, on Saturday, January 6, Shahrokh Dastourtabar, the producer of 'House of Father', stated in an interview with ISNA that 'it is unlikely that Kianoush Ayari will censor the film'; according to the producer, 'if Mr. Ayari was going to remove the issues raised by the Parliament from the film, he would have done it four years ago.' 'House of Father', made in 2010, explicitly portrays some oppressive issues against women within an Iranian family. The film, which was granted a screening license last year at the Fajr Film Festival, was supposed to be screened publicly in a few limited cinemas in Tehran and other cities without any censorship and with age restrictions for audiences. As the start of the film's screening approached, there were murmurs about preventing the showing of 'House of Father' due to pressures from certain factions and institutions, primarily the Cultural Commission of the Parliament on the Ministry of Culture. Particularly, the Artistic Field prevented the screening of Kianoush Ayari's film at Cinema Azadi, similar to last year when it boycotted some films, and even the municipality blocked the screening of this film at the House of Artists. Although 'House of Father' was scheduled to be screened in four cinema halls in Tehran and two in Mashhad and Isfahan, due to the pressures, only one cinema hall in Tehran began screening the film on Thursday, January 4. The screening started despite the fact that on January 3, Morteza Aghatehrani, the first vice president of the Cultural Commission of the Parliament, announced in an interview with Fars News Agency that the Parliament had requested the film not to be screened. Aghatehrani stated: 'In discussions we had with the officials of the Ministry of Culture, the Cultural Commission's concerns were conveyed to them, and the result will be the non-screening of this film.' Nevertheless, 'House of Father' was screened at one of the halls of Kourosh Cinema Complex starting January 4 and was shown in 10 sessions over two days. On the other hand, on January 5, some websites reported that the last session of 'House of Father' would be on Saturday night at Kourosh Cinema in Tehran, and from Sunday onwards, Kianoush Ayari's film would no longer be shown. On Saturday, January 6, 'House of Father' was removed from the list of films currently showing on the Kourosh Cinema Complex website, and its name was no longer visible. So far, none of the officials from the Ministry of Culture have commented on the ban and halt of this film's screening. The story of 'House of Father' unfolds in five episodes. The film begins in 1929, and most of the criticisms directed at the film relate to the first episode, where a father and his fifteen-year-old son murder the family's daughter over honor-related issues and bury her in the basement of the house. This shocking episode, according to the censorship officials in Iran, must be removed from the film, but Kianoush Ayari refuses to comply. However, the story of 'House of Father' continues in four other episodes, each showing the same family in the same house over a span of several years, depicting their changing circumstances. This film was made with the budget of the police force, but after a while, the officials of this institution joined the ranks of the film's opponents and even threatened Ayari with a lawsuit after the film's screening at the Venice Festival. An emergency meeting was held at the House of Cinema on January 5 due to the problems arising from the screening of several films, including 'House of Father'. According to ISNA, Farhad Tavakoli, the chairman of the House of Cinema's board, announced on January 6 that an emergency meeting was held to address the issues facing Iranian cinema and expressed concerns about the interference of institutions outside the executive branch in the affairs of Iranian cinema. In this interview, Tavakoli referred to the cinema's problems in recent months, stating: 'Yesterday, on January 5, we had an emergency meeting at the House of Cinema, and in the coming days, we will have more meetings with various friends and cinema intellectuals to find ways to overcome the problems that have plagued Iranian cinema in recent months.' He further stated: 'We believe that interference from institutions outside the executive branch creates problems for our cinema to the extent that the credibility of screening licenses, the future of Iranian cinema, and the job security of filmmakers are among the important discussions in our cinema that have become precarious due to actions taken outside the management domains of cinema.' According to Tavakoli, the stance of the Artistic Field and the renewed boycott of some films by this institution were also among the most important topics discussed in this meeting.