The Film 'Daughter's House' Should Not Be Shown; The Project of Sanctioning and Banning Films in 2015

The project to prevent the screening of certain cinematic works in 2015 began with news about the boycott of the film 'Daughter's House' by cinemas under the Artistic Sector and the Municipality of Tehran. 'Daughter's House' addresses the issue of 'virginity' in Iranian society, which caused some controversies during its screening at the Fajr Festival last year; afterward, some websites and media accused this work, like some others, of blackening the image and demanded its ban. After participating in the Fajr Festival, the film 'Daughter's House' received a screening permit with 30 seconds of edits, and its public screening was planned for the spring season. However, as the screening date approached, reports indicated that the Artistic Sector and the Municipality were seeking to boycott this film. The discussion of boycotting cinematic films by certain cinema-owning institutions in Iran began in 2012, with the prevention of several films that had received screening permits from the Artistic Sector and the Municipality of Tehran. In that year, films such as 'Unjustified', 'Simple Reception', 'I Am a Mother', 'I Am Sleepy', and 'I Am His Wife' were not allowed to be screened in the municipal cinema complexes and those belonging to the Artistic Sector. This issue continued in a more limited manner in the first half of 2013, with two films remaining from the 2012 screenings, 'Wooden Bridge' and 'Snow on the Pines', still included in the boycott list. However, this trend did not continue in the second half of 2013 and 2014, as films that had the opportunity for public screening were shown in all cinemas across Iran. What happened in 2014 went beyond the prevention of a few cinema-owning institutions boycotting certain works; that year, the Parliament, led by the Cultural Commission, intervened and, by sending letters and threatening the minister with impeachment, demanded that some films not be screened. The result was the retreat of the officials of the Ministry of Culture and the Cinema Organization in the face of pressures, as well as the discrediting of the screening permits issued by this cultural and artistic authority in Iran. Last year, films like 'I Am Not Angry' and 'Tales' were not screened despite previous announcements, and 'Father's House' only had one or two days of screening opportunity. Although both the minister and the spokesperson of the Ministry of Culture did not consider the prevention of these works' screenings to be permanent and stated that their screening was conditional on making some edits, it seems that the ban on these few films will last for an unspecified period. 'Daughter's House' is the first banned film of 2015. Despite the fact that films produced in 2014 passed through various oversight filters due to multiple controversies surrounding the works made the previous year, it seems that there are still some works that will face opposition for screening. 'Daughter's House', directed by Shahram Shah Hosseini and written by Parviz Shahbazi, is the first example of the interference of irresponsible institutions in cultural matters in 2015. The film, written with a specific social perspective by Parviz Shahbazi, reportedly had the condition of having a director other than Shahbazi himself behind the camera to receive a production permit. Shahram Shah Hosseini, who has several commercial comedy films like 'Crow's Flight', 'Mr. Seven Colors', and 'Women Are Angels' in his portfolio, stated that the selection committee of the Fajr Festival accepted it into the competition section without any objections and even encouraged it thematically. However, 'Daughter's House' was not among the nominees selected by the festival judges. According to its director, this was due to being sidelined from the judging: 'Pressures and controversies caused our film to be sidelined from the Fajr Festival judging last year; although we wanted our work to be seen better, we respected the festival's tranquility and remained silent.' 'Daughter's House' had received a screening permit to participate in the Fajr Festival last year, and according to its producer, Mohammad Shayesteh, it was censored once again afterward: 'Our film has a screening permit, and we resolved all previous misunderstandings and received the screening permit again.' As this producer told the Tehran newspaper 'Haft Sobh', 'Daughter's House' will be screened even with the boycott: 'Even if the Artistic Sector kindly boycotts the film, we will still screen it.' However, this is provided that the opposition only results in a boycott and the loss of several cinema halls and that other institutions do not take action to completely prevent the film's screening. Late last year, Hojjatollah Ayoubi, the head of the Cinema Organization, mentioned that the events surrounding the screening of some films would make 2015, like 2014, a year of patience, but it would not be a year of silence. So far, officials from the Ministry of Culture and the Cinema Organization have not commented on the potential actions of the Artistic Sector and the Municipality to boycott the film 'Daughter's House'.