The Successful Screening of 'Lantouri' Amidst the Artistic Sector's Sanctions

While the Iranian cinema scene is still influenced by the actions of the Yalasarat al-Hussein publication, which insulted filmmakers participating in the World of Image magazine's cinema festival, the screening of the tense social drama 'Lantouri' has brought vitality to theaters. This film, which has been publicly screened since last week, has quickly surpassed one billion tomans in total sales in recent days. 'Lantouri' is the third feature film by Reza Dormishian, following 'Boghz' and the unreleased 'Angry Not'. The main actors in this film are Navid Mohammadzadeh, Maryam Palizban, and Baran Kosari, whose screening at the previous Fajr Film Festival led to various critical responses for and against it. Before its screening in Iran, 'Lantouri' participated in several prestigious international festivals, including the Panorama section of the Berlin Festival and the retrospective section of the Karlovy Vary Film Festival. 'Lantouri' continues the previous works of its creator in narrating a romantic story against the backdrop of a social issue. Acid attacks are the main focus of the story, and in this regard, the filmmaker has chosen a report-like form to present the opinions of representatives from various segments of society while narrating the story. These opinions clearly represent different sections of society, such as the underprivileged classes, lawyers, intellectuals, or even a group known as 'Delvapasan' in Iran, reflecting the sometimes contradictory judgments of Iranian society regarding current developments. The successes of 'Lantouri' have occurred while the Art House has refrained from screening this film in its theaters. The officials of the Art House have stated, without confirming the boycott of this film's screening, that their theaters are currently showing other films and do not have the opportunity to screen 'Lantouri'. Nonetheless, film distributors claim that the Art House officials have even opposed showing a single screening of the film in theaters belonging to this institution. Thus, 'Lantouri' is considered the first film subject to the Art House's sanctions this year. This cultural institution, affiliated with the Islamic Propaganda Organization, has refrained from screening films that it deems controversial since 2011, ignoring the screening permits issued by the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance. Films such as 'Pol Chubi', 'Bi Khod o Bi Jahat', and 'Barf Ruye Kajha' have been prevented from being screened in Art House theaters, including Tehran's Cinema Azadi, in past years. The cinema managers of Hassan Rouhani's government have recently attempted to reduce tensions with the Art House by negotiating and involving more Art House managers in the film screening permit councils. Regarding 'Lantouri', Hojjatollah Ayoubi, the head of the Cinema Organization, has rejected the film's boycott based on statements from Art House officials. Other related events in the screening of films in Iran include the screening of all previous films by acclaimed director Asghar Farhadi, except for 'About Elly', in the Art and Experience cinema group. These films have been screened in anticipation of the upcoming release of 'The Salesman', which won two awards at the recent Cannes Film Festival and is set to be released in Iran on September 1. Babak Ghafouri Azar, the producer of 'Scene' at Radio Farda, follows developments in the cinema and theater sectors. He has been with Radio Farda since 2010 and has published various investigative reports on events during the first decade of the Islamic Republic's establishment. Babak Ghafouri Azar began journalism in Iran in 2001.