Night cap with Alan
Interview with Mostafa Gandomkar, director of Alan
Can you tell us how you got the cast together and chose the filming location?
The first issue I faced after writing the screenplay was production in the context of a difficult situation. My sensibility to realism made me spend a very long time in pre-production. I can say very bravely that I searched all the provinces, cities and villages in the western part of Iran in order to find a location and local actors and actresses. The most important thing in choosing the actors and actresses in Alan was that they should look like Syrian-Kurdish people in Iraq and Syria. I had noted that because of news and clips of Syrian-Kurdish refugees, people around the world know the look and faces of these refugees, so the first step towards realism was the correct selection of actors and actresses.
After some searching I got disappointed and decided to go to Iraq and make the film in Sulaymaniyah, Iraq, but after a trip to that country during which I discovered the unsafe situation and production difficulties, I came back to my country and traveled to many villages. Finally I gathered a group of actors and actresses from different villages and they acted in the film. The most interesting point in working with these non-professional actors was their lack of knowledge about cinema, which made my work as a director a little bit difficult but interesting. For example, the actor who plays the old man is a shepherd and farmer and had never been to the cinema in his whole life.
About the location: when I was searching for actors city after city, and village after village, I took lots of pictures of different houses. As a result, I had many architectural views of buildings in my mind. We finally found this house in the village of Ganjabad, in Oshnavieh county.
Actually we did many changes, for instance the houses of the village don’t have a wall around the yard or an entrance door with a design; we changed the colors and interior design, and there are no similarities between the house before filming and what you see in the film.
Was it deliberate that some sequences are shot in a documentary style and others are very cinematic (for example, the scene in which the men are watching footage on their phones and smoking)?
I suppose you mean on the one hand camera work in a documentary style or actual documentaries which omit any directing component such as blocking and editing and, on the other hand, the cinematic style using directing components such as blocking and editing. Yes, both styles are used, intentionally. As the great master Abbas Kiarostami put it, “even the best fictions are documentaries”. I worked very hard to make Alan believable. The camera is set in a way that the audience can feel like the guests of Abdollah, Reihan and Alan sharing these moments of their lives.
There is a stark contrast between the joyous, relaxed atmosphere at first and the urgent need to leave at the end. What would you like the audience to take from it?
For instance, our film begins with three characters who enter the house, and we find ourselves in the middle of a celebration in which different things happen. The camera is like the audience witnessing these events and does not focus on a specific story. This kind of camera connection which happens throughout the film is created by mobility and the crowded celebration, which gives the film its very fast pace.
Was Alan inspired by someone you met?
The main idea of this film popped up in my mind when I saw the image of Alan (a Syrian-Kurdish innocent child who was found lying quietly face-down on a beach). I think that was a very heart-breaking picture which is likely to go down the annals of history as a most iconic symbol. Although there is no direct connection between my film and Alan’s story, of course they are not irrelevant!
Watching Syrian and Kurdish refugees behind European borders, military confrontations and often bad behavior towards those families, this basic question was born in my mind: were they born homeless?!
In this film, I tried to portray their hope and happiness before their dispersion to indicate that all refugees in the Middle East had their own homes and their own dreams prior to those wars. They were all thinking about their children’s happiness just before this situation.
But the issue of alternative rhythm may have damaged the content of the film and caused the bewilderment of the audience, so I used a new trick that you may call cinematic. In that case I could do a balance in the fast rhythm of the film and convey an important point of the film to the audience. So in scenes with an unsafe atmosphere, Abdollah moves a lot less. Maybe this is why you separated the film into documentary and cinematic.
Any cinematic coups de cœur in the past year you’d like to tell us about?
As far as cinematic influences are concerned, I am a follower of realism and naturalism. Of course, the history of realism is as vast as the history of cinema but if I want to name some filmmakers I should say I am very interested in the styles of Jean Renoir, Robert Bresson, Roberto Rossellini, Jean-Luc Godard, the Dardenne brothers, Ken Loach, Michael Haneke, Krzysztof Kieślowski, Alejandro González Iñárritu, Emir Kusturica, Abbas Kiarostami and Asghar Farhadi.
I think these big names in cinema have reached the particular excellence of form and content in their personal styles and they are laudable.
If you’ve already been to Clermont-Ferrand, could you share with us an anecdote or story from the festival? If not, what are your expectations for this year?
It will be my first time at the Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival and I am happy for this event. I think there is a very smart, serious and hard-working team running this big festival. It arouses admiration and congratulations.
The day I found out my film was accepted in the international competition of Clermont-Ferrand film festival, I was really happy because I made this film with my personal budget and I even sold my house to make this film.
No governmental organization or institution in my country accepted to support me to make this film. This lack of support has got many reasons and maybe one of them is not paying attention to Kurdish people.
The presence of the festival renewed hope for me that I can show Alan at an international level. I hope that during the Clermont festival, I can get familiar with companies and international producers and by selling the short film Alan, I can get help to make my next script.
More information to add on your film:
Are any other releases scheduled?
Alan hasn’t been shown in any festival or public places yet. Clermont is the first festival where this film is going to be screened. Alan was submitted in some A-class festivals and the result will be announced at the end of February.
Are you taking part in other events during the Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival? (Espressos, Conferences, other?)
Yes, I would be happy to be present in conferences and hear the comments of other filmmakers about Alan. To finish, thank you very much for this interview and your interest in Alan.
Alan is being shown in International Competition I10.
