We were scheduled to attend a film awards ceremony that night, but on my trip to Kerman, I was determined to see the sights of the Kalutes and the big desert (hottest place on earth). I arranged for a security escort and our driver, the fellow with the sunglasses, Mehran Taba and our friends, high tailed it, against the will of the local security officials, out to the big desert. It was a race against time. The security guys depsarately wanted us to turn back, but we speeded up instead until we came to this magical, other worldly, enchanted place where I was committed to shoot my picture, "Still Waters Run."
Back in Tehran, Bahram Heidari, our patron, got us invited to a Sepa performance. It was staged in a hanger as you can see. The hanger opened onto a butte where performers brought to an audience of 10,000 (mostly women in chadore) the biblical story of humanity. Not too ambitious, aye? On the right is the opening scene where angels stood in a foggy tableau, outlined by steam and fire. On the left is a shadow theater performance of the birth of Jesus Christ with the wise men offering gifts on the day of the Epiphany. To our right was another stage, so too to our left, where a cast of 400 rode camels into battle to the music of Pink Floyd.
Above, is probably the most familiar monument to the revolution in Iran. To the right is an arcade, one of many marketplaces where one may purchase crafts, food, or clothing. The building is probably from the 16th century, given the style of the architecture which resembles the most remarkable bazar in Iran, in the city of Isfahan. I shot portions of a documentary called "The River Of Paradise" for Iranian television in Isfahan, a city where artists thrive and religion, for the most part, is free. I visited a thriving Jewish community and went to the top of a 2000 year old Zoroastrian shrine. You can watch the film here.
I worked with Daryoush Delvand, consulting for a time on "Battle of the Kings." This is a wonderful, classic story. The animation is all Mocap and I was lucky enough to be invited to put on a suit and to dance around the studio for a time. I know that the government changed after I left and that the film, for political reasons, was not released. But it was finished and was really an excellent film. Some issues in distribution occurred which again, were political. The distributor held the filmmakers hostage for reasons of money all to the detriment of the hard work and inventiveness of these exceptional filmmakers.