“Tehran without Permission” at Hamburg Film Festival

Hamburg International Film Festival is to showcase Iranian documentary “Tehran without Permission”.

“Tehran Without Permission” (2009) captures the atmosphere of the street as well as of private living environments within the Iranian capital. Filmed exclusively with a mobile phone camera, sometimes hidden, this documentary film is a personal, high spirited portrait of Teheran and its population, caught up in contradictions and extremes.

Excerpt from the interview with Sepideh Farsi:

At home people wear their hair uncovered and listen to the music and watch the movies they want. Iranians like to get their television by satellite and from the whole world. If a policeman should knock at the door, he gives them a summons and confiscates the satellite dish. So we go and buy another. Everything can be seen in Tehran, even CNN or [the Franco-German arts channel] Arte. But when you go out in the street, there are religious messages everywhere, propaganda, and the “good moral police.” It’s schizophrenic. I often wonder how Iranians keep all of this together.

The film directed by Sepideh Farsi will participate in the “Vibrant Metropolises” section of the festival that is to display 12 documentaries and feature films about metropolises with extremely different features.

The 17th edition of the cultural event will run 24 September to 3 October.