The director's word
on the Dutch première at the SCENECS International Film Festival - (Preview edition) 2015

It had finally arrived: the Dutch première of Dance Iranian Style! I had really been looking forward to this moment, because I wanted to see the reaction people on the 'home front' would have to the film. Especially since so many of the contributors hadn't yet seen it, and I was also curious to find out if they would be pleased with the result. The reactions were much more positive than I had hoped for, not only from those who were involved in the film's production but also from the general public.

In the line with the world première in Cambridge, the Dutch première in Amersfoort provided me with yet another insight regarding the artistic approach to the theme of unprotected refugees in the film. Namely, I wasn’t certain if the way in which fictional and documentary elements were blended together would work the way I intended: 'Would it distract the majority of the audience from the theme and the storyline? Would it make many of the viewers feel uncomfortable with this new method of storytelling causing them feel disconnected, or find themselves otherwise incapable of following the story? Would I witness lots of walk outs during the first half of the running time of the film?' However, my doubts were proven unfounded after I heard the audiences reactions during the first three screenings of the film so far!

Some viewers at the Dutch première, for example, recognized locations featured in the film as places in their own city, neighbourhood, or even street. People from Amsterdam described how familiar these images felt for them even as the events presented in the film seemed strange and divergent from their daily experiences. It was making them feel a stranger in their own city, which is how the main character would have felt as a stranger in Amsterdam herself.

Following the première in Amersfoort, an Iranian colleague of mine based in the Netherlands offered another take on this question of truth versus fiction. He described feeling a kind of tension throughout the film, saying: 'Even if you think you’re watching a fully fictional film, the knowledge that it might as well be reality gets under your skin.' He called it the ‘Jaws effect’, a reference to the famous 1975 Steven Spielberg thriller Jaws, ‘in which tension is effectively built up by not showing the scary thing about to happen. And that is what you were doing in Dance Iranian Style’ he added. This comment might somehow clear why another colleague who had tears running down his face for the last 45 minutes couldn’t explain why he was so touched by events in the film.

Aside from the overwhelmingly positive reactions, what surprised me most were the insights I gained into how the film interacts with it’s audience. In fact we began working on Dance Iranian Style four years ago and completed it just as the ongoing refugee crisis was taking hold. At the première I noticed that the the visibility of the crisis in the media of the last months gave the film an extra dimension, an additional layer if you will. The film's theme plays with current events more intimately than we could have imagined when we were in production.

It seems that the film's appeal now extends to a much wider audience, which is obviously a good thing. Far from relishing this outcome, we see the visibility of the current refugee crisis in the media as contributing to the message we want to convey through this film. Partly because it makes it easier to communicate with a wider audience about an up-until-now invisible group in our society.

Dance Iranian Style has been shown at three festivals and has won two awards so far. I was present for the world première in Cambridge and the Dutch première in Amersfoort and experienced the film with audiences from both the UK and the Netherlands. Both the awards the film has won and the reactions of audiences and reviewers at both festivals proved that the audiences were indeed able to transcend their traditional frames of reference and methods of categorization and were able to connect with the film. Experiencing the film together with and through the eyes of different audiences has given me even some surprising new perspectives on my own work.

One of the most frequent questions people had after watching the film was whether certain parts in the film were fictional story or documentary? But I had no choice than to say that it's a question that I cannot answer. Exactly because it is what the audience is supposed to figure out for itself. The doubt surrounding the nature of the film is in fact an integral part of the viewing experience we’ve tried to create in the film.

Truth or fiction? It is a reflection of the essential question refugees must face regularly, because of the fact that hardly anyone believes their stories. A refugee is frequently obliged to tell the tale of his or her past, not only to the authorities but also to ordinary people, even years after obtaining a residence permit and settling down. But each time they tell their stories, they see doubt in the face of the listener: Is this truth or fiction? By leaving the answer to this question to the audience to decide, we in fact try to confront them with their biases and prejudices.

As was the case when I was in Cambridge, I learnt a lot from the wonderful audience at the festival in Amersfoort and for that I would like to thank them directly in Dutch:

"Aan allen die de moeite hebben genomen om naar het première te komen, niet alleen uit Amersfoort, maar ook uit andere plaatsen in het hele land: Ik wil jullie hartelijk bedanken dat je langs kwam, dat je de zaal halverwege de film niet hebt verlaten, dat je me vertelde over jouw ervaring met Dance Iranian Style en vooral dat je op ons hebt gestemd en gezorgd hebt dat we met het hoogste cijfer de Audience Award hebben gewonnen. Met jullie stem en mooie woorden op het social-media zal deze film een grotere kans hebben om door meer Nederlanders gezien te worden. En dat is onze grootste wens. Dank u."

Dance Iranian Style awarded with The Public's Choice Prize

‎DanceIranianStyle‬ awarded Tonight (7 November) with the Audience Award at ‪#‎SCENECS_International_Debut_Film_Festival‬ (The Preview Edition). With this Wild Card the film is, by now, officially selected to attend at the SCENECS Film Festival - Gala Edition - in March 2016, in Hilversum. ‪

#‎IranianCinema‬ ‪#‎Movie‬ ‪#‎Film‬ ‪#‎Fiction‬ ‪#‎Documentary‬ ‪#‎Cinema‬ ‪#‎Public_Prize‬


In this picture ‪#‎NafissNia‬, writer and producer together with ‪#‎FarshadAria‬, the director of the film right after the ceremony.

First reactions on the Dutch première

The Dutch première of ‪#‎DanceIranianStyle‬ was above our expectations! The audience was truly impressed. Some of the audience told us that they cried the most part of the film. The biggest sponsors of the facilities for the film said to be overwhelmingly satisfied with the result. Of those one said to be surprised by the quality and perfection in every aspect of the film (sound/image/storytelling). We are feeling so relieved, proud and at the same time so full of energy. We are looking forward to show Dance Iranian Style further to the public and hear their reaction on that. 
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