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IFFR 2021 Limelight

Kaweh Modiri • Director of Mitra

“For safety reasons, we couldn’t cast Iranian actors working or living in Iran, so we cast internationally”

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- We talked to the Dutch director about his second feature film, premiering at International Film Festival Rotterdam

Kaweh Modiri • Director of Mitra

Dutch writer, artist and filmmaker with Iranian origins Kaweh Modiri presented his second feature film, Mitra [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Kaweh Modiri
film profile
]
, in the Limelight section of International Film Festival Rotterdam. His drama tells the story of a woman who carries with her for decades a trauma that finds its way back to the surface. The director talked about his personal connection with the story and the film shoot in Amman.

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Cineuropa: What inspired you to tell this story? You say the film is based on real events?
Kaweh Modiri: The film is named after my half-sister Mitra, whom I never knew. She was executed when my mother was pregnant with me. I was always fascinated by her shadow, this person who had left the world as I was entering it. As I grew older, I got to learn more about her, the betrayal of her, and the sense of grief and vengeance it left in my mother. Even as a teenager, I always knew this was a story I wanted to tell.

How did you do your research?
In the early stages I talked a lot to my mother, trying to get certain details that I could bring to the film. Getting along with the script I wanted to get the characters right. The focus is on a woman in her seventies who goes out to take revenge on her daughter’s death. It's a delicate matter, keeping a story like that truthful to its origin. Moreover the person is an immigrant, and functioning within two different cultural perspectives. It was also important that the parts set in Iran in the early 1980s were credible, which is why we spent a lot of time researching the details.

Was it clear from the beginning that you would tell the story in a non-linear way?
Yes. I knew that I wanted to set the film in two different times, and that we would be looking back together with the main character Haleh. In the early stages I did write it in a linear fashion, thinking about editing it later. But once I had the backstory worked out, I tossed out the linear script and started writing it in the order you see now.

What was the aesthetic concept you wanted to follow for the film?
I wanted the part representing the present to be dark, and mainly playing during nighttime. The characters are isolated. The first encounter between Haleh and the woman whom she suspects to be Leyla, is set in dim light and mirrors the scene of the betrayal shown through a veiled perspective.

This kind of mirroring is used several times, for example during the scenes between Haleh and Mitra in the car, and later between Haleh and Nilu. The scenes that are set in Iran are much more fiery in colour and movement, to give a feeling of the turbulence of the time.

Where did you shoot the scenes that are supposed to show Iran in the 1980s?
We filmed those scenes in Amman, Jordan. We took plenty of time for the location scouting, and worked with an incredible local crew that got things done even when it seemed impossible. Shooting scenes in the past was extremely time consuming because we needed extras, costumes, period cars, and to close the passing traffic; it would at times feel like an eternity before we were ready to go. Managing to get all those scenes in was definitely one of the biggest challenges we faced making this film.

How did you find your main actors?
For safety reasons we couldn’t cast Iranian actors working or living in Iran, so we cast internationally. Jasmin Tabataba, who plays Haleh both in the 1980s and in the present, is a German Iranian actress, born and raised in Iran, but who has spent her whole adult life in Germany. The role of her brother is played by Mohsen Namjoo, an Iranian musician and actor living in the US.

What did the actors bring to the characters from their own perspective?
They all brought a lot. For example with Shabnam Tolouei, who plays Leyla in the film, we discussed at length every aspect of the character, such as her expression and the importance of religion in her attitude. She watched documentaries about people who, like her character, had fled the country after having served as informants, and how they still struggle with the consequences of their deeds. Her additions and considerations as a devoted actor are such a blessing to work with as a director. 

What were the biggest challenges you encountered during the making of the film?
For some of our cast, taking part in this film meant that they might not be able to go back to Iran and see their family again. This question was especially relevant for one of our actors whose parents still live there. It’s very sad that acting in a film can have such consequences, but the fact that it is tragic does not make it less real.

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