Exclusive Interview: Afsaneh Bayegan

In an exclusive interview with ifilm, Iranian actress Afsaneh Bayegan talks about her acting career.

Below is a rough translation of selected parts from the interview conducted by ifilm in Persian.

ifilm: Your first appearance on television was in the series ‘Heads on Gallows’. How did you become a part of the project?

Bayegan: It was a blessing bestowed upon me by God. The crew of the series had already started pre-production about one and a half year before I joined them and had chosen different actresses for my role that had for various reasons stepped out. I auditioned a few days before the crew headed to the shooting location. But I must point out that I had acted in a short film when I was 11 but ‘Heads on Gallows’ was my first professional experience.

ifilm: Wasn’t it difficult for you to work alongside superstars like Ali Nasiriyan?

Bayegan: Well, I was a beginner and I was young; so, I was scared to act in front of Mr. Nasiriyan but because of his professional attitude, it was not scary at all and was more like a tutorial for me. His attitude gave me self-confidence.

ifilm: You recently appear in less work, both on television and in cinema. Why is that so?

Bayegan: I have so much respect for the audiences of cinema and television and when I see that cinema and television have become part of people’s entertainment, I prefer to be in a work which has a strong script and crew because it is like a duty for me to give a positive message to those who live in small towns and villages and therefore I choose works that are greatly influential like the series ‘Pariya’ that gave me and the viewer so much information about AIDS and increased our knowledge. Also, at one point in time I decided to distant myself from cinema because it was no longer working for me and I would be forever forgotten if I continued this path. So, I did so to keep my memory alive and in fact this distance between me and the cinema helped me stay in people’s minds.

ifilm: You once published a book of poetry titled ‘Written Love’ and the 30th International Tehran Book Fair is currently underway. Please tell us about your book and books in general.

Bayegan: ‘Written Love’ is a collection of poems that I had compiled in many years and I decided to publish them in a book and it was a good and sweet experience for me and now that a long time has passed since it was first published I still love it. As for books in general, I must say that book is the spirit of a society and without books and reading, the society loses its soul and the soul should be first given to the children by their parents and children must observe the effects of reading in their parents to become interested in books. When one reads a book, they transcend time and space and books are the only things that can takes us back in time or forward to the future. Books have such a high status in Islam that the miracle of God’s last messenger Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) is a book and whenever I read the holy Quran, because many parts of it are narrated in story format, it is very pleasant for me and this is most influential way.

ifilm: What are you up to these days?

Bayegan: I have a number of script at hand which I am currently evaluating. But I performed in the movie ‘Negar’ directed by Rambod Javan which is a very well-made and good movie and will hopefully hit theaters in the near future.

Interview conducted by Hanieh Khavari

To read more about Afsaneh Bayegan click here.

HY/HY