THR asks Iran dir. about Trump

Iranian director Taghi Amirani talks with The Hollywood Reporter about the post-Trump era.

 In a series of interviews, The Hollywood Reporter asked directors from Canada, India, Iran, Italy and Pakistan to weigh in on the possibilities in art and cinema after Donald Trump.

Taghi Amirani whose gripping film ‘Coup 53’ has attracted a good number of audiences across the world said in his interview that  "for someone who took 10 years to make a documentary about the 1953 CIA/MI6 coup in Iran, Trump and his Iran policy mistakes were a gift.” He added, “As an Iranian, I hope Biden picks up where Obama left off with the Iran deal."

His latest documentary is about the move instigated by CIA/MI6 against Iran’s former prime minister  Mohammad Mosaddegh. 'Coup 53' topped the list of 15 most popular documentaries selected audience at the 14th Cinéma Vérité, the organizers of the major Iranian documentary film festival, last December.

Sarmad Sultan Khoosat for Pakistan, Lijo Jose Pellissery from India, and Jean-Philippe Duval from Canada were also among the directors interviewed by THR.

Duval said of the new change in the US political scene, "As a filmmaker, and also as your closest neighbor, I feel there's a fresh wind of optimism for the artistic world. I feel that dialogues are again open and it inspires in me a hope for a vibrant, authentic future."

"It's a relief and a hope, really like sunlight after long darkness. But I'm skeptical that it will mean real changes. I remember being hopeful about the Obama government too, but, from the view here in Pakistan, it didn't make much difference,"  Khoosat also noted about the change.

AG/AG