ifilm's exclusive report on ‘Villa Residents’ (Vilaeeha)

Watch ifilm's exclusive report on ‘Villa Residents’ (Vilaeeha) directed by Monir Qeidi, and starring Tannaz Tabatabaee, Ali Shadman, and Anahita Afshar.

Below are highlights of the report.

ifilm: Many movies have been about the imposed war on our country [Iran], even female directors have made movies about the struggle. ‘Vilaeeha’ is the most feminine narrative movie of the imposed war.

Qeidi: I think the subject and the theme are very unique and special. I think if anyone else were to turn this screenplay into a film, it would have been distinguished too.

However, one thing that matters to me most, considering that I don’t consider myself a professional filmmaker, something has to grab my attention and become my concern.

This happened to me a lot while reading this screenplay.

ifilm: Some characters in this movie are based on real life people, but some of them are completely made up by the director, like Tannaz Tabatabaei’s role in this movie.

Tabatabaei: During the beginning of the filming, I was talking to Ms. Qeidi in Andimeshk. After I thought deeply about the screenplay and the scenes that we were going to film, I told her that I thought the character was based on her own take, I mean a part of her existed in this character and she agreed.

No, the role I played, Sima, was different from the part which is a documentary.

The documentary in the movie was about the people who lived there. They were the wives of war commanders.

But regarding Sima, we enter from another angle. And in fact, it’s kind of a pretext for getting familiar with that atmosphere, with those women and the contrast that makes the movie move forward.

ifilm: The movie recounts the days some of the cast members weren’t even born yet, or some of them were very young and can’t remember what the nation went through.

Afshar: I vividly remember it but only the sound of the alarm, which made us go to the basement. I would still look for my dolls and toys even when the sound of the alarms was heard. It was like a game to me; I didn’t take it seriously.

Ms. Qeidi had some documents from the wives of the war commanders and all those who lived during that period which helped me a lot; especially since I didn’t have a presupposition about it.

Since I like this genre a lot, I imagined myself as the characters very much.

When I met these ladies, I thought that I had missed a huge part of history, an important part of history.

It was interesting to me. I even tried to see photos and the things that could help me in portraying this role.

Accordingly, the documents Ms. Qeidi brought with helped me a lot. I even used a few of those features in the role Yeganeh.

With the consent of Ms. Qeidi, we added some characteristics to the character Yeganeh.

It made the role more tangible for me because I had met them and heard about them. It was very helpful.

AI/AG