iFilm exclusive report on 6th day of 40th Fajr Film Festival

iFilm English TV Channel has released an exclusive report on the sixth day of the 40th Fajr Film Festival (FFF) in Iran.

‘Henas’ produced by Mohammad-Reza Shafah and directed by Hossein Darabi went on screen on the sixth day of the 40th FFF.

iFilm TV interviewed the scriptwriter Ehsan Saghafi, the producer, the director,  and the actor Siavash Tahmoures.

The movie is a drama about the assassination of nuclear scientist Daryoush Rezaeenejad.

The 35-year-old scientist was shot dead by Mossad gunmen before the eyes of his wife and little girl in front of his house in Tehran in July 2011. The movie portrays the terrorist attack through the eyes of his wife.

“We never intended to make a spy drama,” the director said in a press conference after the premiere of the film.

“Due to the fact that the subject is a matter of great security sensitivity, we wanted to portray the feelings of the wife in that situation,” he added.

He also noted that the story of the film has been written based on Rezaeenejad’s life story and has its roots in reality.

“There is no point in the film in conflict with reality,” said Rezaeenejad’s widow, Shoreh Pirani, who was in attendance at the screening and press conference.

“However, there have been some scenes that were suitably exaggerated in order to influence the audience,” she added. “This film is the story of choice; in the life with my husband, I learned in depth about valuable topics such as motherland, identity and national solidarity, and this movie has depicted all these very well.”  

Shafah said, “The true-life story of someone is not necessarily appropriate to be turned into a movie. Most parts of what you see in ‘Henas’ have been exaggerated to show devotion and self-sacrifice.”

Merila Zarei, who stars as Shoreh Pirani in ‘Henas’, said, “I did my best at all times to portray Shoreh Pirani in the film.”

“Once, I told her that I found gems of love, faith and patience in her and I would use all my strength not to be ashamed of it. When I saw her weeping while watching the movie, I realized that I’ve been on the right path,” she added.

Behrouz Shoeibi as Rezaeenejad, Vahid Rohbani, Solmaz Ghani, Kosar Heydari, and Amin Amiri are the other members of the cast list.

MG/MG