ifilm's exclusive report on Iranian feature ‘Rabidity’

Watch ifilm's exclusive report on the Iranian movie ‘Rabidity’ directed by Amir-Ahmad Ansari.

Below are the highlights of what the director says to ifilm in the report.

ifilm: This is the first feature film by Amir-Ahmad Ansari, but he has already made loads of short films.

Amir-Ahmad Ansari: Well, I have studied theater. I began working in theater and then I made about thirty short films. I have won over 60 international awards.

Then... How many? I've also made 7-8 video films. I can't remember exactly how many they were. And then I made 'Rabidity'.

I loved it a great deal. I loved its storyline. We wrote the first draft of 'Rabidity' in 2011 along with Amir-Ali Mohseni.

ifilm: 'Rabies' has taken part in different festivals.

Amir-Ahmad Ansari: The story behind our film is very interesting. In 2015, 'Mohammad: The Messenger of God' by Majid Majidi opened the Montreal festival. It made a lot of noise across Iran. Everyone was happy.

In 2016, no website and no one even mentioned that 'Rabidity' opened the same festival. I don't know... if this festival is that good, which it definitely is because it's among the 15 grade-A festivals across the world, when that film opened it, everyone talks about it; but when it comes to our movies, nobody cares.

We participated in the Montreal festival in 2016, the Toronto festival, the London festival, the Cologne festival... I can't remember the rest.

We participated in 21 festivals. At many credible festivals, my lead actor Alireza Kamali was nominated for the best actor award or I was nominated for best director at a few of them.

Our bad luck, 2016 coincided with the movie made by Asghar Farhadi and his movie won the awards because it deserved it.

I never make movies for festivals. I make the movie I like and I make it for the people.

MG/AI/AG