And the prize for Best Actress?! We’re not entirely sure…

14/02/2008 / IRAN

And the prize for Best Actress?! We’re not entirely sure…

Iran's International Fajr Film Festival was hosted in Tehran last week for the 26^th time. But pictures from this year's edition of the popular festival offered an unusual view of the showbiz affair. The FARS news agency blurred out the faces of female guests, making them almost unrecognisable. Our Observer for Iran, feminist Farnaz Seifi, explains why.

UPDATE (17.30 15 Feb. 08): Thanks to comments on this post, we have found photos posted by the Fars agency where actresses' faces are not blurred. The photos are part of a different set found at a seperate link. This would suggest that the agency has no consistent policy on whether or not their photographers can show the faces of female actresses.

Contributors

Arash Kamangir

Farnaz Seifi

Actresses Ladan Mostofi, Masomeh Mir Hoseini and Nazanin Mofkham

Photos from the FARS news agency posted on Arash Kamangir's blog.

“Women: go home and stay there”

Commentary from our Iranian Observer, feminist Farnaz Seifi, who recently left the country to move to Europe:

This is a new concept brought in by the current government. We've never seen such a thing before! But the agency who's published these photos is very conservative and very close to the government. Their message to women is to go home and stay there. Do the cooking and look after the children. They don't want women to be active in society- they don't believe there is the need. Actresses wear a lot of make-up and colourful clothes. They're also usually quite beautiful, and the government doesn't want people to see this. If films are put on the TV, which is state-owned, they censor everything. You don't even know what some films are about they're so heavily censored. It's ridiculous.

This policy comes at a time when women are facing punishment for not wearing a headscarf in the street [video: Fashion crackdown intensifies: arrests captured on film]. For first-time offenses they receive a letter, but after that it's a fiscal fine. The government is also using other strategies to minimise women. For example, they're trying to cut the current rate of 63% of women in universities to 50%. They say admissions must be limited. These changes...the current government is simply against women in every way. With the old president, Mohammad Khatami, we had some hope. But now, things are getting worse everyday for women in Iran."

Farnaz Seifi

Français

Comments

About the Discussion

Submitted by Arash Kamangir on Fri, 15/02/2008 - 19:37.

I just wanted to point out that having received many comments, under a few different names, I think this is nothing more than one individual making all these accusations. I refer you to the comment posted on my blog under the name "GIJoe"
(http://kamangir.net/2008/02/10/the-problem-with-attractive-actresses/#comment-20756)
Knowing that a controversial Iranian blogger (http://i.hoder.com/) posted the link to this post on his blog under the title "Farnaz Seifi and Arash Abadpour [that's me] serving the anti-Iran campaign of Nikolas Sarkozy", I believe many of the responses here are originating from the same source.

Can these ladies demand a public apology from Fars News?

Submitted by Anonyme (not verified) on Fri, 15/02/2008 - 20:53.

Hello Sir,
Maybe you should mention to the people who accuse you of being selective that the main point of your article is that Fars News published blurry photos of Iranian actresses. What I like to know is why Fars News would do such a thing. One person on the thread says” there are pictures of actresses on TV and magazines" which begs the question why Far News decided to blur those pictures? We need to avoid getting involved in ideological arguments and negative nationalism and instead focus on the issue at hand. I like to know who allowed Fars news to publish those photos. Is there a policy that demands pictures of pretty actresses must be blurred out? Also I like to know if the law allows these artists to sue the publisher and the photographer for insulting their person by publishing those photos. Can those actresses sue the publisher for unlawfully distorting their picture? Can they ask for a public apology? In the West when things like this happen people can ask for explanation or a public apology. For example in situation in which a tabloid magazine misquotes an actor or actress, prints unsubstantiated news about an artist or when a tabloid magazine prints a damaging photo the artists involve can demand apologies or even sue. So I ask my question again: can these ladies who, in my opinion, have been humiliated demand for a public apology from Fars News?
Cheers

Thanks for the update

Submitted by AAA (not verified) on Fri, 15/02/2008 - 19:17.

To the Editors,
Thanks for the update of Feb 15. However, I am afraid it does not go far enough.
The whole premise of your source is built on this agency blurring out photographs of beautiful women because the government does not want people to see them.
The argument fails on two fronts. First, the Agency clearly does show their faces and the authors were selective about the pictures they showed here. Secondly, these are actresses whose faces are all over movie screens all over the country. If the government did not want their faces to be seem, it would keep their movies from showing. Clearly that is not the case.
My advise to you is not to buy into whatever some shill feeds you. Think about what you are publishing. It does not make sense to have still pictures of actresses blurred when their faces are all over the movie theater.
Also, having a blog or being a "feminist" is not enough to consider someone an expert, observer or source. Your website is being used for people with an agenda without you knowing about it. I think you should remove this article altogether.
Better luck next time.

Only a sexual pervert would

Submitted by The11Ave (not verified) on Fri, 15/02/2008 - 19:29.

Only a sexual pervert would blur the closeup picture of a woman. What kind of people may get sexual satisfaction by looking at a face? Shame on you...

Response

Submitted by Arash Kamangir on Fri, 15/02/2008 - 19:24.

Sir,
You state that "the authors were selective about the pictures they showed here". This argument is wrong. We were not selective in our assertion that in that thread there is no closeup of women which is not blurred (http://www.farsnews.com/imgrep.php?nn=8611210101).
You say "It does not make sense to have still pictures of actresses blurred when their faces are all over the movie theater". For that argument you need to analyze the way closeups of the actresses are treated in the movies.
You call the contributors to this item "people with an agenda". More information in that respect will be much appreciated.
Furthermore, I am still waiting for a response to my latest answer to your comments:
http://observers.france24.com/en/content/20080214-prize-best-actress-we%E2%80%99-not-entirely-sure%E2%80%A6#comment-7990

it a great picec of work !

Submitted by Peter (not verified) on Fri, 15/02/2008 - 16:49.

it a great picec of work ! well done :-)

Pity Iran still ruled by such a narrow minded Muslim fundamentalists !

wish all Iranian , democracy , freedom and a better life in the near future

Not Selective

Submitted by Arash Kamangir on Fri, 15/02/2008 - 18:04.

Sir,
The pictures you have provided have been taken by Hossein Salmanzadeh, as it is shown at the bottom of them. The photographer of the pictures we have taken is Alireza Jalalifar, a different person. The two events are also different. What we have referred to is an event which took place in the morning (http://www.farsnews.com/imgrep.php?nn=8611210101), where the movie "Hibernation" was talked about. The page you have picked happened in the afternoon of the next day and was about the movie "Suicide Mission for Allah" (http://www.farsnews.com/imgrep.php?nn=8611220394).
We have never claimed that this is a policy in Fars. Nevertheless, I refer you to the post below as another indication that Fars News has a habit of not liking pictures of ladies (http://kamangir.net/2007/08/13/too-sexy-for-fars-news/).

photographer?

Submitted by AAA (not verified) on Fri, 15/02/2008 - 19:43.

Sir,

Surely you must know that the decision of what ends up on a news agency's website is not up to the photographer but to the editorial board. The photographer has no say in this whatsoever. To even mention the photographer is to try to get yourself out of a hole you dug for yourself by having an agenda and not being very good at twisting reality.

http://observers.france24.com

Submitted by Arash Kamangir on Fri, 15/02/2008 - 19:43.

http://observers.france24.com/en/content/20080214-prize-best-actress-we%E2%80%99-not-entirely-sure%E2%80%A6#comment-7950