political unrest was a consequence of social suppression.”50 In ddition, Aftab website, reporting from the film’s private premiere in the Ministry of Culture, mentioned that Mohammad-Hossein Saffar-Harandi, the previous Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance, was not pleased with Hatami Kia’s film.51 In an interview with Fars News, Masoud Farasati, one of Iran’s prominent pro-government film critics, said “Gozaresh-e Yek Jashn is a leap backwards for Hatami Kia. This is not a good film and it lacks any clear or particular purpose.” He continued a convoluted manner, “When somebody doesn’t have a clear ideology, and the film is produced as if it were made twenty years ago, the film also cannot have a clear ideology.”52
Cultural Censorship in Iran
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There were also attacks from conservative news websites towards this and all of Hatami Kia’s other films, despite not having any issue with the other films previously. Teribon described Gozareshe Yek Jashn as “an imaginary version of the uprisings” and said, “with this film, Hatamikia has distanced himself from his old friends by throwing his new affiliation with the opposition movement in their faces.”53 The conservatives had thought that Hatami Kia was on their side due to his depiction of the IranIraq war from the perspective of a soldier before, during and after the war.54 In their criticism of Gozaresh-e Yek Jashn Teribon 50. Fararu, "Iran’s National Police Chief Comments on Hatamikia’s Last Film," Fararu Website, February 12, 2011, http://www.fararu.com/ vdcaaoni.49naw15kk4.html. 51. Aftab, "Saffar-Harandi›s Reaction to Hatamikia’s Film," Aftab News, February 12, 2011, http://www.aftabnews.ir/vdcb98b8zrhb5ap.uiur.html. 52. Fars News, "Gozaresh-e Yek Jashn is a Leap Backwards for Hatamikia," Fars News Agency, February 12, 2011, http://www.farsnews.com/newstext. php?nn=8911230694. 53. Teribon, "Gozaresh-e Yek Jashn is a Report on Subversion," Teribon Mostazafin, February 17, 2011, http://www.teribon.ir/archives/40339. 54. Hatami Kia’s films Az Karkheh ta Rhein (1993), Booy-e Pirahan-e Yusef