World Cinema Amsterdam has invited Sahand Sahebdivani to introduce the première of the film Taxi Teheran on Thursday, June 11 at 7.30 pm. Sahebdivani is an Iranian storyteller, writer, musician and the owner of the Mezrab cultural center. When he was three years old, his family fled from their home in Iran. Sahebdivani tells stories to keep his family's history and culture safe.
Taxi Teheran
The career of the lauded Iranian director Jafar Panahi has been dominated by censorship, arrests and imprisonment. The Iranian government is trying to stop Panahi from expressing himself and his ideas, but without success. In 2010, Jafar Panahi was banned from making films for 20 years, but this didn't stop him: "Nothing can prevent me from making films, since when being pushed to the ultimate corners I connect with my inner-self and, in such private spaces, despite all limitations, the necessity to create becomes even more of an urge." And so Panahi created Taxi Teheran, a film with an anonymous cast (it can be dangerous to act in a Panahi film) that premiered at the 65th Berlin International Film Festival, where it won a Golden Bear.
The story is simple but effective: a taxi is driving through the streets of Teheran; conversations with the passengers give a realistic description of everyday life in the Iranian capital. The taxi is driven by Panahi himself.
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