A look at the performance of one of the youngest producers and filmmakers of the Iranian national cinema “Hossein Balash”

In the name of the Lord of the universe and the ruler of the moon, the sun and the sky
Who makes the films?
Who is the producer and what role does he play?

by ossein Talebzadeh

• Published in Film Magazine – No. 3360 (February 2020)
  Today, in the third millennium AD, the media is no longer limited to newspapers and the press, and news is provided to the audience, up to date and online. In the meantime, false news is published or in order to disrupt the structural order of a project. First, it is necessary to check what is the duty of the producer in this situation …
  The concept of media has, over time, generalized its meaning to new concepts that may not have existed recently. In the present age, digital tools have been able to turn even the smallest human relationships into media activities; Tools that are the business arm of individuals and a means of delivering individual and collective responses. In the meantime, cinema, along with the advancement of technology and the change of equipment for the production of a work, has found a different relationship with the media.
  Before presenting an article about the field of performance and activities of “Hossein Balash”, one of the producers of the noble Iranian cinema in recent years, I need to mention an article about him that has been published in one of the cinema magazines. According to Balash; The producer as a project manager must be fully aware of the media space or always have a media space consultant by his side to be able to control the situation through him if necessary.
  The producer of a work, knowing where the work originates and what the prospects for its presentation and display are, must advance the media space of the project. For example, it may be necessary for a smart media project to launch a product from the beginning of production, or perhaps even when the idea is approved, and provide the space for a new idea to be as successful as possible.
  A project may not be able to be properly offered due to its deconstruction of the market products and the cultural atmosphere of the country without background and advertising, but a producer from the field of study, research and field research such as Hossein Balash has proved that he can due to the influence of the media in the market, direct the space in such a way that it receives better feedback from the audience in due time for the publication of its work.
  By reading this article, we can more or less get acquainted with the views of young people who are gradually entering Iranian cinema and are rapidly opening their way to world cinema and international festivals. Hossein Balash is one of the same investors and producers who has entered the country’s cinema with his knowledge, wisdom and excellent university degrees.
  A review on the works of Hossein Balash as an idea and story designer, investor and producer;
  Voices of protest, wounds and laughter and dirk
  Hossein Balash is a unique figure among the new generation of filmmakers who came to the scene in the 1390s (solar year). Few people like him have had the opportunity to address important and sensitive issues, and more than anyone else, they have faced contradictory reactions to the text and hypertext of his works. A cinematographer who is involved with critics on the one hand and on the other hand with political and historical experts.
  In some cases, he has to be hit hard by political fanatics through the production of works such as “President’s Mobile Phone” that has put him in the media spotlight since 2011 until today.
  And now, on the eve of entering the fourth decade of his life, Balash is facing a great challenge: on the one hand, in recent years, he has tried hard to separate himself from party and factional presuppositions, and on the other hand, by entering serialization in the Home play is a new experience.
  A series with political themes taken from a short novel, of course, with an inflamed and controversial storyline, to which the margins and reactions to it will definitely not be less than his films.
  It goes without saying that this is the first time he has produced a visual work as a producer that he himself was not the original designer of the story.
  For this reason, we decided in this article to review the films of Hossein Balash and thee progress, which he made until he reached the movie “Shark” and the series he is making.
  The President’s Mpbile phone; The sound of protest of the weak class
  The screening of Hossein Balash’s first cinematic experience at the Fajr Film Festival surprised critics and the media. Those who had previously seen his TV documentary “Shock” as a notable and controversial work expected a film different from the socio-political contract production, but for the general public, Balash as a protest producer and T]the right-seeker was considered an unknown figure.
  Until then, the label “filmmaker” was a critique of those who, without the need for special taste and talent and only with the pretext of slogans and ideals, could spend large budgets on products that are often other than screening at festivals and basically provide a
  political manifesto, it was impossible to do anything else for them. But Hossein Balash’s “mobile phone”! was not compatible with this mental background and in some cases could be a pure cinematic experience.
  Reconstructing important moments of the ninth and tenth governments and its political margins in the form of images reminiscent of documentaries of the time, and using the voices of real people in the images, were less experienced methods in Iranian cinema for a dramatic narrative.
  Of course, it is necessary to point out here that Hossein Balash, in one of his latest film productions, “Paper Dream, which can be considered “The President’s Mobile Phone 2”, has again gone to the same idea and concern. In addition to minor innovations and technical mastery, paper dreaming in the subject and approach to the story were new, and in some cases could be an alternative reading compared to the officially accepted narratives about a rejected president and his role in the political and so-called deviant currents of the country, or at least in the form of a valuable and organic product, he worked for such a purpose.
  Loteria; The story of people who have come to life and are looking for a place to live
  The combination of Hossein Balash, Ali Atshani and even the actors behind the camera of their films soon became new and curious talents in Iranian cinema, but due to the nature and unconventional cinematic experience of their films, they were still far from mainstream. As a result, curiosity grew about their other film, Loteria which was made in South America and Mexico.
  Until a copy of the film was prepared for screening at the festival and reviewed by the jury, many still did not know that there was no end to the concerns of Hossein Balash as a generous investor but a marginal and adventurous producer. And this time he has gone to the sensitive issue of these years, namely immigration. Immigration of Iranians …
  The film Loteria is politically and socially inflamed; The formation of a generation of protest behaviors in recent years, addressing the impossible promises of the country’s officials and handing over the severe economic poverty of the people, which is the main reason for the army to leave the country. All in all, the events that change the course of the country and lead to the migration of people were a subject that perhaps until a few years ago could not even be thought of being shown in Iranian cinema.
  A sensitive and important issue, which Balash selected it for the first time by risking all his capital and professional prestige. Without the fear that dealing with these topics may lose both his reputation and his dreams …
  This story was about “Hossein Balash”. A young and brave investor and producer who, due to his great interest and fascination with the art of the cinema industry, has become completely infected with it and throws water and fire to save it from falling into the abyss of body and superficial cinema. A young and brave investor and producer who has become completely involved in the art of the cinema industry due to his great interest and fascination, and is doing his best to save it from falling into the abyss of superficial body cinema. While Balash tries to express the troubles and problems of the society in cinematic way, he always targets the emotions of the spectator and in this way he figures a painful elegy in his cinematic and sometimes TV events which you can hardly resist.

Hossein Talebzadeh
Cinema Instructor