I came across this awesome Kickstarter project that I think is arazel news worthy. Please take a second to view the trailer and if you are like me and would LOVE to see this movie be made, donate what you can. This is what we’d love to see being made more of. Soundtrack is by Shahin Najafi, Jadugaran, ZedBazi and A2. (dope)

peace out!
-amir

About this project

THE IRAN JOB follows American basketball player Kevin Sheppard  as he accepts a job to play in one of the world’s most feared countries: Iran. With tensions running high between Iran and the West, Kevin tries to separate sports from politics, only to find that politics is impossible to escape in Iran. Along the way he forms an unlikely alliance with three outspoken Iranian women. Thanks to these women, his apartment turns into an oasis of free speech, where they discuss everything from politics to religion to gender roles. Kevin’s season in Iran culminates in something much bigger than basketball: the uprising and subsequent suppression of Iran’s reformist Green Movement – a powerful prelude to the currently unfolding Arab Spring.

HOW THE IRAN JOB STARTED:

In the fall of 2008 – shortly after Iran’s president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called for the destruction of Israel – we had a Skype call with Kevin Sheppard, a flashy point-guard from the U.S. Virgin Islands. Kevin was about to start a basketball contract in the Iranian Super League. A minute into the conversation he had us rolling on the floor laughing in spite of the prospect of playing in a country that’s supposedly full of illegal nukes and Islamic terrorists. We decided to start filming, even without a budget. (Fellow filmmakers: please don’t do this to yourselves, especially when you’re married with a small child and another on the way…) Till (husband/director) filmed Kevin in Iran over several visits, until on his last trip – in the run-up to Iran’s 2009 election – he was informed that he had been placed on a “black list” (for reasons still not clear to us), and was put in detention in a kind of “hotel-prison” inside the glitzy new Tehran airport. Sara (wife/producer) was at home, 5-months pregnant with kid number 2, while Till was in Tehran hand-shredding some not-so-cool-documents-when-you’re-stuck-in-Iran and flushing them down the toilet. He was sent back to New York on the next plane — a stroke of luck in retrospect given the number of filmmakers and journalists recently arrested in Iran.

WHAT WE’RE DOING:

We need to raise at least $50,000 by the end of the year to prepare the film for a 2012 release.

WHY NOW:

With the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq winding down, and the world’s attention laser-focusing on Iran again this is a critical time to take a fresh look at Iranians. It may even be crucial in avoiding the next war in a Muslim country.

Besides … the NBA is locked out, so you might as well watch exciting basketball in Iran!

PARTNERS & SUPPORTERS:

Abigail Disney - executive producer of Academy Award shortlisted Pray The Devil Back To Hell and Academy Award nominated Sun Come Up, and creator of the PBS series Women, War and Peace – is our executive producer. Berlin’s The Post Republic (Waltz With Bashier) is our German co-producer.  Christiane Amanpour graciously co-hosted a fundraiser. Gloria Steinem noted the film’s unexpected nexus of male sports and women’s rights – for while THE IRAN JOB is about men’s basketball, above all it gives voice to three very brave Iranian women. We’ve also won the support of Karim Sadjapour, associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

And we’re thrilled THE IRAN JOB features some of the most cutting-edge Iranian rap and hip-hop, including such artists as Shahin Najafi, Jadugaran, ZedBazi, and A2.

WHAT’S THE BEST WAY TO SUPPORT THE IRAN JOB:

• Make a pledge today via Kickstarter. Any contribution, no matter how small or large, will make a difference. And all contributions will be rewarded! Please check out the donation tiers to your right to find the level and gift that’s right for you!
• Spread the word by telling your friends, family and social networks about our film and this Kickstarter campaign. Please send the URL of this page with a heartfelt endorsement to everyone you know! “Like” and Share the link on Facebook, Twitter, by email or blog. Encourage people to follow us. We can be found online here: Facebook, Twitter, www.theiranjob.com
• If you have other ideas how to help please contact us!

HOW KICKSTARTER WORKS:

Kickstarter is a funding platform for creative projects, driven by an all-or-nothing modus. If we don’t raise our goal of $50,000, we lose everything, and no money changes hands. If we do reach our goal, the film will come out in 2012. Our campaign will last for 50 days. 50 days go by very fast. If you can, please pledge now – it will help build crucial momentum.

During our campaign and beyond we will keep you updated on the progress of the film, and we welcome any feedback and comments. Thank you very much for helping us complete this journey!

With much love and gratitude,

Sara Nodjoumi & Till Schauder

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www.theiranjob.com

FAQ

• How can I pledge?
• How will the money be used
• Can we exceed our goal?
• Can I increase my pledge once it’s been made?
• Can I get a tax deduction for my pledge?
• What is Kickstarter?
• Endorsements & Funding to date:
• What rewards will I get for my pledge:
• What else can I do to support THE IRAN JOB
• If the film is funded, when will it be released?
• When will I get my stuff?
• How much is shipping?
• How will you know where to send my incentives, or what t-shirt size to send?
• Can I make a donation as a gift?
• What happens if the money isn’t raised in time?
• How can I contact you?
• If I donate, when can I redeem the incentive?
• Can I pay with a check? Send cash by mail?
• Who’s involved in the making of this film?

Brian Sherwin: Shadi, you were born in Tehran, Iran. You moved to the United States when you were sixteen. Can you discuss your early years and how they influenced the art that you create today? Do the cultural differences between Iran and the US play a role in your work?

Shadi Yousefian: At the time I moved to the United States, the social atmosphere in Iran was very different than what it is today. There was a lot less freedom, especially for women and many people dreamed of getting out of the country to live in a place with more freedoms. Despite this fact, for the first couple of years, I still preferred to go back and live in Iran.

Even though I was familiar with American culture to some extent through movies and the music we listened to in Iran, the culture shock was too overwhelming when I moved to the United States. I didn’t know the language well, I didn’t have my old friends around, and I was unfamiliar with the new environment. This forced me to reflect on myself on a deeper level. I was more aware of myself as an individual. In Iran, I was part of a group, but here I became more aware of my identity as an individual, and later of a double identity.

The double identity came when I started to adapt to the American way of living. I still had my Iranian side, but there was an American side that was shaping. I felt like I had two identities, but neither one was complete. This situation reflects in my self-portrait series, which is about double identity.

BS: It is my understanding that you studied photography on the academic level. Where did you study? Did you have any influential instructors during those years?

SY: I studied photography and received both my Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees at San Francisco State University. Professors, Lewis DeSoto, Alice Shaw, and Dale Kistemaker, were influential in shaping my art. They familiarized me with photography techniques and artistic concepts and helped me find my own individual artistic direction and style and never tried to change who I am as an artist. Also, professor Whitney Chadwick, my art history teacher helped me understand art theory and criticism.

BS: Tell us more about your influences… are you influenced by any specific artists?

SY: One artist whose work I’ve always admired is Joel-Peter Witkin. My work is by no means similar to his neither compositionally nor conceptually, but I’ve always admired his use of textures and his emotionally moving concepts. The use of textures reflect in my work as well. Another artist whose work is visually and conceptually moving is Erwin Olaf. I also love the visual compositions of Kurt Schwitters, and the use of collage and fragmentation in the works of Hannah Hoch.

BS: Shadi, your early work involved– as you have stated in the past — an abstract expressionistic style. This works involved close-up shots of marks and scratches on surfaces such as walls, telephone booths, and trash bins in public places. Can you tell us more about these earlier works and how the experience of working in that manner directed or enhanced the self-portraits that you now create? Is there a connection?

SY: My early work started with a series of abstract compositional studies. I was exploring the medium of photography as a visual tool to create these compositions. The reason I say “abstract expressionistic” is because these compositions were abstract and they were created by photographing scratches, marks, and “expressions” that had been created by different people.

I would look for surfaces that had expressive marks and textures and, looking through the viewfinder, I would find compositions that appealed to me. Later, when I was creating my self-portrait series, I started creating these expressive textures by hand, working directly on the surface of my negatives.

BS: Tell us more about the social implications of your work? What is the social message that you strive to convey?

SY: My work mostly deals with identity. Identity of myself as an Iranian-American immigrant, which also relates to identity of all immigrants, and identity of any individual. One important message that I strive to convey is that living in a diverse society, and interacting with people from different cultures, races, age groups, and genders, our identity starts to get fragmented.

BS: Can you tell us more about your process? What are the methods that you utilize in order to make your photographs a work of self-expression rather than straight representations…

SY: I work directly on the surfaces of my negatives leaving my own expressive mark, the same way a painter or a collage artist creates a piece of art. I scratch the negatives and combine pieces and fragments of different negatives to create my final piece. In this way I’m introducing other layers besides the photographic shot.

BS: Is photography a spiritual or therapeutic practice for you?

SY: I would say therapeutic. I release personal emotions through my work. These are emotions that I don’t normally communicate through words. I think communicating these profound feelings through art has a therapeutic effect on me.

BS: Select one of your works and tell us about it.

SY: As the title suggests, the piece “Duality” (image above) is about duality. The double identity that I experience as an Iranian living in the United States. In this piece, I’m sitting in a calm position, contemplating my identity as an individual. I have no head, but am holding two heads in my hands. One head, wearing a scarf representing my Iranian side and the other representing my Western identity.

BS: Finally, do you have any works in progress at this time? Can you tell us about them?

SY: Yes. I’m working on a series called “The Letters”. When I first moved to the United States, I kept in touch with my friends by writing letters regularly. We exchanged letters that ranged from 20 pages to 70 pages. This continued for a couple of years, but as time went on, it gradually faded and, after a while, it stopped. I literally had two huge boxes full of these letters that I had kept and, unfortunately, I had to throw one away when I moved to a new place.

A while back, I was thinking of these letters and went back to them and started to read them again. I was so amazed by the effort we all put into keeping in touch and all the emotions that we communicated to each other. It was almost like a diary. Now it had all faded and all was left was an abstract thought of letters that we once exchanged and the content was forever lost. I decided to create a series from the letters that I had still kept to convey this experience.

You can learn more about Shadi Yousefian by visiting her website– www.shadiyousefian.com. Shadi is also a Featured Artist on www.myartspace.com. You can read more of my interviews by visiting the following page– www.myartspace.com/interviews.

Take care, Stay true,
Brian Sherwin