👋 Welcome to the second issue of Iranophilia - In this issue I’ll do a deep dive into the 43rd annual Fajr Film Festival. Want to skip forward to reading about the films themselves? Check out my article describing each of the 37 submitted films.

🎥 Where to Watch - Most the movies discussed in this issue will be shown for the first time at the festival. They aren’t in theaters even in Iran yet, let alone elsewhere. It will be some time until they are shown abroad or streamed online. I will do my best to keep an updated list of where to watch these films as they become available.

CURRENT EVENTS

🤝 Rising Speculations about Negotiations- Ever since Trump won the US elections, there’s been a lot of speculation about what his Iran policy would be. Even before taking office, there were some signs there would be a shift away from the steep tensions of his first term.

Early Signs of Interactions

Shortly after Trump’s victory, the New York Times reported that Trump confidant Elon Musk had met with the Iranian UN ambassador to discuss “ways to diffuse tensions between Iran at the United States”. Later, after Italian journalist Cecila Sala was detained in Tehran, the New York Times reported that Musk played a role in getting her released after 21 days.

While Musk said he played a small role, the Iranian foreign ministry denied any contact with him either time. And yet, Sala herself stated after getting freed that Musk was involved.

Speculations about moves towards diplomacy grew stronger after Trump took office.

Trump’s First Decisions

Trump not only declined to bring back any of his former anti-Iran foreign policy team, but took very public steps to humiliate them. On his first day in office, he fired Brian Hook, his former special representative for Iran through a post on Truth Social. He also revoked the security clearance of former National Security advisor John Bolton and removed secret service protection of Bolton, Hook, and Pompeo. All three were very public Iran hawks in his previous term.

After getting rid of his former team, Trump has started hiring several new people who believe in a more restrained US policy in the Middle East. Two big names include Dan Caldwell as Pentagon senior advisor and Mike DiMino as the Pentagon’s Middle East policy chief. Both have advocated for diplomacy with Iran and sometimes criticized Israel’s actions in the region.

The Financial Times reported that Trump’s Middle East Envoy Steve Witkoff , who successfully got the first stage of the Gaza-Israel ceasefire would likely be put in charge of his Iran file and given the mission to pursue a diplomatic agreement with Tehran. Note that this has not yet been officially confirmed.

This new approach has not been without its critics. Several pro-Israel or neoconservative publications have attacked Trump’s new hires and criticized any move towards diplomacy.

What is Iran’s Stance?

As I stated in the previous issue, several members of President Pezeshkian’s cabinet have expressed eagerness for negotiations with the US. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has been cautious, stating that no decision has been made, but also not ruling out talks. In an interview with Al Jazeera he also pointed to the lack of trust towards the United States based on the previous deal.

On January 28 the Supreme Leader made a speech in which he reiterated the United States should be trusted, but also did not rule out talks. He stated, “Let us open our eyes and be careful with whom we are facing, dealing with, and talking. When a person knows his opponent, he may make a deal, but he knows what to do. We must recognize and know.” This has widely interpreted to be a green light towards negotiations.

What Will Be The Way Forward?

It appears the Iranian government is open towards the possibility of direct negotiations with the Trump administration (though there are deep divisions among different factions). However they are uncertain what Trump’s demands will be. They are waiting for more clarity before taking any further steps.

On the American side, Trump wants to try negotiations first before moving towards any other approach. However he is still building his team and likely does not have a clear agenda yet. It should be noted that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will be visiting the White House next week.

In October of this year many of the original JCPOA’s provisions will expire. The remaining members of the deal will either have to ‘snap back’ UN sanctions on Iran (which will likely lead to Iran leaving the NPT), accept drastically reduced limitations on Iran’s nuclear program, or negotiate a new agreement.

🗣️ Zarif Goes to Davos

Current vice president for strategic affairs and former foreign minister Javad Zarif was invited to the World Economic Forum at Davos. In his talk he reiterated Iran is not seeking nuclear weapons, defended the Palestinian resistance, and expressed hopes Trump would deal with Iran in a rational manner.

In response to a question from the host about hijab enforcement he stated, “The Islamic Republic has decided not to pressure women regarding the hijab. If you walk on the streets of Tehran, you will see some women without hijab. Although this is illegal, the government has chosen not to put women under pressure”.

This part of his talk sparked tremendous controversy inside Iran. On one hand, many Iranians were outraged that he was taking credit for something on an international stage that was the result of years of civil disobedience that came at a very heavy price - and was clearly not granted freely by the government. On the other hand, conservatives were angered that a representative of the Iranian government would blatantly disregard the law in front of others. Some went as far as asking for his prosecution.

His full talk can be seen here.

MORE HEADLINES

• Foreign Minister Araghchi visited Afghanistan, becoming the highest ranking Iranian official to travel there since the Taliban took power. Topics of discussion included resolving the Helmand Dam water dispute and Afghan migrants going into Iran.

• On January 18, two senior Iranian judges were assassinated near the Supreme Court. The assailant was an abdarchi (tea server) that worked for the judiciary. The preliminary investigation results were that there was no political motivation.

• The Friday prayer leader of Qazvin resigned. This is believed to be relating to a minor diplomatic controversy that started after he prayed that the President of Azerbaijan be overthrown (which was a response to the President of Azerbaijan insulting a different Iranian cleric).

CULTURE

The 43rd Annual Fajr Film Festival - The Fajr Film Festival started today with The 43rd Fajr Festival with a tribute to three Iranian cinema veterans - Sirus Alvand, Manoochehr Valizadeh, and Reza Babak.

There was also some controversy when director Marzieh Boroomand shook hands with Reza Babak on stage.

This lineup this year is quite impressive and includes pieces from several directors that haven’t participated for some time. It’s one of the most exciting editions of the event in years. I’ve written an article about all 37 films featured this year that I’d highly recommend going through in detail:

This year’s festival features a large number of social dramas and war films. This is to the level that there are two different films about the same figure during the Iran-Iraq War - General Ali Hashemi (both of which look fascinating).

The film I’m looking forward to the most though is the animated music “Juliet and the King”:

This animation, which has been in work for years, is about a young French actress who Naser al-Din Shah invites to Tehran to play the role of Juliet in Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet”. It features the Shah himself, many of his famous wives, and even Malijak, as well as settings like Golestan Palace and Takyeh Dowlat.

Another much anticipated film is “The Hunter” (also called “Sayyad”), which is about Iran-Iraq War Artesh General Ali Sayyad Shirazi. The trailer for this film was fascinating for several reasons:

The first interesting thing about the film is that it shows some touching and intimacy between Sayyad Shirazi and his wife. Something like an actress putting her head on an actor’s shoulder is normally not allowed in domestic Iranian films.

In this case though, Ali Sarabi & Maral Baniadam are husband and wife in real life, giving them a loophole. Nonetheless, this is unusual and represents a first in post revolution cinema.

Another interesting thing about the trailer was the emphasis put on clashes between Artesh (the Army) and the IRGC. This appears to be a main plotline of the film - something previously considered taboo in movies about the war.

SPORTS

Coach Changes - Several Persian Gulf Pro League Teams changed coaches after the midseason break. Most notably the South African coach Pitso Mosimane departed Esteghlal after only 3 months on the job, while Persepolis signed on Ismail Kartal, one of the most decorated coaches in Turkey.

Football Federation Elections - Elections for the next head of the Iranian Football Federation will be held next month. Out of the five candidates - Mehdi Taj, Heydar Baharvand, Ali Kaffashian, Shahab ad-Din Azizi Khadem, and Amir Abedini - two were already disqualified (Kaffashian and Khadem). Both disqualified figures were former heads of the Football Federation. Incumbent Taj is widely expected to win.

Upcoming Matches - Both Esteghlal and Persepolis have must win Asian Champion’s League Elite Matches coming up soon:

Esteghlal faces Al-Shorta (Iraq) on Monday February 3rd in Azadi Stadium.

Persepolis faces Al-Hilal (Saudi Arabia) on Tuesday February 4th at the Kingdom Arena.

ACROSS THE WEB

• From Iran to Indonesia: Iranian travel bloggers Hamid Ghafari and Asa Mojtabaei have embarked on a trip from Iran to Indonesia by bicycle. They’re documenting the entire way on Instagram. So far, they’ve biked from Tehran all the way to Sistan Baloochestan and into Pakistan. Their stories and posts are amazing. I’d highly recommend following both.

• A Return to Iran (Persian): Shargh Daily did a 50 minute long interview with Morteza Aghili. He was an Iranian actor before the revolution who left Iran after 1979 and lived in Los Angeles for most his life. More recently he acted in some films for Gem TV, a Persian Language station in Turkey. In 2019 though, Aghili returned to back to Iran and continued working at home. In this interview he talks about his journey and compares making movies inside Iran compared to abroad.

SHOWER THOUGHTS

If Iranians made an AI equivalent of ChatGPT or DeepSeek, what would it be called?

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