What follows is the result of an idea to connect the field of philosophy and thought with the world of drama. Let us choose sentences to ponder from the statements of the members of the philosophical group, which are archived in the “Chistiha Blog” (http://chistiha.blogfa.com); and after manipulating the concepts of those statements, and doing a brief exercise and editing, let us create a dramatic idea that will continue to form another dialogue, another concept, and another thought.
In the principles of drama writing, “ideation” and “drafting” have a specific method; but we tried to be one step before the idea and the plot. At the same stage of mental spark or, in our own words, the “study” stage, where the writer’s hand is open to writing down any image, concept, or point. Here, we have not limited ourselves to not mentioning the technical instructions, performance arrangements, dialogue, staging, and other matters, and left them for more detailed plans; on the contrary, we have completely written down whatever came to mind at the moment.
During our group meetings, we came to the conclusion that it was not necessary to obtain refined and precise plans from our conversations. It was only necessary to immediately edit and record everything that came to mind in an instant as a “study.”
And now we share the same with you. May these exercises and sketches be the beginning of a path to step on a bridge between philosophy and drama.
Ideas on the Bridge from Philosophy to Drama: Etude One Hundred and Seventeen
Note: These sketches have been registered with the Islamic Culture and Guidance Department. And the intellectual property belongs to the author.
These sketches are only allowed to be republished on the “Chistiha” site.
Etude 94
Feature or half-length film (combination of reality and animation)
People
Hanna (Sahba) Taleshi, 21 years old, animation student
Dr. Soroush Alirezaei
Paper June, Sahba’s mother
Mama Pari, Sahba’s grandmother
Soheil, 12 years old, Sahba’s brother
Saeed Taleshi, 45 years old, Sahba’s father, the most famous animation director in South Korea (not in the film)
The main narrative line of the film is the story of the girl and her father.
At first, we see Sahba sitting in her room. With her mobile phone and computer. The sound of the neighbor’s TV is annoying. Sahba closes the window to record. This is the room of an intelligent, pure, happy, funny and, of course, childish girl.
She is recording a voice for her father, and during these voice recordings, the film flashes back to previous adventures, and we will witness the adventures.
At one point in the film, we hear and see: “On the day of the exam, when I was writing his name, I was nothing but a red heart.” And the image we see is the moment when, at the exam, Sahba is writing her name (Hina Taleshi) on the exam paper and the name of the professor. And at the same time, from between these two names, several small red hearts come to life and scatter in all directions; and then they disappear. And this innovation makes it clear to the audience from the very beginning that the entire film is a combination of animation and reality. That is, wherever Sahba thinks, her thoughts come to life.
During that written exam, the professor comes to Sahba’s head and there is a secret between them. And we understand that the two are having an affair. During the following scenes, we will witness how many times Professor Alirezaei came to Sahba’s house and they sat in her car and talked to each other, but the professor did not want them to even go to the alley because of his professorial image. Or in class, he gave Sahba such enthusiastic encouragement that all the girls were jealous. [In Sahba’s imagination, the girls in the class occasionally turn into pink rabbits, red parrots, and gray kittens.]
On the other hand, we see that Sahba works on her project until dawn.
What is the story of this project?
The story is about an animation project that, following a call by the Iranian Broadcasting Corporation, and Professor Alirezaei asking students to send him their ideas, the best idea belonged to Sahba. The best idea in the eyes of the entire class and the professor.
Sahba has been working day and night on this project for months:
This animation project is in black with white lines, and its story is about a hypothetical city whose people are all kinds of animals. All the people in that city go and buy a TV and sit down to watch it. Until the programs all become repetitive and everyone gets bored; then no one watches TV anymore. But one day everything changes. When the people of the city wake up in the morning, they see that all the TVs are teaching filmmaking. Sound recording. Lighting. Photography. Decoupage writing. Documentary. And so on. People are encouraged to buy cameras and equipment and make films themselves. Everyone goes at the same time and gets the film-making equipment. And they make films of mountains, plains, waterfalls, suns, moons, laughter, crying, pets, factories, agricultural lands, and in short, everything that has been and has not been. After a while, everyone reconciles with the televisions again, and lights are visible from their windows, and until late at night, everyone is busy watching films, series, animations, and documentaries.
In the story of Sahba and the Professor, however, we will witness that after approving this plan, Professor Alirezaei betrays Sahba. He first registers this animation under a joint name, while writing his own name first; and in the later stages, he writes only his own name. And the same goes for festivals and screenings. After a while, he plays with the girl’s feelings and releases her. And he avoids confronting her in the corridors of the college. Sahba, who has come to terms with her work, is very upset. And on the other hand, she does not want to complain to her teacher. She solves everything herself. Some time later, the festival awards are announced. And no award is given to this animation except the “From the Audience’s View” award, which takes first place. And that same award goes to the teacher. But Sahba is not so upset. She has a kind heart beyond these awards and festivals.
But despite all this, now Sahba’s behavior changes. She is bored. And at home she also has a disagreement with her little brother. When Sohail sits and watches Majid’s stories series on TV (especially the part where Majid holds the camera and makes a film), Sahba gets angry and criticizes him for sitting and watching a series that belongs to two generations ago. And he should go and study. But Sohail, at his sister’s insistence, starts filming his home and life with his mobile phone. And that’s all he does. During this period of spiritual transformation, Sahba becomes closer to her mother than before. And all the secrets of her mother and father are revealed to her. The mother tells Sahba that according to an agreement, there has been no contact between her and Saeed since ten years ago. An emotional divorce. And since Saeed left for South Korea seven years ago to work as a director, which has also become famous, they have been completely distant from each other and Saeed is not going to return.
This secret is hard for Sahba. She changes. And she starts recording audio for her father. And she asks her father to at least make a film of her daughter’s story now that she is not returning to family life. A girl whose extraordinary imagination allows her to see people as animals. And animals as humans. She can imagine Pari’s mother as a winged angel. Despite her old age and swollen feet, Pari’s mother always has to put her feet on a short sofa when she sits and knit clothes for the dolls in the house. Pari’s mother still loves dolls.
Pepper June – Parvin June – But she is the exact opposite of her mother. She is twice as old as her age. Despite all the beauty of her face and body, which has no equal, she is devastated and crushed. And this is because she has felt lonely for years and the burden of responsibility for the house is on her; raising two children is not easy. Alone and empty-handed. Pepper June is very stylish and clean, and is into fashion and clothing, as well as the Quran and its interpretation, fasting and night prayers; recently, she has attended several strange meetings attributed to new mysticism or the ring, or something else. And a family that does not believe in covering the head with hair. From a family with roots, which also have a genealogy dating back to before the Qajar dynasty. And Saeed was also from their family. Anyway, what Sahba somewhat understands is the possibility of slight traces of her mother’s love for someone else, which may have initiated their disagreement and a whiff of betrayal that Saeed sensed. And the possibility of subsequent discouragement.
All of Sahba’s words to her father are transmitted via the Internet. We do not see the father himself. What we see is an editing table and a series of monitors. Occasionally, one of the monitors’ messengers beeps and says Message From Sahba. And then we see the hand of a man who is editing the sound on the box, opening that message to download it. That’s it. There are other files in this same computer. That are opened. The man’s hand (Saeed’s hand) opens them. Files that are fragments of Sahba’s animations.
Sahba’s cartoons, imaginations, and her speech sometimes even encompass her dreams. Sahba has been sitting in her room for several days now and has no motivation to do anything. A self-imposed exile to the room. Soheil also films this closed door. And he makes a mockery of it.
Everything we saw from the beginning in this film turns out in the end that the film of this family’s life is being made. All those scenes that Soheil had taken. And sent to his father and we didn’t know. Here in a private theater in South Korea, the film is being screened. And the audience is all clapping. This film is by an Iranian-Korean director. The director’s name is Saeed Taleshi. The name is Hana Sahba Taleshi for the animations in the film. And Soheil Taleshi for the mobile camera footage. That’s it. At the end, we see a profile of the father sitting in the first row of the movie theater. And everyone is clapping. Just one clap and that’s it. That’s it.
This film could have been shot entirely in closed environments to create a sense of being in a tight spot.
Author: B. Khosravani
It is recalled that any copying and extraction of these ideas, from an ethical and legal perspective, is only possible by mentioning the address, and use for performance will only be possible if the author’s written consent is obtained.