Statement of intent

“The revolutions of the last three centuries have all been inspired by philosophers.
The philosopher understands things. He speaks to the spirit.
The prophet feels them. He speaks to the heart.
And the peoples of the world respond better to appeals to the heart than appeals to the spirit”, prophesied Ali Shariati, the well-known Iranian thinker who died before the outbreak of the Iranian Revolution.

This film, shot during the first months of the ‘Persian Spring’, stands as a testament to an historical moment at which anything is possible. Thirty-five million Iranians seek, in the utopia of a new Islam, to reclaim their cultural identity. And the people’s aspiration to freedom, for too long suppressed by the Shah’s dictatorship, is expressed in contradictory ways. The camera therefore follows the electoral campaign of a liberal-leaning deputy in the Isfahan bazar; violent tirades at Tehran University between the supporters of Shariati and those of Khomeini. In the streets of the capital, the objective viewpoint captures the punitive actions of the new thugs of Islamic purity: the Hezbollahis.

We likewise witness the training of the first Basijs and Pasdarans, armed by the emerging Order whose mission is to fight against autonomist tendencies. Because Iran is a multi-ethnic country. In the mountains of the North, the Kurdish minority also forms its brigades, the Peshmerga. In the East, the Baloutchistan tribes renew ties with their Afghani brothers on the other side of the border.
Iran, Utopia On the Move gives the viewer a frame of reference to help them understand the current dynamics of this region.”