Rafi Pitts' films have attained acclaim and awards around the globe. His first feature, The Fifth Season (1997), was the first Franco-Iranian co-production since the Iranian Revolution in 1979, and premiered in Venice. Sanam (2000) was hailed by French critics as the Iranian The 400 Blows (1959). In 2003, Pitts presented his controversial feature ...
[on living in exile] I have made four films in Iran, all censored in the country. The Hunter (2010) is the film that got me into trouble. The government thought I was involved with the 2009 riots since the film is about a man who loses his wife and daughter in a shoot-out between police and demonstrators. It was just a coincidence that the riots happened after the filming. When I went to Berlin to show the film to the producers, I was told by officials not to come back. So I haven't been back since 2009. I don't like to say I 'can't' come back, but under the constitution they should have never imprisoned Jafar Panahi and Mohammad Rasoulof, who were both given six-year prison sentences and banned from making films for 20 years. That is the situation I am dealing with. So I am in exile - so what? [2016]
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In my film-making, I am always questioning the authorities and why they disregard the marginal guy. They have the right to have a life, too. Nobody worries about the guy on the street. It's not right. [2016]
3
America is a vast country that is populated with immigrants, yet also gives a hard time to these immigrants. Other countries are doing the same, but I felt I was in neutral ground since I am not American, and I am not pinpointing a specific area or group of people. Prior to shooting, I spent 10 months in Los Angeles. I didn't want to get any information wrong. (...) When I saw that politicians are thinking of putting up a wall on the US-Mexico border, I started looking into the options for work permits and came across the US Green Card Soldier programme, which has been in existence since the Vietnam War. (...) I went to Tijuana, just over the US border in Mexico, where I met with Hector Barajas. He was deported 18 years ago for getting into a fight after he had served in the Gulf War. He created a shelter called The Bunker for deported veterans. I spoke to many people there and it made me think, "War is violent enough. After serving on the frontlines for your country, being deported for getting into a small amount of trouble seems inhumane." For me, this is a story that refers to Europe and everywhere else as well. I strive for people to know these issues exist, and to encourage people to talk about it. [2016]
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I feel that I always have to find a reason to make a film beyond cinema itself. [2016]
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At its best, a film is completely unpredictable.
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A political film is a film that is shown to an audience that disagrees.
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Dealing with censorship has become our art, how to say something, with certain rules.
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I'm more interested in the human condition than in governments and the politics they do.
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For any film, whether Iranian or not, a podium like the Berlin Film Festival, obviously, is beautiful. Because it helps art exist. If you work in art house cinema, how else are you going to get people to find out about it? How else are you going to give that podium for smaller distributors to be helped and they release it. So it's a question of telling the world the film exists.
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Fact
1
Rafi Pitts wins the GRAND-PRIX "ALEKSANDAR SASA PETROVIC" for BEST FILM, at the 22nd AUTEUR FILM FESTIVAL in Belgrade, for his film SOY NERO (2016).
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Member of the 'Official Competition' jury at the 69th Locarno International Film Festival in 2016.
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His father is British and his mother is Iranian. His stepfather is French.
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Member of the 'Filmmakers of the Present' jury at the 59th Locarno International Film Festival in 2006.
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Member of the 'Best First Feature' jury at the 59th Berlin International Film Festival in 2009.
$850,000
