Teheran Tabu

Bull's-eye! This was undoubtedly the strongest experience for me from Febiofest 2018. The film has excellently coordinated content and an original form. This portrayal of the young generation of Iranians, deprived of any illusions about the conditions in society and their everyday encounters with hypocrisy and corruption in their surroundings, will certainly not be pleasing to the ayatollahs. For a debut, it is surprisingly mature, and it is evident from the film that it was not a common project or even made-to-order, but rather a personal matter into which the filmmakers wanted to put their best effort. Because Tehran Taboo was created abroad, it does not have to compromise and step cautiously and only hint where one would rather scream in anger. The film depicts with sarcastic cynicism what lies behind the facade of official highly conservative religious morality. However, I must warn you - do not expect a comedy from this. It is actually a bitter, depressing story about people who are trapped in the snare of prejudice, traditions, and restrictive rules to such an extent that they feel unhappy in it, and in the best-case scenario, choose an escape from what they consider to be a prison. Overall impression: 95%. (20.03.2018)

It took me a while to get used to the creators revealing a whole plethora of Muslim sexual taboos. Maybe that’s why they made a movie of this sort with Austrian and German money. They would probably hang them by their balls for such blasphemy in Iran. After a while, though, I finally got used to what isn’t my cup of tea when it comes to this culture and I started to enjoy ordinary, but at the same time unique and sad stories of people living in Tehran. They try to impress you, which they succeed in, but they are being held back by a number of people who lack any human decency. The finale of the movie totally hit me and I was at a loss for words. The combination of visuals and oriental music made me extremely sad. It’s proof that even in Tehran there are people like us who want to live like us but at the same time are influenced by traditions and rules that no one in our country will, or even wants to, understand. (09.03.2018)