In ‘1001 Frames,’ an Iranian-American Director Explores Power Imbalances and #MeToo
Imbalances of power can be found everywhere, and the abuse that can arise is boldly tackled in New York-based Iranian writer and director Mehrnoush Alia‘s feature film debut, 1001 Frames.
“In the studio of a well-known director, female actors audition for the role of Scheherazade in A Thousand and One Nights,” reads the synopsis for the movie, which world premieres on Wednesday, Feb. 19 in the Panorama section of the 75th edition of the Berlin Film Festival. “But the women gradually realize that the director has more in mind than just casting the leading role.”
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The film was shot without a permit in Iran where the filmmaker knows it won’t get into cinemas because such films typically never receive screening permits. Acting teacher Mohammad Aghebati, who also portrays the male director in the movie, oversaw the casting.
The idea for 1001 Frames goes back to when Alia was still living in Iran as a teen. “I had a friend when I was in high school who really wanted to become an actress. She was very talented and was trying everything, so I realized that this was happening from a very early age,” she tells THR. After Alia and her family moved to the U.S., “I realized that there’s actually a term for the casting couch. And then when I was a film student in New York, I was in a lot of audition rooms — helping friends with their auditions … and later looking for actors [myself]. I realized that even for an unpaid student film there was such competition that people were just opening themselves up and were in such a vulnerable situation.”
The experience caused her “alarm,” and she tried her hand at addressing the topics in her 2015 short Scheherazade before taking on a feature-length project. But 1001 Frames is about the broader theme of imbalances of power.
“For me, that power play and that power struggle [between the director and vulnerable actors] is the most important thing in this film,” Alia tells THR. “#MeToo is a part of that, but it’s about power abuse, [something] we see increasingly becoming worse in the world, with politicians and everything. This issue of power and the abuse of power is so important in today’s society that I really wanted to revisit it.”
These topics had been on the filmmaker’s mind for years, but she never felt there was “the right time” to make a feature — “until this past few years when Iranian women started speaking out and were on the streets. You see all these wonderful young women fighting for their freedom. So, I felt given that movement, it would be very interesting to have that Iranian angle.”
Not that the story won’t speak to people around the globe. “I still see it as a very universal story,” Alia emphasizes.
Has there been a real #MeToo impact in Iran? “It started in Iran a little bit later than the global one. But then there were a lot of concerns raised,” the filmmaker explains. “It has become a big issue in Iran. And it has also polarized people. There are the same questions that are also raised in the West, such as: do you detach the artist from his artwork?”
Alia is not aware though of any high-profile men losing their careers due to #MeToo allegations. “Cancel culture happened in terms of people choosing not to support or not to watch [an accused man’s] films,” she says. “But so far, from what I’ve seen, the people whose names have come out are working.”
Alia lauds her cast and crew on 1001 Frames for their collaborative spirit. “We were all in this together,” she says. “We were helping each other, man and women, we are all together trying to tell a story, hoping for change.”
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