I am blown away by the response to my last-minute Iranian Film Blogathon. 41 pieces written, all in all. A diversity of talent represented, with heavy-hitters such as Kiarostami and Panahi dominating, as is to be expected, but with a lot of love shown other film-makers (including a couple of pieces on the Iranian directors who happen to be women – Jason Bellamy wrote one, I wrote two – Perhaps I’ll do more in the future – we need to give these women the props, too!). I am so thankful to those of you who promoted, who kept checking in here, who read other people’s reviews and commented – showing your support of the other participants – It was a really vibrant week. I will definitely be hosting one again, now that I know all you have to do is spread the word as hard as you can, and then sit back and watch the links from all of the generous passionate intelligent souls out there come pouring in.
I will go back and read everyone’s contributions again and again. I have also added a good 20 films to my Netflix queue, and I hope the same is true for you out there.
There has been a surreal edge to all of this due to the death of my friend, but by the time I got that horrible news on Wednesday afternoon, the Blogathon had taken on a life of its own, and I didn’t have to do much but sit back and compile the links that came in. It was quite amazing. Thank you, Jake Cole, for helping me out on that last day. I came back from the funeral on Monday night, wrung dry, so exhausted I was actually nervous to be driving, and checked in with the site – and saw the additions to the list, added by you, and felt very emotional about it. I was feeling emotional about everything, but there is a truth that comes in the exhaustion of such moments. If you ask people for help – whether it be “could you please promote this?” or “won’t you please participate? I would love to hear a review from you!” or “could you please handle the Blogathon for me for one day?” – there are people out there who will say “Yes” with no hesitation.
That has been my experience of this week.
This began as a helpless-feeling response to Jafar Panahi’s situation, and it exploded into so much more. Some of the pieces have received comments that because of this or that review, a person out there is going to see their first film from Iran. This was another goal of this Blogathon and I am very happy about it.
I am exhausted and really don’t feel like writing right now. I am grieving the loss of my friend. So I’ll sign off for now. A more formal post-mortem will follow later this week, when I can get my thoughts together.
But wanted to thank everyone for participating, promoting, reading, and commenting.
You all ROCK.
You did such a great job on this Sheila, and so did everyone else who participated. This is an area of film I know little about – the film I reviewed for the blogathon was the second Iranian film I’ve ever seen, I’m a bit ashamed to say – and all these posts gave me a lot more to check out.
Ed – Thanks so much for the nice words and also for participating. I was thrilled to see some critics taking on some of these films from Iran, even if it was not their area of expertise. Awesome.
I agree: I have so much more to watch now. Very happy about that.
Thank you so much for doing this, Sheila. It’s barely been two years since I saw my first Iranian film and since then, despite being anything but well-versed on the subject, I’ve become more and more of a fan. I think getting 40 posts for a blogathon with less than a month’s heads-up is proof how the country’s cinema affects those who’ve managed to see it. And that to-watch list got about 15-20 new titles on it; everything I read about The Day I Became A Woman drove me mad. Why haven’t I seen this?!
And I’m so sorry for your loss. I’m amazed you kept this place up and I think you did an absolutely fantastic job. Seeing all these people contribute who were unfamiliar with Iranian film (including some who don’t even blog!) was so heartwarming. Thanks again.
Jake – ha, I love to hear your anticipation for Day I Became a Woman – it’s an extraordinary movie and I can’t wait to hear your thoughts on it. It did get distribution in the States – a limited one, obviously – which is where I first saw it – and I was head over heels for it.
I wish she would make another. She’s got a really original eye.
I agree: the response was amazing, especially from first-timers and people who don’t even have blogs. My heart is full.
Sheila,
Doubling Jake’s and Ed’s comments, I want to tell you that this is a truly remarkable achievement here at the blogathon. I came across your site only after a tweet mentioning the blogathon on the day it opened. If I had paid attention earlier, I would have contributed to longer pieces and also written about a few directors that I really wanted to examine (I wanted to a retrospective on Sohrab Shahid Saless, for instance).
Iranian and Chinese cinema pretty much rules the past twenty years and yet, more than Chinese cinema, Iranian cinema remains underdiscussed or limited to a few acclaimed films. That the blogathon received so many entries within a short span of time is testament to both the respect for your effort and the charm of the country’s cinema.
I’m sure this has padded a lot of Netflix queues and set people towards newer avenues. Again, terrific, terrific work.
Bravo!
JAFB – I am so glad we discovered each other. You have an amazing site there, and your daily contributions to the Blogathon were so diverse, so much fun (I’ve watched the animated chess short about 10 times now). I will definitely host another one of these, perhaps in December, which I believe was when Panahi received his official sentence. And I’ll plan ahead, so people can get ready.
Thanks again for all your great entries. Glad I discovered your site.