None of your business | Va kas che (2019)
A documentary film regarding the life and death of a popular southern Iranian guitar player, singer and poet

“Even though I passed away, everyone in Bandar Abbas is playing my music. Therefore, I am still alive.”

A documentary film regarding the life and death of Ebrahim Monsefi, mostly known as Ebram; a popular southern Iranian guitar player, singer and poet.

He was born 70 years ago in Bandar-Abbas and passed away 50 years afterwards and had suffered such a sad end that made it almost impossible for one to tell if he had committed suicide or died a natural death.

Although he has passed away for almost two decades now, thoughts and debates are still on about his cause and reason of death.



Ebrahim spent his whole life composing lyrics and music in solitude and recorded them in solitude as well, never in a studio.

After he died, his works have been discovered and published little by little and suddenly everyone referred to his music and several musicians have covered them so far. Many have become interested in his life.

An excerpt of Cinema Without Borders' exclusive interview with Kamran Heidari about his four films that is screening in New York:

Bijan Tehrani: I think None of Your Business is a very beautiful film. It takes a lot of courage to make film about a deceased singer by having his as narrator of his story. To me, None of Your Business is a visual poem. How did you choose this structure?



Kamran Heidari: I knew this character from 10 years ago and listen to his music. I contacted certain friends of his and asked about Monsefi’s life stories. There were a lot of stories about his life. I thought it’s much better to focus on only 2 or 3 events in his life.

Naturally, it’s very hard when your subject has passed away. The only way was to talk to his friends. Since I love visuals, I didn’t want to spend too much time on interviews, talking heads telling their memories of Ebrahim Monsefi. I thought what would be left if I remove all the interviews? It made me think it’s like literature.

I wrote the stories of the film based on true events in his life. Then I thought, how would Ebrahim Monsefi talk about himself? So, I read his books. He has three books of his poems and I took notes of the parts that were about his life and wrote stories based on those poems. Then, it just occurred to me to let him tell his own story in the film. Magic realism like the ones in the South America and Gabriel Marquez’s work somehow exist in the Southern Iran, too.

Ebrahim grew up in a Hindu temple and believed in reincarnations and he even talked about it in his poems. I was a little worried if I could develop the story without his friend’s interviews and archival footage. It was a bit difficult, so I thought he would say at the beginning: “Even though I passed away, everyone in Bandar Abbas is playing my music. Therefore, I am still alive.”

I worked each story with a musician who played his music. It made it easy. It took 2 months to write a narration. Luckily, we have got a lot of good feedback for the film so far. (Cinema Without Borders)




Another excerpt of an interview with Kamran Heidari about his latest film None of Your Business: (rogerebert.com)

"None of Your Business" departs from "I Am Negahdar Jamali… ," "Dingomaro" and "Ali Aqa" in that it’s about a man who is now dead. It’s much less of a straightforward documentary than those films are. Were there other reasons why you thought Ebrahim Monsefi’s story called for a departure in your style and approach?

Kamran Heidari: We were concerned because my character was always a living character in my earlier films. I tried to experiment with a new model in filmmaking, although it was scary and anxiety-provoking. I love the magic realism of Latin America and especially Gabriel Garcia Marquez: that his stories are both real and magical at the same time.

I tried to use the same style, because Monsefi's life is like a story out of magic realism. Here we have true stories that are told throughout dream and magic by a dead man. In the original script, the magic realism based on myths of south of Iran were more evident. But the producer suggested that we do more documentary scenes and stay with the documentary tone. The part that is related to dreams is very evident in the film and I am so happy about the style I chose.

Do you see your films fitting into a particular tradition in Iranian cinema, or being outside it?

Kamran Heidari: I make my films based on my intuitions. My films are very personal, and based on my own life. More than cinema and any filmmaker, I am influenced by the people living around me and that dictates the method I pick to make films. I have always tried not to follow one specific style or confine myself to one specific genre but I loved the films that are trying to find a new language for the cinema and experiment more. I have always tried to make films that can make a connection to all of the world rather than only the people in my own land. (rogerebert.com)