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WILLIAM PATERSON PROFESSOR IS CONSULTANT FOR ACADEMY AWARD-NOMINATED FILM "CHILDREN OF HEAVEN" Dr. Jamsheed Akrami, assistant professor of communication at William Paterson University in Wayne, can take credit for helping promote the Iranian film "Children of Heaven," recently nominated in the best foreign-language film category of the Academy Awards. Akrami, who was born in Iran, is a consultant for Miramax and assisted in promoting the award-winning film. As part of his involvement, Akrami wrote an extensive press kit for the film, including notes on its production, how the idea was conceived, and an accompanying essay about the image of children in Iranian films. "This is the culmination of a surprising but highly deserving wave of international success enjoyed by Iranian films over the past decade," he says. "Children of Heaven" swept the top awards of the Montreal Film Festival in 1997, and was picked up by Miramax, a major American film company, for worldwide distribution. "Iranian directors are known internationally for the films they make about children," says Akrami, who has been a consultant for every Iranian film that has been distributed in the United States. But there is debate over whether the films are "for children" because they rarely depict the glories of childhood, he says. In prerevolutionary films, children lived agonizingly lonely lives marked by emotional deprivation and economic destitution. The postrevolutionary films feature children who are emotionally well-nourished, but still living in poverty. Ironically, he says, the films have yet to produce any child stars. The actors in these films are mostly non-professionals and for most of them, their first film is their last. Highly restrictive censorship codes have brought film production under the tight control of the Iranian government, he explains. Most of the codes are aimed at the representation of female characters. Women must cover their hair in public, wear loose-fitting outer garments to cloak their body curves, and can only be intimate with immediate members of their family. Therefore, actors playing couples cannot even touch each other's hands unless they are married in real life. These harsh restrictions, he says, have caused many filmmakers to focus on simpler story lines involving children. During the United States tour for "Children
of Heaven," Akrami accompanied the film's director, 38-year-old
Majid Majidi, to six major cities from New York to Los Angeles
to meet with film critics, act as an interpretor during press
interviews, and introduce the film in private screenings. "Children of Heaven" tells the story of a very poor 9-year-old boy named Ali who picks up his 6-year-old sister's shoes from a repair shop, only to lose them when a junkman mistakes them for trash. Terrified to tell their parents, the two children decide to share the boy's one pair of worn sneakers. The ordeal of sharing one pair of shoes and attending school at different times becomes nearly impossible. Eventually, the boy enters a running contest in hopes of winning third prize -- a pair of running shoes. "There are some genuine feelings in
the film that have captivated audiences all over the world,"
says Akrami. He is proud that the film finished among the top
nominees, competing with formidable films like "Life is
Beautiful" and a Brazilian film called "Central Station." For the past 20 years, Akrami has been
the voice advocating Iranian cinema, long before Iran became
lauded as one of the exporters of great cinema in the nineties.
He produced two feature-length documentaries on Iranian cinema
before and after the revolution. Last November, he curated an
Iranian film series at the Brooklyn Museum of Art called "Master
Filmmakers of Iran." Akrami has been interviewed about Iranian
films by CNN, National Public Radio (NPR), the New York Times
and numerous other media outlets.
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