Iranian-born Swedish documentary filmmaker Nima Sarvestani (pictured) is making the headlines with his film about a women’s prison in Afghanistan, No Burqas Behind Bars which has a good chance to grab an International Emmy next Monday in New York. At the same time his latest film Those Who Said No will be competing for Best Feature Length Documentary at Amsterdam’s IDFA Festival. We spoke to the director.

You’ve just picked up a Prix Europa award for Best European Documentary and are nominated for an International Emmy with No Burqas Behind Bars. How does that feel?
Nima Sarvestani:
It feels great, not only for me as a filmmaker but for the protagonists in the film. Those Afghan women behind bars [the majority of them imprisoned because they are fleeing from their abusive husbands] truly need to be heard and respected, not perceived as criminals. Thanks to the film and its international recognition, I have received many mails from people who want to help those ladies.

Have the women from the Takhar prison seen the film?
NS:
No, with the exception of one of them, Sara who was released and sent back to her family in a small village. I was afraid that something might happen to her so I had given her my mobile number. She did call me asking for help because her family was planning to kill her. We took her to a safe house and helped her out of Afghanistan.

Any chance the film will have an impact on women’s plight in Afghanistan?
NS: The film has already had an impact. The Parliament has discussed how to change the laws about crime, so that women who escape marital violence are not considered criminals anymore. Japan that has relationships with Afghanistan had seen the film on television and also pressured the Afghan government to improve women’s plight.

Your latest film Those Who Said No is probably your most personal film, dedicated to your brother who was a victim of the Iranian regime’s mass removal of political opponents in the 1980s. You must be pleased that it screens in competition at IDFA…
NS:
Yes I was thrilled when I heard that the film is screening in the main competition section. Fourteen years ago my parents had told me: ‘the Iranian authorities have killed our son, but there is nothing we can do’. I carried in me the desire to do something about my brother and started to do research. The Ayatollah Montazeri -who was the designated successor to Khomeini at the time- had been condemned to house arrest for criticising the regime. I contacted him and understood that something major had happened at the time. My brother was just one name, part of thousands of political prisoners who were killed in the late 80s. It was kept secret in Iran. I felt I had to do a film that could be kept for generations to come as historical evidence. 

How was the process of assembling the archive material, interviews of the victims who testified at the 2012 Iran Tribunal and main storyline?
NS: We had 120 witnesses in London and The Hague. The Danish editor Jesper Osmund couldn’t understand Persian so we had to subtitle all the material filmed over 14 years, about 100 hours. The editing itself took a whole year. We chose to focus the storyline on Iraj (Iranian survivor living in Sweden) who was filmed over more than a decade. He is one of the best activists against mass executions in Iran. Together we travelled to different countries, trying to catch high rank Iranian officials who had taken part in death committees, but we were not lucky.

You also sat on the Iran Tribunal in 2012. How was it for you?
NS:
I first sat at the Iran Tribunal in London to tell the story of my brother. When I sat there, it felt so real. I could see the jury, famous judges such as Sir Geoffrey Nice who was a deputy prosecutor against Slobodan Milošević, plus all the other witnesses. I felt we could make a difference. After that, I understood it would be difficult to touch the crime perpetrators still in power in Iran, but still, it was an empowering feeling. All the other witnesses could speak whole heartedly about their experiences.

What will happen next?
NS
: We have sent all our materials to the United Nations. We will see if they will do anything or not. As for me, after attending another seminar in London about the power of People’s Tribunals, I have decided to try to set up another People Tribunal to defend women’s rights in Iran. Women also have been persecuted over the last 34 years by the Islamic State in Iran. We have specific cases to report and are working on that. 

Do you feel your film will resonate with audiences although the human right abuses were committed in the 1980s?
NS:
When you see Those Who Said No, you can understand what’s happening with IS terrorists, where they come from. It gives background information about that particular ideology that still prevails in Iran after 30 years, and in parts of Iraq and Syria.