By DPA
Tehran : Television producers in Iran have a difficult task, and are under fierce pressure to compete with international broadcasters while placating the Islamic clergy.
Almost half of the 70 million Iranians have access to more than 500 foreign satellite channels that provide severe competition to Iranian stations. The clergy expects the country’s homegrown channels to confront the satellite channels by providing entertaining programmes that also observe Islamic norms and maintain ideological loyalty.
“Sometimes, this task turns indeed into a Mission Impossible,” an Iranian TV producer said.
One of producers’ main problems is the obligatory Islamic dress code and headscarves for women. In addition to maintaining proper dress, actresses are not allowed to touch their male colleagues – let alone embrace or even kiss – often harming the dramaturgy.
In one example, a son returns after many years from the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war, but his mother is not allowed to take him in her arms. Instead, she is forced to show her emotions without physical contact.
Also a declaration of love can only be dramatized in the form of short eye contact or a smile. Even simple scenes such as falling asleep must show women doing so wearing a scarf in blatant contrast to real life.
In foreign TV series or feature films the “immoral” scenes are simply censored, causing the viewer to frequently lose track of the story as scenes and the dialogue are cut.
To avoid this problem, scenes with “indecently-dressed” women are re-filmed from a screening of the original as close-ups to keep the outfit from being seen.
Another method simply paints extra fabric onto the actresses’ body. A black blouse was painted over the low-necked dress of US actress Beyonce Knowles in the recent “Pink Panther” movie.
“This camouflage was funnier than the film itself,” said Azin, a 28-year-old who had already purchased the DVD from the black market and seen the film. Persian websites widely discussed the camouflage and made fun of the new initiative.
State television Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB), which has the de facto status of a ministry, is also obliged to maintain ideological loyalty towards the system.
Even after 28 years, several TV series still deal with the issue of the 1979 Islamic revolution, the fall of the monarchy and what officials call “illegitimate interference by imperialistic powers”.
Current issues also appear on television to make political statements more understandable to the public, and the country’s controversial nuclear programme is to be turned into a TV crime series.
The debate about Israel and Palestinians is another theme that has been dramatized by the IRIB.
The issue became controversial after the 2005 election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who predicted that the Jewish state would be wiped off the map by Palestinian militias.
He called the Holocaust a “fairy tale” and even held a so-called Holocaust conference in Tehran billed as allowing “scholars and historians to explore the real extent” of the Nazi massacre of the Jews during World War II.
The conference however turned into a venue for anti-Semites and neo-Nazis and offended Iran’s 25,000 Jewish residents.
In an effort to clarify that Iran and Ahmadinejad were not against Jews, but just “Zionists” and Israel’s policies toward Palestinians, the IRIB produced the series “Zero Degree Equator”.
The story line involves a young Iranian, who gets a scholarship to study in France where he falls in love with a fellow student, who is a French Jewish woman. Following the Nazi occupation of France, he provides the woman and her family with Iranian passports, allowing them to escape the Nazis and the gas chamber.
To further dramatize the series, the man has a classified list of names connected with plans to invade Palestine, which “Zionist circles” want to acquire at any cost.
“I like the series, especially as the story is based on a true event – Persians and Jews have never been great friends but no enemies, either,” said 23-year-old Samira, who follows the 22-part series every week.
The Jewish association in Tehran praised the contents of the series.
“The series is definitely an effort for making up for all the horrible Holocaust rhetoric,” a Jewish physician said. “Zero Degree Equator” has turned into one of the most popular TV series in Iran.
There is no rating-system in Iran but according to surveys, more than 45 percent of the viewers follow the thriller every week.