Q: What do you want to know about Iran?

Iran Inside Out is preparing the launch of its website in the next coming weeks. The aim of this blog post is to 1) share some of our milestones and obstacles 2) ask you what you expect to see and what kinds of stories interest you?

Since the fall, Iran Inside Out has reached out and built relationships with organizations and networks of filmmakers in Iran, which are increasingly becoming involved in the new media space and are eager to share their stories through the new mediums offered online.  For them the most important motivation is the chance to be seen and recognized by an international audience and to receive feedback on their works.

Since our first workshops in the fall, many filmmakers have approached us asking to learn more about the online video space and the different ways they can be apart of it. We hope to have the resources to educate and help them to make films for Iran Inside Out and for other platforms and purposes. Our next workshop is scheduled for July and we aim to have between 5 and 10 more films up by the end of the summer.

In the next two weeks we are launching our site with two short videos by young up-and-coming documentary filmmakers.  The two films were produced exclusively for the Iran Inside Out website. One is a snapshot of the underground heavy metal scene in Iran and the other is a personal reflection on the looming idea of a US-Iran war.  While we are really excited to show these videos, we believe that the real merit of these stories lies in the eye of the beholder and how the audience reacts to these films and whether their understanding of Iran is enhanced, or at least their curiosity aroused.

Film and video have a great potential to break barriers between people and are a great medium for sharing emotions and information.  But dialogue requires an EXCHANGE of ideas and in this case YOUR feedback.

On the other side, we are working on creating an effective way for filmmakers to respond to comments online and to share their experiences making videos for the web.  Our main obstacle in implementing this component is the language problem, which we are hoping to resolve by acquiring a site translator/facilitator.

Hence I dedicate this post to a question for the readers:

What do you want to know about Iran? What stories interest you? What suggestions do you have for our filmmakers? Do you think Iran is misunderstood? What issues need better explanation?

Cant wait to hear your ideas!

11 thoughts on “Q: What do you want to know about Iran?

  1. Images speak loudly than words and we can’t wait for Iran wonderful images!
    Your project approach is really creative and smart at the same time and we’ll be backing anything you’ll produce. We also know that any cliché you have on Iranian lifestyle and reality (the little we know) wil be totally erased and renew after your first documentary.
    We thought our Citizen journalist from Madagascar were going to publish articles about forestry and lemurs but what came out after few weeks were far beyond our expectations…They are true activists!
    Citizen Media is really a powerful tool whe used freely with no rules and regulations. So my advices (from a modest blogger perspective) would be : Catch everything and nothing at the same time ! Let them express their true spirit and heart and don’t follow the guidelines !

    Joan
    FOKO-Madagascar

  2. Pingback: Rising Voices » Introducing Iran Inside Out

  3. take my salam and good to see your blogsite! expect the unexpected, have patience with the uploads, computers & students, and i look forward to hearing more about your experiences with developing the filmmakers, projects.

    i’m interested in seeing and learning about every day lives of girls, women as well as the emerging popular culture.

    good luck!

    kathy
    nari jibon project

  4. Pingback: What do you want to know about Iran? « Forever Under Construction

  5. Shaghayegh – I’d REALLY like to know about regular daily activities in Iran. We rarely get to hear about normal people’s lives in Iran. What our media outlets portray is the government and extreme point-of-views. But It would be nice to see what women are doing, how students lead their lives, what many people eat for breakfast, etc… The people’s perspectives, vs. what the big media companies portray to us.
    best of luck!

    Gilad

  6. I would like to know more about the socioeconomic classes of people in Iran, and how people within those classes interrelate and move up or down. Also, how education pertains to people at different socioeconomic levels.

    How is Iran’s socioeconomic model similar to and different from a western socioeconomic model. I’m an American, so I’m particularly interested in a comparison/contrast between our two countries.

    And how do Iran’s socioeconomic/education models impact women and girls. How are their lives/opportunities improved/limited by those models.

    Good luck with your project(s).

  7. On Global Voices, Hamid (the Farsi language editor) and I (Latin American editor) collected blog posts regarding the emerging relationship between Bolivia and Iran. Supposedly a lot more exchanges both culturally and industrially are on the horizon. Perhaps this might be a good way to link our two projects, since our countries will be connecting in the future.

  8. I’m very interested to know how Iranian children view their experiences in Iran.

  9. Hi, Shagheyegh – I feel fortunate to discover your site – I’m working on a similar project out of NYC and will be in Iran in November. Email me if you would like to talk about our works.

  10. I am a member of MediaNet in Victoria British Columbia Canada. We are an independent artist run video production centre. I am wondering how we might reach out to film and video makers in Iran at this troubled time and offer support, get their work seen (I know that twitter etc is being effective in getting out the immediate footage – but there may be other work, over this next while to be shared around the world. If there is something you”d suiggest please advise.

    Pamela

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