Religions in Iran

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Culture Documentary with no narration published by Ministry of Culture and Art in 1971 - No spoken language

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In 'Iran: the Land of Religions' (alternative tiotle), made for the Ministry of Art and Culture, Vienna-trained documentarian Manuchehr Tayyab focused on the coexistence of major religious traditions in Iran: Shiism, Christianity, Zoroastrianism and Judaism (notably, no mention of Bahaism) – which he rendered with a smoothly gliding camera, deft realism and glorious colour, and without voice-over narration. These techniques decreased distance and helped bring the spectators closer to the religious monuments and subjects. Particularly spectacular were scenes of Shii faithful beating their bare chests into the camera, rhythmically, and in concentric circular formations. The film created the false impression that Shiism, predominant in Iran, was tolerant of other religions. Ironically, in an interview in Jamshid Akrami’s 'The Lost Cinema: Iranian Political Films in the 70's' (2006), Tayyab states that the film was banned because of religious objections to it – never to be screened in public (he does not specify what the objections were).