Meeting with Shamas Majidi

Filmmaker Shamas Siddiqui, who is riding the high wave with his film Miyan Kal Aana doing the rounds of big festivals, had another interesting experience when he met maverick filmmaker Majid Majidi. Talking about his meeting with the man he said, “I met Majidi sahab at a film festival. He had seen posters of my film and liked it. The conversation with him was more than a two-way one because I don’t understand Farsi and he doesn’t understand Hindi or English much. So we communicated through a friend and Majidi sahab’s brother.”

He further adds, “We were fortunately put up in the same hotel, so he invited me for breakfast. I showed him my film in the room. His brother was translating the English subtitles to Farsi for him, but Majidi sahab asked him to stop and continued watching the film quietly. After the film got over he appreciated my work a lot.”

But it didn’t end there. “After two days my friend told me that Majidi sahab has requested the director of the festival to keep a special screening of my film. He appreciated me a lot there and after that I spent three days with him. It’s a very big thing for me that a maverick director like him liked my film. He invited me to his place in Tehran.”

So did he go to Tehran? “I was to go, but I couldn’t, because my short film was going to US for the Tenth Seattle South Asian Film Festival and I had to get it edited. But I am in touch with him through messages and texts. I am going for Phnom Penh International Film Festival to Combodia in November and after that I might go to Tehran,” he signs off.