The Story.
A shocking and revealing documentary on the subcultures in the Islamic Republic of Iran; Young Iranian artists expressing themselves through music, paintings, and sport -thereby risking anything from public floggings to death. If discovered, the lucky ones affluent enough have the one option of buying their way back to freedom.
Featuring the death metal band Scourge, Bahare the first female snowboard champion of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the freestyle skier Sanam and the artist Sharam who is given the death sentence in the course of the film.
“Forbidden Future” show a different picture from the one of uniform drabness created by western media.
The death metal band Scourge; -is recording their first album. They’ve spent two years rehearsing in the sound-proofed basement of guitarist Alireza (27). They’ve never performed in front of an audience, their music being strictly forbidden in the Islamic republic. Going public would incur risking imprisonment and the impounding of precious instruments. Singer and songwriter Ali Azahri (26) has already spent two days in jail for growing his hair long. Ali’s lyrics are inspired by Persian mythology, and he draws all to clear symbolic lines from the brain-eating snake monsters of ancient Persia to the situation for himself and other dissidents in today’s oppressive Iranian society. The ambitious film student dreams of playing his music to an international listening audience. The documentary team follow Scourge through the recording sessions, and a video shoot in total secrecy, through to their highly illegal concert debut.
Snowboarding, skiing and Classical music; -The female artist Bahare (26) is also the first female snowboarding champion of the Islamic republic. Through her paintings she expresses her feelings about life. At Dizin, one of the worlds top ski resorts, she unloads her aggression and gets a reprieve from the daily rigours of a young Moslem woman. Sanam (25) is a female freestyle-skier and cellist who tutors at a private music-school for children. Through Sannan, her colleagues and their students we get to know the paradox of running a music school in a country where women can neither dance nor sing... At the vast ski-resorts on the outskirts of Tehran, European style environments have evolved. After-ski parties are held clandestinely with alcohol being served illegally, and a wide variety of drugs available. If caught the party-goers risk up to 85 lashes in public floggings. Luckily the police officers are more than willing to accept bribes to look the other way.
The artist that must die (or so the authorities say); -The controversial painter Shahram (33) has been named the new Salman Rushdie. One of his illegal paintings, “Madonnas orgasm”, shows a woman masturbating while reading the Koran. Shahram has spent thirty days in jail for teaching art in classes where both sexes were present. During our shooting period he received the death-sentence for filming nude women at his studio outside Tehran. While working on his new painting we get well acquainted with Shahram, and he tells us his secret and extrapolates on why God is a woman!
