“One is called” Goli Jan “about a girl who is not allowed to be and whom I shot in Afghanistan and Iran. I hope that the film can finally have its premiere in March or April after several postponements. And the second is mine Episodic film “Seven Stories about Love”, which might come out in theaters in six months, “said Allahyari in an APA interview.
Houchang Allahyari, who was born in Tehran in 1941, developed a passion for film early on: “I was fascinated by film since I was six.” At the age of 17, he wrote film reviews for Iranian newspapers. As a teenager he came to Vienna “to study film here before I move on to America. But that was not financially possible. ”Out of interest in psychiatry and because the family wanted a doctor in their ranks, he began to study medicine.
Psychiatrists in hospitals and prisons
After his training as a specialist in neurology and psychiatry, Allahyari ran an ordination, worked as a neurotraumatologist and psychiatrist in the Lorenz Böhler Hospital and also worked for the Ministry of Justice in prisons as a psychiatrist for drug addicts for 20 years. And today he still has his own doctor’s practice in Vienna.
Still, the film didn’t let go of him. He regularly used the medium in therapy, but from the 1970s onwards he also created his first own filmic works. After a surprisingly large bundle of early short films and avant-garde works, he produced television documentaries and feature films, or in 1996 he was responsible for a “Tatort” episode with “Mein ist die Rache”.
Clash of different cultures
In particular, Allahyari regularly made the clash of different cultures the subject of his works. His black comedy “I love Vienna” with a young Michael Niavarani was the most successful Austrian film of the year in 1991 and was submitted as a candidate for the Oscar abroad. He also gained international attention with “fear of heights” about a prisoner (Fritz Karl) who wants to start a new life in a village.
Local film celebrities like Josef Hader and Karl Markovics then took part in the production “Born in Absurdistan” (1999), in which an Austrian and a Turkish family meet in a hospital room. “Despite all the differences in dramaturgy, all films have to do with me and my surroundings, deal with topics that I have experienced in one way or another. And another aspect is humanity, ”explained Allahyari.
First Austrian Film Award for “Bock for President”
Allahyari then gained the attention of a broad public with the documentary film “Bock for President”, which he shot together with his son Tom-Dariusch Allahyari and which was awarded the Austrian Film Prize for the first time in 2010. The film accompanies the refugee helper Ute Bock, Allahyari’s ex-sister-in-law, in her work for two years and, in addition to her tireless commitment to asylum seekers, focuses on the situation of refugees in Austria. With “The crazy world of Ute Bock” and “Ute Bock Superstar”, two sequels followed.
In 2014, Allahyari cast Erni Mangold in her high 80s for “The Last Dance” in the daring role of an Alzheimer’s patient who has an intimate relationship with a young civil servant (Daniel Sträßer). Sexuality in old age, prejudice in society and in court, incapacitation of patients, obsessive mother-son relationships: the psychiatrist Allahyari put numerous topics into the work of the director Allahyaris, who himself has a brief appearance as a prison chaplain.
After this work, which won the Diagonale award for best feature film in 2014, the polystilist turned back to documentary film together with his son with “Die Liebenden von Balutschistan” and traveled through the Middle East before turning to surrealistic black and white with “Der Gast” in 2018 -Work in Bunuel tradition again with Erni Mangold as well as Gregor Bloeb and Karina Sarkissova.
Retrospective in the film archive
The film archive is launching an online retrospective of films by Houchang Allahyari on February 5th. The director used the lockdown, among other things, for preparation: “I had time to collect my old films and have them digitized in the film archive for the retrospective. I was at home, but I worked a lot and was able to finish two feature films. And I’m finalizing a new book with my daughter. So I wasn’t bored for a second. “
As a psychiatrist is Allahyari, the situation is less pleasant, as he said in the APA interview: “As nice as I have now described the situation for myself, it is sometimes so bad for my patients, with whom I currently talk a lot via email, Communicate by phone or WhatsApp. There is an insane psychological burden and increasing fears. That was sometimes very massive. “
Allahyari is not planning a celebration for his 80th birthday: “I actually never celebrate my birthday. I don’t want to get older, I want to have more time to implement my projects. It’s not about the fear of dying. I just have a lot more plans. I am not important as a person, but my films. They are practical like my children. “
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