Celluloid Underground
"The films might be buried, but them memories come back from the deep"
Celluloid Underground is one of those documentaries that the topic feels so exceptional that I will have a tough time rating it or even making an effort to see it as a sole piece of art without concentrating on my connection to the topic. The subject of a film collector trying his best to build up a lost treasure island of prohibited forgotten gems is frankly a fascinating choice that Ehsan Khoshbakht was hard-working and blessed enough to come across and utilize in the best possible way. As a person who adores collecting physical copies of the albums, movies, and books he appreciates, I can certainly understand Ahmad Jorghanian's passion for doing whatever he can to rescue the art he honors from the dust of time, the chaos of the revolutions, and the demolishment of totalitarianism.
The documentary itself is not just about Ahmad Jorghanian's obsession, but also about the prestige of the physical copies. There's a famous quote circulating around the internet lately said “If buying isn't ownership, then piracy isn't stealing” and I think a crucial contrast between the physical and virtual copies is the leverage of the owner since you can see while he struggles with the amount of room they require and efforts of organizing them, he nonetheless sees this as a way to go against the system, this system can be an authotorian regime and its censorship or absurd copyright restrictions that recently most of the users of the streaming services are dealing with, and keep the art alive and share it with other people.
It is also essential to acknowledge the role of censorship again since at one point in the documentary, the narrator remarks the modification of the movies before and after the revolution and how many acts, plots and characters entirely had changed due to brand new “islamic” regulations that limited the storytelling in the Iranian cinema and challenged the talented directors to self-censor their art in hope of earning the public screenings.
I believe watching Celluloid Underground is a worthy opportunity to not only understand, but furthermore deeply feel the struggles of Iranian cinephiles and their counterstrikes and massive sacrifices to protect the love of the cinema for the present and future generations.