Director Mehdi Norowzian’s Killing Joe has been nominated for the Best Short Picture award at the Oscars. He said he "felt proud" when he was informed that he has joined a clutch of British talent at this year’s ceremony, including American Beauty director Sam Mendes.

Killing Joe, a 45-minute film set in 1963, tells the story of a 13-year-old boy in London who shares John F. Kennedy’s initials and is fascinated with the president’s life.

The £100,000 movie was not made to "make money as such", according to Norowzian, but it heralds his switch to feature films from commercials directing, where his works currently ranks with the world’s best.

He speaks fluent Farsi and has lived in Britain since he was 14. Norowzian is the fourth Iranian to be nominated for an Oscar, following Hossein Amini (Jude 1996 English film), Abbas Kiarostami (Taste of Cherry, 1998 Persian film) and Majid Majidi (Children of Heaven, 1999 Persian film).

Iranian cinema, however, is not something he jumps up and down about. "There’s been a few good films but none of them receive wide distribution, like other foreign films," he said. He has no plans for incorporating his Persian cultural roots into his work until he is well established as a feature film director. "First you have to make your name, then you can do the personal stuff." Norowzian lives in north London with his family.


An Oscar Trophy

There are seven stories in The Circle, Jafar Panahi's follow-up to The Mirror and The White Balloon. Seven women - all non-persons, without papers and, more importantly, without the sanction of men - muddle through in present-day Tehran. Two women are given temporary release from prison, and one seeks an abortion; a prostitute goes through the routine humiliation of arrest; a nurse hides her past from her doctor husband.

Panahi's film, like a lot of contemporary Iranian cinema, owes much to his former boss, Abbas Kiarostami. Panahi's hand-held camera jostles the cast of non-actors as they evade the authorities: the police, army, religious guards. What emerges is a picture of two societies: a modern male metropolis with many of the consumerist trappings that we in the west associate with liberty - smart clothes, big cars, camcorders - sitting alongside, but never seeing, a female society, dominated by a medieval theocracy, where even smoking in public is forbidden.

Winner of the Golden Lion at Venice last year, Panahi weaves the seven stories with abrupt economy. But, as with Kiarostami, there is a poetic fluidity to his work that makes this more than a mere realist document. When the women don the chador, the black headdress dominates the picture, flapping across the screen and obscuring the audience's view. An accomplished, powerful piece.

When BIBN last spoke to Omid Djalili in November 1997, he had great ambitions. Since then, his career has really taken off. Following the success of The Mummy, Djalili now seems to have no end of projects in the pipeline for the foreseeable future. But how did he get the role that so many actors would have loved so much? Ironically, it was by pure fluke. According to himself, Djalili just turned up one day for the audition completely unsuspecting of the fact that the movie was to be a Hollywood blockbuster.

Although he was the sixtieth hopeful to have auditioned for the part, he was snapped up immediately. It was only after a couple of weeks of shooting that he actually realised the significance of the role. To his credit, Djalili still managed to give an inspired performance that even the elite in the industry would have been proud of, and his advice actually shaped some of the scenes. The casting crew wanted a prison warden who was like Risky from Midnight Express, but Djalili suggested that they go for a character with a more comic element, as the role of Benny was supposed to be a comedic one and the prospect of having two funny characters was one that appealed to him. Fortunately for him, the film makers loved his input and accepted many minor adjustments that he proposed.

The reaction to his character after release was extremely good, and in fact many complained that he was killed off too early, as one of the "Golden Rules" of film making is to not kill off the comic relief too early. However, the role was definitely a big enough one to have created a demand for Djalil's talents.

He has recently finished filming a new series which was aired on Channel 4, based on the popular American Sitcom Friends, but it is an alternative British version in which all the friends are (in his own words) "ugly and stupid". The series is even replacing the Friends primetime spot of 9:00pm on Friday night. He also has a small part in the new Bond film as an Azerbaijani foreman. And December saw the release of the huge movie Gladiator, directed by Ridley Scott. (Incidentally, this film has added significance for Djalili as he was one of the last people to work with Oliver Reed). The film is a Roman epic set in 180A.D. in which he plays a Morrocan slave-trader.

Another success for Djalili this year was the Edinburgh film festival. Together with an Iranian musician who played the santoor, domback and violin, they took the festival by storm. The theme was to parody a Celtic tradition known as a Kalee (involving music, story-telling and lots of drinking), but to do it "Iranian-style", delving deep into Persian culture. It was a total sell-out over three and a half weeks.

Unfortunately, because of his busy schedule, it is going to be very difficult to see Omid Djalili in London in the foreseeable future, but he will be doing the university circuit with his stand-up act, including St. Andrews and Glasgow University. Also, watch out for the classic remake Jason and the Argonauts, which he will begin filming soon.


Omid Djalili Addressing BIBA