Iranian filmmaker Afkhami tries his luck in Toronto

TEHRAN, March 17 (MNA) -- Iranian filmmaker Behruz Afkhami is currently staying in Toronto where he is engaged in the pre-production stage of a new English movie.

He has also registered a film studio in his name in which he is busy training several students.

“I registered the studio on a short trip I made to Toronto last summer. I have returned a year later and now am concentrating on a new project I have in mind,” Afkhami told MNA in a phone interview from Toronto.

“My new film will be in the English language and the story has nothing at all to do with Iranians. I prefer to reveal the central theme and the main story later. I will be shooting the movie probably in the summer.”

He added that he is also training several students in his studio and that he will be making use of some of them in his new work.

“Most of the cast and crew are actors from Canada and no Iranian actors are being used in this project,” he remarked.

To the question why he chose Canada to make his movie, he replied, “I’ve always had this idea to make English language movies in the back of my mind and when I came to Toronto, I felt everything was in place to pursue this project.”

Afkhami was also asked about his unfinished project “The Morning Son”, a biopic about the founder of the Islamic Republic, Imam Khomeini, to which he replied, “The movie is in post-production stage and needs to be completed out of Iran. The techniques required are not available in the country. In addition, the movie is still facing some financial problems.”