Busan 2012: Martin Scorsese Reteams with Iranian Director Bahman Ghobadi

Martin Scorsese will reteam with Bahman Ghobadi as executive producer for the Kurdish-Iranian director’s next U.S.-set film.

Titled 60 Seconds of Us, the film will be set in New York and in Iran, the director said in a Busan International Film Festival press conference for his latest film, Rhino Season.       Ghobadi and Scorsese, credited as a “presenter” on Rhino Season, are now working on the script of the film, which will be about “the conflict between Iranians and Kurds,” Ghobadi said.       Ghobadi will be scouting locations in the Kurdish regions of southern Turkey to stand in for Iran, where he is deemed as persona non grata by the Islamic Republic for his criticisms against the authoritarian Tehran regime.       Rhino Season, which is screened as a gala presentation at the BIFF, was an Iraqi-Kurdistan-Turkish co-production based on the real-life story of Kurdish poet Sadegh Kamangar, who was arrested and jailed for 30 years by the Iranian government. Starring exiled Iranian actor Behrouz Vossoughi as an imprisoned poet and Italian star Monica Bellucci as his wife, Rhino Season is Ghobadi’s first step towards sustained collaborations with European and American parties.       Ghobadi said Rhino Season stands no chance of being released back in Iran, and he hopes the film will be screened in Iraqi Kurdistan next year upon the planned completion of 12 cinemas in the region.