“This is not a Hat” is a documentary feature film with a runtime between 80 to 90 minutes. The film demonstrates the role of hats in traditional societies (i.e., Middle Eastern or religious societies or any other group which is constructed around patriarchal values) as a regulating tool to keep the integrity of traditions and as an instrument for subjection and suppression of any non-compliance attitudes.
This documentary presents a look at the history of human headwear as a nodal point of socio-cultural issues in pre-modern societies, where customs and old practices field the gap of civil law. It draws a picture of old cultures where a person’s headwear could determine if they were permitted in certain parts of a city or if a man and a woman could engage in a routine conversation in the middle of the city bazar. In addition, the film doesn’t forget to show the relevance of all this to the contemporary situation from a wider and global perspective, by pointing out the use of headwear in today’s groups and subcultures, like the Fez in American fraternities or Bandanas in some local gangs, or MAGA hats for supporters of Donald Trump.
In “This is not a Hat” we cover a lot of ground in human history and chance upon several periods of revolt and struggle. Our journey is usually accompanied by voices of authority such as historians and university professors. This approach may be reaching in new information, but may quickly bore the audience if it’s not accompanied by equally interesting visual and auditory content. So, we need to be smart in our artistic approach if we don’t want to lose our viewer before they get connected to the films line of inquiry.
This film is intended for all adult audiences around the world. The narrative is developed as such so every adult person around the world finds it relevant to their contemporary situation and also reflective of their historical and cultural heritage.
All the production crew of “This is not a Hat” are from Iran where gives us access to the remnants of historic civilizations and we can take a fresh look at the relics of ancient kingdoms and representation of people and their hats. Subsequently, we are going to interview people from various tribes of Iranian nomads who have preserved their ancient ways, so hopefully, by documenting the way they use headwear to regulate various daily functions and inter-tribal relations, we can have a glance into the importance of headwear in pre-civilization society.
Behjoo Khazaee: Producer and Director
Behjoo studied Cinema in Tehran university of arts and earned his master’s degree in 2009. He started making experimental short films when he was eighteen years old and worked in almost every role behind the scenes. He has been the Cinematographer for more than twenty independent short films and made several short documentary and fiction films. He earned the third best score in national Ph.D. acceptance exam in 2012 and was accepted as a student for Ph.D. program in art studies in Isfahan University of Arts. His studies have been focused on critical analysis of patriarchal discourse in Iranian contemporary cinema. In 2014 he funded the Dgarstudio which is active in film, animation and theatre production in Tehran, and he has been its CEO ever since.
• Born 1983 Tehran
• BA in Cinema, Tehran University of Arts 2006
• MA in Cinema, Tehran University of Arts 2010
• Ph.D. Candidate, Isfahan University of Arts 2015
• CEO of Dgarstudio, Film, animation and theatre production company based in Tehran 2015 to present
• Digital Marketing Consultant, Kharazmi Pharmaceutical Company 2018 to Present
• Guest lecturer in Tehran University of Arts: 2014 to 2016
• Affiliated Professor Maziar institute for Higher education 2012 to 2016
• Media Production Contractor, 29th International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI 2017) Tehran 2017
• Camera Assistant to Mr. Aladpoush D.P., Stars trilogy 2003
• Set Manager at Yas'e Tamam Theatre Company 2001 to 2002
• Cinematographer for more than twenty independent short film
• Director of short film: The incredible and sad story of Ali agha Khalesi & his Children 2001
• Director of short documentary: The Dragon 2006
• Director of short documentary: It's alive! 2009
Amir Rezaei: Visual artists
B.A in Graphic Design in Art University of Tehran
M.A in Graphic Design in University of Tarbiat Modares
• Born in Esfahan 1984
• Permited participating drowing in the first Dr.Soundozi drowing competition 1386
• Permited participating in the 17rd international poster biennale Lahti(Finland) 2009
• Permited participating in the 22rd international poster biennale warsaw(Poland) 2010
• Selected Poster in the 13th International Biennale of Theatre Poster in Rzeszów(Poland)
• Permited participating in the 23rd international poster biennale warsaw (Poland) 2012
• Participating in Several Demostic and foreign exhibitions