Fascinating connectivity-v.-content-control dynamic with Iran.■"Iran strikes up the ban vs. foreign pix," by Ali Jafaar, Variety, 31 October-6 November 2005, p. 8.
Tehran's hardliners ban all foreign films that are described as promoting "secular, feminist, liberal or nihilist ideas."
Well, that pretty takes care of Hollywood and everything on HBO!
Yes, this is the latest braindeadchild from President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Gotta keep a lid on anything coming from the "world oppressor."
This reverses the stand of previous president Mohammad Khatami "to open up Iran to Western culture."
The upshot? Content smugglers in Iran will have a heyday. There is a "massive black market and illicit satellite viewership" in Iran (it is estimated that 50% of the houses in Iran have satellites--what a bitch for the mullahs!).
Iran's total movie B.O. is about $14m annually, with only 3% officially from foreign films. Most experts and local media players say the actual foreign revenue (almost all black market) is probably 50 times that amount.
Yes, yes. "Isolating" Iran globally is really going to pull down this hardline regime. This is the same strategic genius that's brought you the longest-running dictatorship in the world: Cuba's Fidel Castro.
Enough said.