Justin Mashouf, director of "Warring Factions"
Justin Mashouf, an Iranian American breakdancer and film maker had his debut film, “Warring Factions” shown at Salaam Film Festival last week. The festival was hosted by IMAN, Inner City Muslim Action Network, a community based non-profit that works towards social justice, providing direct service and cultivating the arts in urban communities. The film festival featured eight films portraying the complex and diverse stories of Muslim communities.
The film “Warring Factions” is the story of Mashouf’s experience as an American born Iranian b-boy and how he confronts issues of dual citizenship from countries in conflict as he makes his way to Iran and simultaneously exploring his cultural identity with Iranian b-boys.
After the film screened at U of C, I spoke with director, writer, and producer Justin Mashouf about his film “Warring Factions.”
Me: Why did you make the film “Warring Factions?”
JM: I started making it in 2007 and in 2006 when I went to Iran, I feel it was like really the height of the nuclear struggle of the war, God willing, we don’t know what the height of the nuclear tension between the U.S. and Iran will be, but I was at the beginning of it. I went to Iran in 2006 and when I was there I had this feeling, this idea of what if there was some type of conflict while I was in Iran, what would happen. I grew up my whole life in the U.S. I was culturally an American but Iran was my heritage, my ancestral homeland so, how would that make me feel? I realized when I came back to make my senior thesis film, I wanted to make a film about my Iranian and American identities.
Me: Did you only identify with your Iranian heritage only upon visiting Iran?
JM: My whole life I’ve felt like I carried it with me, but it really solidified my identity as an Iranian going to Iran being where my father grew up, seeing the customs first hand, my Iranian family in America, and seeing Iranian culture in all parts of Iran which was very important to me. So I feel that solidified my identity. Before then I had a taste of it, but I was poking around in the dark.
Me: How did you go about making the film, where did you start?
JM: The process of the film was interesting because I did a lot of research in the logistics of filming in Iran and soul searching to find my subject. I really got lucky finding a b-boy in Iran from the internet. I watch a lot of breaking videos from the internet from all parts of the world and I found this video on a Korean website and it was from Iran. I sent an email to him and I told him I saw your video, I break too. I’m Iranian, I’m in America and I just dig what you’re doing and I want to come and meet you, can I come? Can I hang out with you guys? And he said absolutely.
Me: How did you friends, family and community in America and Iran respond to the film?
JM: They were really thrilled to see it being made. I feel like there are personal stories that really bring us closer to humanity rather than just the issues and we don’t actually see the humanity, the reality of these issues. We talk about political deliberations, sanctions but we don’t see the people who are suffering because of policies. We don’t see the amount of mis-education that happens in America about Iranians, the mis-education that Iranians have about Americans because our theaters are doing poor jobs. I think it’s the job of an artist to really connect people through art and film to tell the story of people rather than just concepts.
Me: What are your hopes for the film?
JM: My greatest hope for the film is that it enlightens people to do more research on Iran and to realize that Iran and the Muslim world are not monolithic societies, we’re not all one color, we’re not all of one type of Islamic identity, we don’t all live in the desert. People were shocked to know that Iran got cold. I’m wearing a jacket through the majority of my film and they’re like, ‘I thought it was a desert.’ And there were buildings and everything; even those simple things are important. My greatest hope is that people can walk away and say there’s more to what I thought I knew.
Poster by Marco Oliva
Me: How does your knowledge and ability of diverse activities like being a break dancer practicing martial arts and being a filmmaker relate to making “Warring Factions?”
JM: A lot of my documentaries, I make them personal. I work in the subject that I know and love. I love b-boying. It’s part of my identity and one of the highlights of my American identity. B-boying is such an American culture and going to Iran and being a teacher of b-boying to students of traditional Persian martial arts, Varzesh Bastani, I thought that was my cultural contribution; that was my cultural change that I had there. I wanted that to be my contribution while learning about my own culture and heritage.
Me: During the process of filming did you come across any obstacles?
JM: In the making of the film when I was coming back from Iran, I was taken off of the airplane by homeland security agents and who identified me as I walked off the plane so I didn’t even get to the customs area. I showed them my American passport and I was taken to a screening area. I was interviewed for over four hours and I missed my connecting flight. My cell phone was taken away from me and my laptop,everything. The worst part about the whole experience was that the they took all of the footage that I shot in Iran. They confiscated it for review because I was under suspicion of terrorism. It was a very scary experience especially when they were interviewing me to see if I was lying to them. It was a very interesting feeling, as an American, to all of a sudden be considered a threat.
Me: Was this a new experience for you?
JM: Yes. My wife calls me an ‘undercover brother.’ I’m a very light skinned Iranian. The only giveaway is my beard but a lot of people have beards. I wasn’t racially profiled, I was identified because of my travel history, because literally my identity as an Iranian and the fact that I had been to Iran twice in a two year span and my age [26]. I have other ideas as to why they picked me but it was a horrible new experience. One of my other goals for the film is to hopefully shed some light to Americans that the war on terrorism is not being fought in an effective way at all. It’s damaging our civil liberties as Americans and we turn a blind eye to a lot of injustices happening to people whether they’re Muslims or not; just brown people in general.
Me: Do you feel American societies are ready for this more accurate image of American Muslims, one that is starkly different from what is portrayed in today’s media and pop culture?
JM: I always make the parallel of Jewish Americans, when they were becoming active in this country. They were gaining power as more than just a nominal voice in the American cultural quilt. They developed a voice for themselves and they supported each together in a way, like a community of artists and of image makers. Now in America, if you see an artist or a journalist with a Jewish name, you don’t immediately discredit it. Now we currently have a problem in America when we see journalists with the name Mohammad or Ahmed or Ali; it’s a problem.
Me: Do you feel like there is a distinguishable characteristic that the U.S. – Iran relationship retains that is different from the relationships between the U.S. and other Muslim nations?
JM: I think currently there is still much tension between the U.S. and Iran. I think Americans have more attention towards this issue and there’s a little more bad blood there. Iranians are seen as threats by some Americans and it takes a while to disarm that gun for a lot of people. I think with the right type of communication, with the right type of words we’re able to come to an understanding that not all Iranians are Mahmoud Ahmedinejad, and not all Americans are George W. Bush.
Me: During your time In Iran were there consequences to your American identity?
JM: As long as I’ve been going to Iran I’ve never experienced any type of discrimination because I’m American and I’m a very obvious American. A lot of Americans were shocked to find out that when you’re perceived as American in Iran they want to hug you and hang out with you and they don’t want to kill you. The majority of Iranians are very interested in what Americans have to say.
Me: What‘s next?
JM: I’m currently working on a film about Muslim Americans in the prison systems. I’m in contact with prisoners that are incarcerated and exploring their process of rehabilitation and how they have to socialize back into America that now looks to them as ex-con Muslims.
