“Tatami”
Dir.: Zar Amir Ebrahimi, Guy Nattiv. Played by: Arienne Mandi, Zar Amir Ebrahimi, Jaime Ray Newman.
The “tatami” of the title is the tatami where judo matches take place. At the world championships taking place in Georgia, the young Iranian Leila Hosseini is fighting for the title. She is well prepared by her coach, former player Maryam Ghanbari. She wins fight after fight. The problem is that in the final she could face the undefeated world champion from Israel. And it is likely that Leila will lose the fight for the gold. For the Iranian authorities, losing to the enemy is a serious propaganda problem. They are demanding that she withdraw from the competition.
But Hosseini doesn’t want to hear about it. And so the sports drama filmed by Zar Amir Ebrahimi and Guy Nattiv turns into a political drama. The circle of blackmail is tightening around the player and the coach. The coach quits, and the athlete doesn’t want to hear about quitting. But the consequences of such a decision are enormous. They affect their families.
In a typical sports film, Hosseini would fight to the end and win, becoming world champion. But “Tatami” is not about sporting laurels. In this story, the hard-won victory is simply participating in the final, not succumbing to political violence, opposing terror and overcoming one’s own fear.
The creators of this black-and-white film are immigrants. Guy Nattiv, Oscar winner for the short film “Skin” and director of the controversial film “Golda” about Golda Meir, worked on the script with an Iranian dissident, the Paris-based actress Elham Efrani. The coach was played by Zar Amir Ebrahimi – another refugee from Iran, who has lived in France for 15 years and recently won an award at Cannes for her role in the thriller “Holy Spider” by Ali Abbasi. She is also a co-director of this film in which you feel the truth.
