‘Tatami,’ the first Israeli-Iranian movie, opened in the US during the war

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Oscar-winning Israeli director Guy Nattiv began developing the story several years ago and knew that he needed to collaborate with an Iranian to make the film.

It’s fitting that Tatami, the first movie co-directed by an Israeli and an Iranian, opened in the US at the end of June, just as decades of simmering tensions between Israel and Iran flared into a full-scale war.

Tatami, which tells the story of an Iranian woman participating in a judo tournament who is ordered by her government to fake an injury to avoid competing against an Israeli, is based on a number of real cases, and it illuminates the Iranian regime’s need to control and manipulate its citizens.

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Oscar-winning Israeli director Guy Nattiv began developing the story several years ago and knew that he needed to collaborate with an Iranian to make the film. He brought this idea to Zar Amir, an Iranian actress who won the Best Actress Award at the Cannes Film Festival for Holy Spider in 2022, and she became his co-director. Amir also appears in the film in the key role of the coach to the judoka, played by Arienne Mandi. Nattiv’s co-screenwriter, Elham Erfani, is also Iranian and acts in the film.

Bridging gaps between Israelis and Iranians

The co-directors did not feel that the flare-up of hostilities between their home countries created any tension between them as they promoted the movie in the US. On the contrary, the two see their movie as bridging the gaps between citizens of the two countries.

In a recent interview with National Public Radio, Nattiv said, “Collaboration between so-called enemies will heal more. So, from my point of view, I just feel that art heals. This is our weapon. Make art, not war.”

GUY NATTIV, director of ‘Tatami’, and his wife, producer/actress Jaime Ray Newman, at the Tokyo Film Festival. (credit: Tokyo International Film Festival)

Amir, who left Iran in 2008, said, “[The regime feels] we need this imaginary enemy. This is the way totalitarian regimes survive, especially in the Middle East, but it’s so absurd. So more and more people don’t obey.”

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She added that their collaboration showed her “a window to a new culture,” which taught her that they weren’t really so far apart. “It’s just like we are sisters and brothers. We like the same music. We like the same food. There is no other way. We have to shake our hands and try to love each other, to understand each other,” she said.

For showtimes for Tatami around the US, go to the movie’s website at https://www.tatamimovie.com/