Behrooz Badrooj
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Photographer
Behrooz Badrooj
Editor
Ali Donyavi Saravi
SoundRecordist
Hassan Shabankareh
SoundDesigner
Hossein Qoorchiyan
Producer,Writer and Director
Yaser Khayyer
This tree fell on my hut
six months ago.
I asked them in written to take it away,
but they don’t come.
Winter, Love,and Other Rules
Hello?
You must take off your hat in front of the boss!
Mohammad Amin Ghaffari
NaturalResources Manager, Andargoli
Be seated, please.
You sawed the tree.
That’s why it fell.
- Which tree?
- The big Karat.
- No, it’s been uprooted.
- No! It was sawn.
Youdidn’t take itsphoto
yesterday?
Listen, Mr Abbasi!
When the tree uprooted
and you requested,
I sent some people
to help you and your livestock.
I shouldn’t have because it is illegal.
They came to saw it.
Butthey realisedit was heavy
andit might damage the hut.
So, I told them to come back.
They sawed the tree
and it’s on my hutnow.
What should Ido?
You didn’t take its photo
yesterday?
You didn’t see it?
MrAbbasi,
you asked several times...
...and we did it
although we shouldn’t have.
You know that
youare an illegal farmer. You have neither grazinglicense
norfarming continuity.
I have everything!
Grazinglicense,farming continuity.
That’s the information
in your file in 1985.
You can,
because you are culprits!
I have proof both forestry
and wardens are culprits.
Now we are indebted
to somebody like you!
We’ve kept you here illegally.
Now we are indebted to you too!
You all are!
We should’vethrown you out accordingto the law on the first day.
You did wrong,
nowI am guilty? You just want to get a proof
you are a farmer.
AndI won’t give it to you!
I don’t want my farm from you.
I know what you have done!
Take legal action
if you do.
I know about 20 years
wrongdoing of yours!
If I take thistreeand you use it,
I’ll be a good man!
Then I’ll bea bad man
in a few days again!
I won’t say a good man.
Mr Abbasi,I obey the law.
You come here only to get
something written from me. I don’t need your proof!
Soyou’llsay
Ghaffari gave you wood that year!
I’m sorry.
I could bring an expert from the court
tosee the tree today.
I’m sorry.
Nothing can be done illegally.
Dear Livestock Farmer
According tothe regulationsfor the preservation
and exploitation of forests and pastures,
all grazing licences are nullified
as of22 November 1999.
Mazandaran Wood and Paper Industries
I am Sabzali Abbasi, 71.
I’ve been a cattle farmer
as far as I remember.
But they say
I am an illegal farmer. In winter when there is little grass,
wemust feed fodder...
...to the cows for their milk.
They say I’m not a legal farmer
and I must leave,
but I won’t go anywhere!
Badboy!
We believe livestockmustn’t graze
in natural resources.
Now,what should we do?
In return for the exit of livestock fromforest,
we give the farmersland,
orcash,
orjob to change their life.
Dream on!
Hassan Tayyebi
Warden of Mazandaran Wood and Paper Industries - Where are you going?
- Nowhere!
They’re going to retire you
andthrow us out!
I caught a poacher
theother night.
- You shouldn’t have!
- Why?
We arrested them.
We shouldn’tdiscriminate.
We must treat all the same.
When I came in summer,
I saw they’d felled a treeon my hut.
Maybe they wanted to make a fence
and felledthe tree on my hut.
I’ve told them several times
to take the tree,
but they don’t come. We must go to court on 25th.
We’ll wait for the result.
It will be all right.
The only thing Hassan does
is to report if I’ve donewrong!
Rotten luck!
The cows have gone to heights.
Theydon’t come down
no matter how much I call them.
It is hard for them
to come down the slope.
Hello.
Vali Abbasi
Sabzali’s Son
Bring some firewood
to make a fire.
He is my 6thchild.
Works inMedical Sciences in Sari. Today is the anniversary of thevictoryof the Islamic Revolution...
...and it is a holiday.
Vali’s come here to help me.
Hello.
How are you?
Rahim Shah Palang
Licenced Hunter
- Have a good farming!
- Thank you.
If you went to eat pheasant,
it has a condition.
Tellme.
- Have you done military service?
- No, brother.
- Never?
- Never. - Can you shoot?
- No, brother.
Wewere 3brothers
at service age.
We paid money
and didn’t do the service.
Then they said
thosewho were born...
...between 1935 and 1942
couldbuy exemption.
So, we paid 200 tomans each
and wereexempted.
So you bought exemption
with only 200 tomans?
It would be a few millions now.
- You can fire one shot, surely?
- Yes.
A girl shot a bird on top of the tree the other day right in front of my hut. So far?
Look through the sights
when I cock it.
Let’s see if you can shoot thebottle.
- Does it recoil hard?
- No, come here.
Pull the trigger
when you areready.
- Don’t pullit now.
- Iwon’t.
Hold it tight.
Fire when you’re ready.
I can’t shoot
ahorse saddle from here!
Fire!
Didyou see? - Youdidn’t hit it.
- No, Ididn’t.
Watch me.
Let see what you do.
Come here,Julie.
Look now.
I’ll shoot the bottle.
There isnoquarry.
So let’s shoot thebottle!
If you shoot it, it shows you don’t miss any quarry.
Congratulations to you
brave Iranian people...
...on the anniversary of
the victory of the Revolution!
You search the nursery.
Call me if the cows were there. Goup this way.
I’lltake that way.
- I’ll callyou if I see them.
- OK.
Thesetrees have been falling
for some time without a reason.
The forest is full of
fallen useless trees.
This is HadiGoodarzi’scattle farm.
He has grazinglicence too.
The forestry wanted to pay them
andexpelthem,
but his father didn’t accept it
andthey are here now.
They took one of
mycalves yesterday.
- Hello.
- Hello.
- How are you? - Thank you.
Hadi Goodarzi
Licenced Cattle Farmer
- How’s everything?
- Good.
They took one of
mycalves yesterday.
- A thief?
- Yes.
She gave birth up the road
and came home.
- Let’s go in.
- No, thanks.
- What’s that?
- It is the company’s.
- Yourfather doesn’t come to the hut?
- No,why should he?
Wood Industries built a road
and allthieves came here. They make trouble for all farmers.
There’s no safety any more.
Cattle mate
when they go to the heights.
We keep them in the shed
when it’s time for delivery.
Cattle love salt.
We saykoo to condition them.
Itmeans salt.
They gather here for salt.
They become intimate with us
andwon’t goto the heights.
Yes, sir!
Everythinghas a rule here.
That’s it!
- Is it?
- Yes! Thirty-two are left?
18 and 32 makes50.
- The wardenmust be here too.
- We’ll argue when he isn’t?
Call his boss to send him.
He must be present.
I shouldn’t go after him!
What a worthless world!
Hassan Tayyebi
Warden of Mazandaran Wood and Paper Industries
- Hello.
- Hello.
- Are you ok?
- Thank God.
Why do you wardens
call only on me?
February, March, April,
May, June, July-- - By the way, MrAbbasi!
- Yes?
Is it true your hairwill turn grey
if you trim it in May?
Yes.
My parents said that.
Oldpeople’s experience.
Unfortunately,Iforgot it
andwent to the barber’s.
If somebody washesclothes
on Sacrifice Feast,
theywill become red!
It happened to us.
You shouldn’t wash clothes
on Sacrifice Feast.
Any ideawhat day today is?
Revolution anniversary and we are stuck in the forest!
We can’t go and enjoy it.
I went and did a manoeuvre.
- You did?
- Yes.
We can’t have a manoeuvre
in this darn jungle!
Iwent by motorbike.
- May God forgive us!
- Hopefully, He will.
You are considered
the so-called elite!
This is old and rickety!
I should wash it first.
I use the plastic one.
It is more hygienic.
In the name of God. It is good.
Firstclass local butter!
And you sayI’m not a farmer!
This is the title deed of
Seyyed Kheirollah’splot...
...which I bought in 1971.
It provesI am a farmer.
I bought it exactly 41 years ago.
They demolished the hut and left.
My grandfather boughtit for 21tomans duringMozaffar ed-Din Shah’s reign.
The grazinglicence
is in my mother’s name.
Shegave them to me
because I was her heir.
She gave me all the cattle
in1984.
This is the eviction warrant for my brother Alireza.
Now they tell me
I mustn’t have livestock.
It isniceto see the trees bare in autumn
and full of leaves in spring.
Ali Baba’ee
Manager of DomesticAnimals Banishment from Forest Project
Natural Resources Department
It remindsyou of the Judgment Day
when we will all be old one day and die,
and will come back to life
and answer for our actions.
It is interesting!
You claimyou have rights
from your mother. Is that right?
- - No,Ihave a general claim.
My father died in 1970.
He had five huts and plots. Our cattle grazed
but we didn’t have a grazing licence.
They demolishedthose five huts
and demolished these three too.
I myself bought this hut,
Mr Baba’ee.
Buyingand selling are forbidden.
They are illegal.
No!
Hetransferred it to me.
He wasn’t a farmer.
Mycattle grazed
and he transferred it to me.
- Hecouldn’t have transferred it.
- Hedidn’t have livestock in 1971.
We all obey the law, right?
According to regulations, thegrazinglicence of forest pastures...... cannot be transferred,
shared, bought, or sold.
When the owner dies,
itis nullified.
Only one of the heirs can inherit.
Listen to me!
Here’s not the court.
You have written you transferred allyourmother’s grazing licence rights...
...to your brother.
I didn’t write such a thing!
- What if you did?
- No, I didn’t!
- What if you--
- I didn’t!
Therewas only a letter from
Paper Industries, and theydidn’t give our rights.
Will youaccept
if it is so?
I’ll rebuild the hutyou demolished
tomorrow!
You know how to break law!
You’ve done it here too!
There is a law in the country,
you know!
- There is?
- Yes, there is.
Andit will be enforced.
Then,
why you couldn’t demolish thehut?
We’ll demolish it too
whenthe time comes.
- Let the court decide first!
- No! No! Look!
Weenforce the law.
Is there any law?
You don’t know anything about law!
If the law says you are right
andwe should give it to you,
we will do it.
If it says otherwise,
we will demolish this too.
They didn’t saw it.
It just fell.
Its base has been sawn.
I tell them to take it away.
But they say they want to make a fence with it.
That’s right.
OK, I’ll tell them.
- Please do something. - OK, I’lltalk to them.
I know I’ve done wrong
andmustn’t defend myself,
but my cows are innocent.
Knowwhat your problem is?
You suspecteverybody.
No, I’m not.
And you always want
to have your own way.
- We must all obey the law a little.
- I won’t give in to force!
Nobody is forcing you.
We had a revolution to eradicate force.
By God, the Shah’sIntelligence
watched me for three years.
Cattlefarming has50 knacks.
Oneof them is to raise a tumult.
It is good to smoke hookah every now and then!
Withfriends, companions,
and brethren!
Some people say
hookahsmokers are stupid!
They pay money to buy smoke!
If you don’t smoke the tobacco
turnedgolden,
Your offspring will be
abeast of burden!
Tell him tocome fast.
Ask a good person to come!
Bye.
Well, Mr Abbasi.
You’re tired and angry now.
I said you are tired and angry. - I’m watching football.
- You’re watching TV?
Football won’t do anything for you.
Try to solve your problem!
They said in the past,
“It is a sin in Islam...
...if the women’s hair and men’s arms and bodies are not covered.”
He’s been a farmersince childhood
and always the cows’ companion.
He came to our house for proposal,
wearing a big sheepskin hat.
Rascal!
When I saw him,
I asked my mum,
“Who’s he
with a big sheepskin hat?”
She said, “Be calm, kid!
He is our cousin.” What a life!
As his daughters say,
“Dad was handsome when he was young.”
They say,
“Why dad chose you, ugly and illiterate?”
Theymarried illiterate people
at that time too!
I didn’t want him.
His father insisted!
They gave him a job
afterthe late Imam Khomeini came.
He finished elementary school
and was hired in Ministry of Education.
He’s just been retired.
Thank God we make ends meet.
I was a caretaker here.
I’m collecting firewood. We’d gone to the forest
on Nature Day.
Here was exploited
two years ago.
These forests were thick.
When they became sparse
after they felled the trees,
the sunlight shone on their roots
and dried them all.
Mostof the trees died this way.
Why don’t they use
the dead ones?
They mustmake a furnace
orgive them to a contractor.
So, they take them at night.
Pitiable is the one who earns eighteen
but spends nineteen!
Like us! He used to go to the forest.
He worked here and there,
at the smelter.
He earned enough for his family.
Thank you!
He helped us.
May God help him too!
May he be proud and happy
with his family!
We haven’t seenbad from him.
I hope we won’t in the future either.
Her brother didn’t let us go out
when we were engaged!
You disgrace us!
I’m trying to take a new wife
andgo out with her!
We don’t let her in! I will,
your daughters-in-law won’t!
- You areonline?
- Yes.
Check my salary.
Can I get anything?
Dad was a cattle farmer
since childhood.
Farming covered
all our expenses.
I don’t know why they say
he’s not a cattle farmer.
Dad was fired in1972 because he wasthe workers’ representative...
...in the smelting plant.
- Then, it proved that--
- Forget them, kids!
He was a farmer
fora few years afterwards. Never mind.
They are not important.
Why not?
Lethim talk!
It is unrelated.
He saw our evidence yesterday and our correspondence will finish.
That’s all.
Now the court will decide.
SHIRGAH REGION GENERAL COURT
- Will they let me enter?
- Let me ask.
Some advice!
Don’t treatclients leniently!
Fear God, not the judge.
You know them better.
You go first. Please!
- Can my son come in?
- No problem.
All right, Mr Abbasi.
Whatis your claim?
Pardon?
- What do you have to say?
- What is their complaint?
Ali Baba’ee
Manager of Domestic Animals Banishment from Forest Project
Natural Resources Department
His claim abouthis mother
having a grazing licence...
...and being a farmer
is true.
A file was formed
for his deceased mother,
and all heirsagreed that all rights of their mother...
...to be transferred
to their brother, Alireza Abbasi.
And Mr Alireza Abbasi was employed
inWood and Paper Company.
In fact, one of our methods to banish domestic animals from forest...
...is that the farmer
must work in forestry projects.
At that time,the local people
signed a petition and testified that...
...his brother kept their livestock
andused the pasture...
...after their mother’s death.
So,Alireza Abbasi was considered a farmer
by inheritance andthey agreed with it.
And Alireza Abbasi
started working this way. - You agreed that--
- No!
- You didn’t agree?
- No!
Didn’t you have an agreement withother heirs after your mother’s death?
I am my mother’s heir!
That’s why the other heirs
sued me10 times!
I have my mother’s cattle.
I have their grazing licence!
Natural Resources Organisation claims
you reached an agreement...
...after your mother’s death.
No, we didn’t.
Mr Baqeri.
You claim that
after his mother’s death,
he reached an agreement withNatural Resources...
...in return for taking the livestock
out of the forest,
one of their family members
would be employed?
Seefor yourself.
Alireza is alive!
- Can I readthe evidence?
- Go ahead.
The undersigned,Sabzali Abbasi,
Kobra Abbasi,and Fatemeh Abbasi,
the heirs to the late Effat Abbasi,
testify that the pastures our brother Alireza...
...gave to Mazandaran
Wood and Paper Industries...
...belonged to him and we have
noclaim on them whatsoever.
Signature of Sabzali Abbasi, fingerprints of Kobra and Fatemeh Abbasi
Ali Zandi
Legal Expert of Natural Resources Department of Qa’emshahr
The Local Council has confirmed,
signed, and sealed it.
Read what Mr Alireza Abbasi
has written.
In the Name of God
Forest Section of Mazandaran Wood and PaperIndustries
Certificate of Claim Withdrawal
is hereby given to my sisters and brother.
In case any of them claims to be a farmer,
I shall be responsible.
17/3/1996
Read the top of the letter.
Who is it addressed to?
Natural Resources
orPaper Industries? Itis written
“In the Name of God” at the top!
It was returned
because of its problems.
He was indicted with it.
Mr Baba’ee,give the original!
Mr Shakeri gave a report
tothe management.
He says Mr Alireza Abbasi took
the original certificate...
...to take it to a notary public to confirm it
and introduce the inheritors’representative.
He took the original and never returned it
to Wood and Paper Industries.
Theywarned him several times in written,
but he didn’t bring it back.
Maybe Alireza played a trick!
Youdidn’t agree Alireza wouldbe
theheirs’representative instead of you? I didn’t sign it!
I don’t remember well.
Even if I signed it,
Alireza used his share and gave it to you!
All of you gave your mother’s
inheritance to Alireza Abbasi!
No,he gave only his share.
Whatever the judge says.
The court must decide.
The right to be a farmer
was your mother’s.
Only one can inherit the right,
not all of you.
They demolished8 of my cattle farms.
- Youwere not a farmer independently.
- I was!
Our father and grandfather too. Yadollah Qanbari
Head of Natural Resources of Qa’emshahr
If you were a farmer,
youhad to have continuity in it.
Farming incompetence
has been issued for you.
You don’t let us work
because you are wrongdoers!
Forestry Office is a wrongdoer!
- Why were you considered incompetent?
- You can’t tell I’m a farmer or not.
If a farmer divides 5 cattle farms
betweenhis family...
...and each of them become a farmer,
thewhole forest will be destroyed.
It has been destroyed!
There isn’t any forest left.
After he was declared incompetent,
hecomplained to...... Court of Administrative Justice
andrepeatedeverything;
their mother’s pastures,
inheritance, everything.
Then, why did they say
a retrial would be considered?
Based on our defence and evidence, including the one he claims is fake,
Court of Administrative Justice
confirmed his incompetence.
The procedurewas repeated
forhim and his mother.
Mr Baba’ee,you gave
neitherthe original nor the copy.
Youtook afake document
totheCourt.
I saw they had the copy.
Iasked what their verdict was based on.
- He said the copywas in the file.
- I told him to request the original.
If it was fake,
whydidn’t they request the original?
- Whythe Court changed its verdict?
- It didn’t change it.
It was incomplete.
It is being investigated in another court.
- Is the heir working now?
- Yes,hewas fired in 1994 or 1995.
Hewas jobless for 6 months.
He was hiredin his previous job
byLabour Office.
- He is working now?
- No!
The heir whowas to be hired
because of leaving the forest, they didn’t employ him.
Hecomplained and
wentto work by court’s order!
Find out how he got the job.
The court is over.
The court will deliver the verdict
after considering everything.
They mustfool me,
or pay me,
or employ my children,
or give me a plot instead.
If they don’t,
I won’t come down the tree!
Hello?
Please,send a taxi for Sabzali Abbasi,
next to Khalil Bakery in the bazaar.
I’ll go to the cattle farm. Near the bazaar bakery,
next to Mahdi Karari chicken shop.
Across from
Hossein Ala’eebarber shop.
Come quickly.
I want to go to the cattle farm.
Goodbye.
Three, please.
I did my best.
My file is still in the court.
The court will either convict me
and demolish mycattle farm,
or convict them and make them give me compensation.
I’ll see what fate decides.
- What should we do?
- Pull it back.
Weare doing that! If it is moved,
it will fall on your farm.
No problem!
Then you will say
we destroyed yourhut.
I’ll give you a note
it is my fault if it fell.
You say that now.
You’ll say something else tomorrow!
All these people are witness.
The farm
hasalready been demolished.
I know!
Butyou’ll say
Natural Resources destroyed it.
Bring the axe and mark it.
Doit legally. Here.
We are taking this tree
because it bothers him.
Taqi Loftipoor
Wood and Paper Industries Supervisor
What we do does not confirm
his farming continuity.
Hehas files in the courts.
We mark and take it
so it doesn’t bother him.
The crane that pulled the tree
the other day.
It shook my farm completely.
Itneeds a little fixing.
- The hut moved?
- Yes.
I was there.
Itdidn’t move! - It was demolished completely!
- It had been demolished already!
The tree fell on it!
- We lifted the tree for you.
- Thanks!
- We owe you now?
- No!
It was on the farm
and you took it.
It wasn’t on the hut.
Itwas on the tree!
We pulled it
because it might fall.
We pulled the tree
to put your mind at ease.
Still a few branches are on my hut.
- What do you want now?
- I want some kahloo tree wood. - What for?
- To fix it!
- To make a farm?
- Yes!
You don’t have a permit.
How can my cattle stay outdoors
in such a winter cold and snow?
You and I have been quarrelling
for20 years!
I know!
But you can’t build a farm.
- I wrote a request.
- We’ll consider your request.
Until now, you asked us to take the tree...
...because your life and property
were in danger.
The tree fell on it
and broke it! As I said before,
if I do it for you,
you’ll want something else.
Of course, I do!
If I give you wood, you will want something else too.
No, I won’t.
- I can’t do it.
- Writeyou can’t do it!
Everything mustbe donelegally.
I’ll do it when it is complete.
Don’ttake long.
My cattle will die in the cold.
Whatever the law says.
I can’t do something illegal.
Ifyou write it now,
I’ll follow it up.
I’ll begin withthe head warden and go up to the director general.
I’ll see to it.
If it is possible,
I will do it legally.
Ifit’s not possible,
I’m sorry.
We’ve been quarrelling
for20 years.
Yes!
It might take another 20 years
till my file is complete.
My animals shouldn’t die
in the meantime.
That’s what the law decides.
From Natural Resources viewpoint,
you are an illegal farmer!
No, I’m not! Spring has come
andthe nightingale on the tree
Cries likea loverbitterly.
Myfather beat me
and I went to Babol.
I spent the little money I had.
I travelled on feet.
I had one toman in my pocket
for bread.
I met a man on a horse on the road.
He stopped and asked
where I was going.
I said,
“Qa’emshahr.”
He asked,
“Can you walkall the way?”
I replied,
“I have to. I’ve come here to work
but I don’t know how.”
I was a child.
Just finished elementary school.
He told me
to get on the horse behind him.
He took me to a roadhouse.
He paid the owner
to give me lunch.
Afterlunch,
the roadhouse owner told me,
“Go over there and help that woman picking cotton.”
I saw an old woman
picking cotton.
Itwas the first time
I saw cotton.
She came to like me. We were talking when I saw
abeautiful girl coming to us.
She had several rows of
goldnecklaces.
She said,
“She is my daughter.”
When I saw the girl,
I fell in love with her madly!
I lost my mind completely!
I want to take cottons
fromthe woman at sunset.
They brought the cotton
andI weighed them.
The girl came after me and invited me
to their house that night.
I was so shy
I said I wouldn’t go.
She said,
“No! My mother said you should come!
Youcan stay with us.”
I didn’t go.
I went tothe roadhouse owner
that night.
He was from Savadkooh.
I told him everything.
He said,
“Crazy!
Stay with them.
There are only the 2 of them.
They have 24 haof land
and they are well off.”
I loved her madly.
She loved me too,
but we didn’t say anything.
My father found me andtook me to our town, Zirab.
One day I had a letter from her.
She’d written, “I love you.
You were to come back.
Why don’t you come?
I am sad!”
I burst into tears
when I read the letter.
My mother asked,
“What happened?”
I told her everything.
“It is good for me there
andshe is very beautiful!
Theydon’t have anybody
and I want to be with them.”
My father wouldn’t accept.
“You must marry here
in your own place!” My father chose this wife for me.
We couldn’t then.
If we fell in love,
our parents didn’t accept.
I fell in love once this way.
It is hard to be in love!
Winter, Love,and Other Rules
Producer, Writer and Director
Yaser Khayyer