Iran's most-celebrated female filmmaker Tahmineh Milani will take a seat on the Jury of the World Film Festival of Bangkok this week. Presumably, though, she'll have no say when it comes to her own movie, "Cease-fire", which will be screened at the weekend.

The film is a marital drama, on the surface a comedy, but inwardly dealing with social, moral and, most obviously, psychological issues - it's based on the book "Recovery of your Inner Child" by Los Angeles-based psychotherapist Lucia Capachione.

This fascinating work is concerned with the buried child in every human being, whose voice needs to be heard. Capachione, who has many Hollywood stars as clients, describes Milani's film as "Amazing! This is absolutely a universal film about couples today all over the world. It's going to speak to the whole universe!"

Milani, whose strong women-oriented films have caused a stir in her country, even landing her in jail at one point, is thrilled that "Cease-fire" is the biggest hit back home this year.

The director gave an exclusive interview to The Nation during the Fajr Film Festival in Iran.

The title "Cease-fire" is interesting, considering there's so much war in the world today as well as things like the nuclear threat from Iran ...

Yes, we hear the word a lot these days, and we certainly need more dialogue between nations and cultures. I think powerful nations should learn to talk with smaller nations, rather than sending troops.

There's no nuclear threat from Iran, as we don't even know if they have nuclear weapons. We shouldn't jump to conclusions so fast.

This film based on an important book on psychology, isn't it? Is this more relevant to Iranian women?

Lucia Capachione is very well known and her theory of the "inner child" is an important issue world-wide  - not just in Iran. After seeing the film, Lucia told me that this is exactly what happens [in therapy] with her clients all over the world, and she was amazed at how real the therapy was!

Women in Iran have an additional fight to wage because of the many years of male dominance in our culture.

Is humour your favourite weapon to use to emphasise women's issues?

All my films have some kind of humour, which helps to attract the audience's attention. In this film I'm dealing with the very serious subject of the "inner child", and trying to explain this to my audiences - so, the humour is important.

You have a strong-minded heroine in the film. Does this mean that the position of women has changed since you started making films?

The position of women in Iran hasn't changed - only my subject has changed.

Do women filmmakers face the same problems as men in Iran?

We have about eight women filmmakers in Iran and we face the same problems as men in terms of the limitations placed on subjects to write about and the presentation of these subjects.

Any autobiographical touches in the film?

No, not at all.

So what is the secret of your own successful marriage then?

My strong marriage is based on putting in lots of energy and having a very good and mature husband. He is my producer and my mentor - he helps me to know myself.

Do you look forward to coming to Bangkok?

I've never been before so I'm eager to learn as much about it as I can.

"Cease-fire" will be screened at Siam Paragon Complex, on Saturday at 6pm, with a question-and-answer session with the director scheduled for the day after at 3.20pm. Visit  www.worldfilmbkk.com www.worldfilmbkk.com for more details.

Lekha J Shankar

 Special to the Nation

Tehran