Using WhatsApp in Iran | An Interview with Farbod Ardebili | WhatsApp

(gentle music) (singing in foreign language) (woman screaming) (singing continues) (energetic metal music) (singer growling) I'm here with Farbod Ardebili, the director of that film, and writer, along with many other films. It's a truly powerful film. - Thank you so much. - And remarkable to know that you directed it from halfway around the world through WhatsApp. What caused you to decide to do that? I know you weren't able to go to Iran to make the film, but what caused you to, you know, come

up with the idea of trying to direct something like that remotely? - Oh, so thank you so much for asking. As you mentioned, I couldn't go back to Iran, but I really wanted the story to be authentic to the setting, I really wanted to make a movie that feels authentic, that shows the struggle of people in Iran. So the idea came to my mind, "What if I direct the movie remotely?" But of course a lot of people should agree to do this on location, on set, and put themselves at risk. But luckily I had

very brave friends. We discussed it a lot, and they were really brave. They said, "No, we want to tell this story. We want to show the world what's happening in Iran. so let's do this, we don't care. Even if there is a danger, we don't care. Let's do this." We took some steps to minimize the danger for them, of course I can let you know as we move forward, but basically we checked our options, how we can direct remotely, what's the best option. Of course, WhatsApp because of it's end encryption

of the conversations, and because of it's ease of use and ease of communication, it was the best option for us. So we decided to do this through WhatsApp and it worked out very well. - Yeah, and there's a parallel with the story of the film, right, of the cast and crew taking a risk. - Exactly. - To create the film, you know, mirrors the characters taking a risk to create your music. - Very true. - How does it work to direct a film through WhatsApp? I mean, I imagine you're not typing "cut" and

editing sound, like, what does that look like? - Yeah, so it took us a while to figure it all out, because there was no books about it, we couldn't Google it. Basically, the best format that we found to be more helpful was I was communicating with one person on set, my producer on set, he would communicate in my place to all the cast and crew and let them know what's happening, what needs to be done, when to cut and everything. And the way I was looking at the footage. So through WhatsApp, I was

looking directly at the monitor. I would let my producer know, "Okay, this shot was good, this shot has a problem, make these changes, make those changes." And that was basically how we did it. - You know, you mentioned the importance of knowing WhatsApp was encrypted in choosing to use it to make the film, obviously the theme of the film, you can understand that. But can you talk more in detail about kind of - Absolutely. - why that's so important and why it's so important to everyone in Iran?

- Yes. We, of course, we wanted to keep our privacy. We didn't want the government to spy on us. We didn't want the government to know our communication or what we are doing. So that was very important to make sure that the government doesn't have access to our discussions, to our communications, to anything that we do through WhatsApp. So that was one of the main reasons that we decided to do this through WhatsApp. - And did you ever run into not knowing what was going on around the camera? Yo

u know, especially you're shooting these scenes in a risky situation, and you're worried about what might be going on. - Yeah, of course. So there were some shots that we had to shoot in the street and they were the most dangerous shots to shoot because of the subject of the film, because of what's happening in that particular scene. We took some precautions to make sure that the cast and crew remained safe. Basically we got permission from the government to shoot another script, and then in tha

t script we fit this movie in that script. - Woah. - So we shot that script, but on that story, the main character somehow learns that she's wrong, the wrong of her ways. She's kind of becomes the background, the cops become the good guys at the end of the movie of that script. Then the movie was finished, we edited it to make the movie we want over here. So cast and crew could say, "Oh, it was out of it was out of our hands. We didn't have any control over how it was edited." And that's how we

basically did it. - And you essentially filmed the whole other film as well? - Yeah, we did. - Wow. That's remarkable. - Yeah, we had to be creative to make sure everyone stays safe. - Yeah. So you're using WhatsApp to film this film, it's kind of your window into the world there in Tehran, back and forth. I mean, one of the things we talk a lot about is how, you know, WhatsApp helps connect people internationally across borders. I mean, can you talk more about how the people you know in Iran, y

our family, the people who worked on the crew use WhatsApp to communicate with people outside of Iran? - Absolutely. So raising awareness about the situation in Iran is very important and it literally saves lives. The more people around the world aware of the situation of what's happening in Iran, especially at this moment in time because of the protest and the revolution that is in process, then more people are aware of that, the government would kill fewer people. So it's very important to kee

p people aware of the situation in Iran, and people in Iran, they let the world know about the situation through apps like WhatsApp and Instagram. And even I'm in communication with my family through WhatsApp every other night. And we are really thankful that you enable the access by proxy for the WhatsApp users in Iran. Literally, your app is saving lives in Iran because it helps raise awareness of the situation. - Well, and the amazing work people are doing to raise awareness. - Absolutely. -

Your film. - The brave people in Iran, especially. - Yeah. You know, you mentioned you're keeping in touch with your family and using proxy features, I mean, can you talk more about that? Does everyone in your family know how to do that? Has everyone figured it out? - Yeah, well I don't know how they do it, but my mom does. So my brother taught my mom how to use WhatsApp, how to use proxy to communicate. So I can contact her, I can call her, I can talk with her, I can talk with my brother. I don

't exactly know how they are doing it, but they are much more technically... They are expert by now. - Yeah. It's really remarkable. So I mean your film, the film you created is one way to raise awareness, what are some of the other ways you're seeing people help raise awareness with the world that you think are really important? - Absolutely, so the one thing that I did, as you mentioned I made the movie, we are working to make a feature film. We have Iron Light to keep that mission alive to ra

ise awareness. But what people are, can help, all around the world is share the news. If their friends in Iran or if they have Iranian friends and they see they are sharing this news on their social media, on Instagram, on WhatsApp constantly, don't be angry at them. They are basically saving lives. And if you can, you can share the news too, or talk with your friends about the situation in Iran. Let people know what's happening because the government wants to save its face. The more people have

heard of the situation in Iran, the fewer people, again, would be killed. So please help the Iranian people raise awareness, keep the news alive, keep people of the world informed. - Because the more people are aware, the harder it's for the government to do something horrible. - Exactly. - We on the team use WhatsApp to get work done. You know, in a way we're power users of the app. But nothing, I think, as ambitious as creating a film. - Thank you so much for taking the time to talk to me. -

Thank you so much, it was amazing. - It's really powerful to see the film and you know, I know I speak for everyone on WhatsApp when it's very humbling to, you know, have our service play a small part in helping you do something amazing like this. - Thank you so much. Your kind words mean the world to me. Thank you. - Yeah, thank you.