24 and Prison Break in Iran

24 and Prison Break are foreign series with many fans in Iran. Their downloaded copies were already everywhere before some private institutes decided to supply them in an official and legal form. Thus, filmmaking institutes supplying material to home video network (on CDs or DVDs) entered into a competition to get a permit for supplying those series. They were finally supplied in Iran and were received enthusiastically by people. The best and most common way for supplying foreign films and series is still dubbing them into Persian. Therefore, a group of experienced dubbing artists came together to do the job. Nobody actually thought that a series like 24, which is about anti-spy and anti-terrorist activities of the US government would be permitted in Iran, but that has actually happened. Of course, the measure came under serious fire from traditional circles. 24 and Prison Break are the most suitable series for Iran in terms of actresses’ costumes. That problem has, thus far, prevented the dubbed version of Lost series to be supplied, though its theme and aesthetic features have been more appealing to the Iranian audience. A legal permit for Lost, however, has not been issued yet. To prevent misunderstanding on the theme of every season of 24 series, there is a roundtable on CD or DVD version of the dubbed series in which film experts analyze various aspects of the series. Regular participants of those roundtables include Nader Talebzadeh (TV documentarian), Massoud Farasati (film critic), and Bahram Zand (dubbing manager). They usually do not talk about directing or aesthetic merits of those series, but they discuss US policies using various seasons of 24 as good ground to analyze the situation in the United States following 9/11 terror attacks. As distribution of Prison Break and 24 has already started, there is news about distribution of Lost after certain modifications are made to its pictures.