Nazanin Zaghari-ratcliffe Documentary

[PinkStarAtNight]

First of all I just want to say I have been a supporter of Nazanin and Richard from the very beginning and am so happy that she's home, of course.

Fully prepared to be told IABU but just wanted to ask...

So I'm watching the channel 4 documentary about Nazanin Zaghari-ratcliffe (it's on right now). And I can't help asking, where the films of him speaking to her on the phone really filmed back then in 2016 as it claims? And the footage of him and Gabriella in their London home, speaking to Nazanin on the phone, meeting with all of the experts etc etc? If so this means they were filming everything even back then, but haven't showed anything until now. I can't help wondering why?

I had a similar feeling when watching Kate Garraway's documentary about Derek's struggle. I have the utmost empathy for them as well, but couldn't help getting this feeling that she started filming intimate moments so early on, and then didn't share them until years later when making the documentary. I couldn't help asking myself where they doing that with the idea in mind that one day they will be able to make money out of a documentary? (same sort of feeling you get when watching Harry and Meghan's netflix drama, although of course they're much worse)

There's also footage of Nazanin recording a video of herself while in prison, saying she had been there 9 months. I wouldn't have thought she had access to a phone. And if she did, why wasn't that video released before now? I followed her case quite closely and never saw a video of her speaking before she finally came home, although I suppose I could have missed it.

So I guess I'm just asking do people think they have done these videos in 2023 especially for the documentary, for dramatic affect? I imagine that would probably be a decision by the producers rather than themselves. Or are they really from that time and if so, does it bother anyone else that they filmed all this years ago thinking they could one day make a documentary, and therefore money? (Bearing in mind when Nazanin did her first press conference when first back from Iran she was unwilling to speak too much about her experience and said she may never share it publicly, but now we have this documentary)

I may just be an absolutely horrible person so feel free to tell me if I am being awful, but I'm just a bit genuinely confused.

Of course regardless of any of this I wouldn't want to disrespect Nazanin in any way and I have so much empathy for the absolutely awful experiences she and her family have been through, I'm so happy for them that she finally came home. This isn't really about them personally its more just got me thinking about all documentaries like this because it seems to be the same with all of them, in terms of wondering whether the intimate phone calls are staged/re-created and why they filmed it all so early and kept hold of it for years etc

Just realised my spellchecker kept writing 'where' when I meant to say 'were', sorry if it's confusing!

Could be for any number of reasons. For their own personal use if Nazanin was never released or worse. Or advised not to release the footage publicly in case it destroyed already snail paced talks to free her. Or filmed for evidence to support their cause with MPs/government to negotiate release.

I can see where you're coming from but with the 'personal use' point, that would make sense if it was all just home videos on a phone, but the footage seems like it was filmed at least semi professionally, by a separate person in the background (not her Richard, he sometimes looks at someone off camera and smiles/laughs) and they are filming the chats the family are having with Nazanin on a mobile. It's basically like they got a 24/7 film crew with them. Its even sometimes evening when things are being filmed by this separate person off camera. I'm just wondering who it is that they've got to constantly be there??

It was a big case. Why wouldn't you film it with an eye on a future documentary- maybe a documentary to pressure the government to help with her release even? No different to the PM or monarch keeping a diary of big events for the future. There's every chance they were filming this with an eye on the historical element.

That’s an exceptionally ignorant comment

Why did she set foot in Iran?! Are you joking? She's Iranian and her parents are there 🙄

Maybe they filmed thinking that the footage might be useful as part of the campaign. Maybe they were filming to show her when she got back. Who cares really? I find it weird the lengths people seem to go to try and find stuff to criticise about nazanin and her husband tbh

This was the issue though. She is Iranian, travelled on an Iranian passport, and Iran doesn’t recognise dual nationality.

everyone criticising the UK for not doing enough don’t seem to realise that we had no diplomatic power in this circumstance. You can’t force Iran to hand over an Iranian citizen.

The OP specifically said it wasn't just about Nazarin, but generally about making documentaries.

I got the same feeling watching The Staircase (about the accident/ murder of Kathleen Peterson) Her husband had a film crew in almost immediately. But maybe nowadays everyone has cameras and videos.

I think it was a case of them deciding to record what was happening as often as they could so they would have it if they ever needed it. But they were reluctant to release footage unnecessarily in case it jeopardised negotiations.

With Derek, they were probably documenting things on a personal level as well as a publicity one. In the same way some people take photos/video/journal things etc when a loved one is seriously ill.

But @Lastnamedidntstick, if you watched the documentary you will know that the moment Britain paid its historic £400 million debt to Iran, Nazanin was released. I think at least part of the filming was about creating a record of what happened and documenting the British government's actions, which really were pretty poor for the most part.

The OP may have said it wasn't specifically about Nazanin but about 85% of the post is very specifically about her.

I had a situation involving a close family member which I know plenty of documentary companies would have been interested in. Filming, or any thought of a public profile about it was absolutely nit what our family wanted to do, or felt would be helpful. However the experience has taught me nit to be judgmental about how people deal with extreme personal situations, provided they are not harming others.

Grief, fear and helplessness are a truly awful combination, and the presence of avid media who might (or might not) be useful is really hard and I would urge you to bear that in mind OP.

And I certainly don't think that Nazanin and Richard filmed their experiences with an eye to monetising them at all.

nit = not. Sorry!

The mind boggles as to how this ends up being what you take away from this documentary, OP.
My guess is they are now at last able to show to everyone how useless the UK gov has been, repeatedly denying that her detention was linked to the tanks money when Iran themselves told the family explicitly. Complete gaslighting.
And Johnson as always not on top of details, meeting them after the court case and admitting he didn't know there had been a court case going on.
As for the filming, this covered so many years, there might have been a couple of days filming each year, if you look carefully. You can also see them age as the years pass so no, probably not filmed afterwards for money, what a strange idea...

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I’m shocked that’s what you took away from that documentary. It’s as if you feel you have a right to every single bit of film/telephone calls made by the family. You have a right to only what the family choose to show you. HTHs.

I really wasn't trying to criticise Nazanin or Richard at all, like I said I followed her story from the beginning and I'm so sorry for all they've been through, I admire them for how strong they've been all the way through and I'm so happy she came back safe in the end.

I know the post was mainly talking about Nazanin but it really was about these types of documentaries in general and how I've always felt watching them. It was just this one that triggered me to ask for opinions.

People have raised some really good points about why they might have chosen to film so early and I have taken them on board; that's what I wanted really- different views on it and I said from the beginning that I'm prepared to be told that I'm having a weird/unfair view on it. It was just my initial feeling when watching these types of things and I wondered whether it was the producers sort of forcing them to re-create phone conversations for dramatic effect, because some of them don't seem genuine (I'm talking more about other documentaries with that point rather than the Nazanin one. It was just the one of the phone calls to Nazanin that I wondered about, that they said was in 2016)

I guess I'm just thinking 'would you really have such intimate conversations on camera? Would you really start filming straight away? Probably because I can't see myself doing that if I was in that situation. But I fully accept the points about different people dealing with things in different ways and never really knowing how you would react in that situation.

OP has a point, I was (a small) part of a documentary and it was very set up and rehearsed. For example the ‘initial’ phone calls were often shot weeks afterwards, and could have several takes.
Props and decorations were used to skew the timeline ie Christmas decorations up when being filmed in Summer as the show would air over Christmas.

Of course it wasn't all filmed recently - we saw the daughter grow from a toddler through to a schoolgirl in the different footage!

I couldn’t give two hoots if they were doing it so that “one day they could make a documentary, and therefore money”. They have been through something unimaginable. But they also still have bills to pay, a child to raise. If, as part of it all, they sell their story, so what? They have more than earned that right.

I also think that it’s a part of campaign, Richard probably used some video materials as an evidence what’s going on and to show to MPs and government officials.
And they probably were thinking about the future in case if Nazanin wouldn’t make it out of Iran. They needed to have some memories about her for Gabriella.
Richard’s campaign was cleverly organised, it’s a credit to him and that’s why Nazanin came back. How many people didn’t make it out of Iran? We would never know .

There was definitely filming going on throughout her time in prison. I can remember watching countless clips over the years about them on BBC South Today
So there will be an archive to draw from rather than I being pretend.

Well I guess you would know if you were living through something ‘big’, historical or important. Video recording is just a new way of diarising. That is also why people record earthquakes, car accidents, tsunami waves, sporting wins etc. And then someone down the line collates these into a documentary. Don’t think there is too much to be cynical about.

Pretty standard in high profile situations/cases to have film crews and publishers around throughout knowing that they would at some point publish to get the story out there. Filming/publishers are in at the start and stay throughout the course, there would be arrangements for those involved to capture moments to include. Too many numerous to mention, but include following lives of important people to produce documentaries/books after a period of time.