Feb 10, 2008, 18:49 GMT
Berlin - Religion, children and ostriches play an important role in Iranian director Majid Majidi's new film that is vying for the top award in this year's Berlin Film Festival.
'I've put a lot of myself into this movie as artists always do,' he said at a press conference on Sunday marking the world premiere of The Song of Sparrows.
The film tells a story of a family in present-day Iran. The father, who works at an ostrich farm on the outskirts of Tehran, lives contentedly in a small house with his wife and three children.
Problems begin when the good-natured man loses his job and has to leave the suburbs to find work in the city. Tehran appears to make him harder until a chain of misfortunes forces him to reflect on his life.
'My work demonstrates that we are all united by a common humanity,' said Majidi, who received an Oscar nomination for his 1999 film The Children of Heaven.
While religion is ever present in the film, 'what you see isn't a message about the religious motives of Iran. People's beliefs are important, but the question is what do our religious beliefs lead us to do,' he said.
'I grew up in a religious family and these religious convictions have accompanied me throughout my entire life. Religious values are for all people, regardless of their education or social class.'
Majidi, who said he was influenced by the works of Italian directors Federico Fellini and Vittorio De Sica, said he decided to use sparrows in the title because it was a bird that is not demanding and just gets on with life.
'I decided in this film I would take sparrows as symbol of human beings because I wanted to get across the message that we shouldn't keep asking for more and more.'
It was also meant as a comparison to the children who play a central role in the film. 'They are like tiny, little sparrows and are just as sweet and interesting and chatty as sparrows are'
'But the title is also a paradox because the sparrows don't sing,' he said.
The Song of Sparrows is one of three films from Iran taking part in the Berlinale, but is the only one in competition for the Golden Bear award due to be announced on February 16.
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