We’ve made it!

After a few weeks of trepidation we’ve launched Brightwide with the premiere of ‘No One Knows About Persian Cats’, on a sunny Sunday afternoon at the London Film Festival’s favourite venue – the NFT1 at the BFI Southbank.

Brightwide presents No One Knows About Persian Cats

The Persian Cats, i.e. the two main actors, were there too, and found themselves in a fully booked theatre.  Colin Firth introduced the Brightwide concept and why he decided to launch this new venture.

Click the image to watch the full Q&A

We consider ourselves incredibly lucky to have had the chance to premiere this wonderful film and we can’t wait for the Persian Cats to have their first concert in London. Watch out – we’ll keep you posted.

Following the screening – our “bright and wise” panelists came on stage to shed light on the issues raised in the film, in particular the suppression of creative expression in Iran, in this case, rock music. The panel was moderated by Martin Hogdson, the Guardian’s Assistant News Editor, who welcomed Director Bahman Ghobadi, actors Ashkan Koshanzad and Negar Sheghahi, Rose Issa, expert on Iranian art and cinema, Caspar Llewellyn-Smith, Editor of Observer Music Monthly, and Jon Leyne, Teheran’s BBC Correspondent who was expelled from Iran earlier this year when covering the elections there.

Persian Cat actor Ashkan Koshanzad

As hoped, the vibrant panel ignited passionate discussion about the issues, and at one point even sparked critical debate.  When the actor Askhan Koshanzad was challenged as to why he left Tehran, he replied that leaving was never his dream – his dream was to live in an Iran where he could play his music without worry.

The discussion was an amazing introduction to our Brightwide project.  We want you to watch the best of social and political cinema on Brightwide, but we don’t want it to stop when the credits run.  We want you to engage in a passionate and multi-faceted debate all around our films and issues; to get involved and to act together with our partner charities.  That’s why, Drewery Dyke, from  Amnesty International was present on Sunday, to explain what is being done and how we should promote positive activism.

We will be posting the video of the panel discussion soon on Brightwide…. so stay tuned.

After the screening, everyone joined us for our Persian tea party to celebrate Brightwide’s launch, among the guests were journalist and author Yasmin Alibhai Brown, Robert  Yates, assistant editor of the Observer, Phyllida Lloyd, director of Mamma Mia, Sam Buckland, from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, (as in *the Oscars*), and the famous artist and film director Shirin Neshat.

After the event Phyllida Lloyd sent us a note saying:

“I was blown away by this roller coaster of a road movie that hurtles you through the underground Tehran music scene delivering treat after musical treat – indie rock, heavy metal, rap… there’s a kind of:  ‘This cant be for real – oh my god it IS !’ about the filmmaking.”

Of course we agree!

The Brightwide team with The Persian Cats