PersianMirror: Tell us about yourself.

Behnam Mokri: My Name is Behnam Mokri. My American crew and clients call me Ben. I am a music video director but I started my career as a documentary filmmaker. Two of my works that are currently finished are called Beizai Uncensored that is already screened and is getting ready for DVD distribution and Refugees Exposed, which is going to be done very soon. I studied film and psychology for my undergrad in UCI and I am also doing my thesis in the field of Architecture to complete my masters in Architecture.  

PM: How did you get into making music videos?

BM: I did my undergrad studies at UC Irvine in Psychology and Film, I always had an obsession about visuals and I am very sensitive to my surrounding environment. I believe a good director, (film or music video) should have a good understanding in both film and psychology. Let me put it this way; we can all direct and create beautiful clips, but clips should have visual cues, psychological complexity and finally meaning.  

PM: Tell us about your experiences.

BM: I should be honest, my videos, at least a great portion of them created a lot of controversy at the time of their release and I am very happy with my work portfolio. My persuasion to push the boundaries of video directing now has placed me in the position that I have the opportunity to use this videos as my reel for non-Persian client and since my website has been up, I have been getting requests for directing American and Spanish Rock and country music videos. I have directed some Spanish and American videos. The Spanish videos will play in Spanish broadcasting stations and my American female artist who has a gorgeous voice is negotiating with Sony BMG. At the beginning of my serious career in music video production, a lot of the directors and producers in the market attacked my style; I clearly remember when some of my videos such Nafaseh Akhar for Mekabiz, Fekr Mikardam for Susan Roshan and Arezoo and Khaab Moondi for Saeed Mohamadi came out, a lot of people in the mafia of entertainment attacked my products; not because they did not enjoy the product, but due to the fact that I was the first doing what they had not done in thirty years in the Iranian music video industry. I portrayed love, sexuality and lust in a whole new dimension. I framed my girl models as sexy, provocative while using male models in a way that Iranian music video scene has never seen before.  

BM: There are many videos out in the market, but only a few good ones. Unfortunately there is not much originality. Many of our directors are having a hard time understanding the lyrics and of course that causes contradiction between the song and the concept of the video. Some of the directors are still stuck in the Stonehenge where FILMFARSI style is their internal inspiration. The scene might have a Laleh Zaar feel to it while their concept are black and white. I am serious in what I do. A lot of the artists would make fools out of themselves with the art direction of their director to get attention from the audience.  

BM: I have worked with many Iranian and non-Iranian artists: Nooshafarin & Shahryar, Shahrzad Sepanlou, Shahab, Susan Roshan, Mekabiz, Arjang, Saeed Mohamadi, Ramon, Juniors 5, Bijan Arya, Gilian Hart (American), Reza Manzoori, Beto (Spanish), Touraj, Mahvash Azhir, Bita, Arman, Shieda, Parviz, Arshia, Dihimis and also producing a young Iranian R&B artist Milad, whose work will hit the market soon. I also recently shot a unique video for Farshid Amin, which should soon hit the market.  Directing is my vision but the produ