Editor 's note : The staff at CNN.com has recently been intrigued by the journalism of VICE , an independent media company and website based in Brooklyn , New York . VBS.TV is VICE 's broadband television network . The reports , which are produced solely by VICE , reflect a very transparent approach to journalism , where viewers are taken along on every step of the reporting process . We believe this unique reporting approach is worthy of sharing with our CNN.com readers . Brooklyn , New York ( VBS.TV ) -- VICE visited Iran to document the country 's prestigious , internationally recognized film culture . It was April 2009 , just a few months ahead of the national elections that sent the country into a series of bloody revolts , clearly the calm before the storm . There were no signs that national discontent was brewing . Instead , there was the sense that the country was ready to dispense with its own personal George Bush -- Mahmoud Ahmadinejad -- through free and fair elections . People would politely smile and shrug when we mentioned his name . It was the spring , and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs had just released their new album that month , and I had `` Zero '' in heavy rotation on my iPod . Things were so calm and nonchalant that I even contemplated shooting a music video for the song on the streets of Tehran . The idea was to get some local girls to push regular gestures like waving and walking to the point of dance , to see how far we could push dance out into a public sphere , where it would clearly be frowned upon , if not worse . Pretty cool concept , right ? It was n't until a few months later , after seeing bloody young Iranian protesters in those same streets , that I realized how risky that music video would have been . See the rest of Inside Iranian Cinema at VBS.TV . Modern Iran is a place of many , many rules . Dancing in the streets in the Islamic Republic of Iran is not something I would recommend . Lots of things are taboo in Iran . It 's a nation of laws . Lots and lots of written , otherwise stated , largely assumed , often implied , always religiously motivated laws . The country is a curious confluence of laws , divine and terrestrial . The country is caught in the grip of a clerical elite that takes its cues as much from the pages of an Orwellian dystopia as it does from the pages of any sacred text . This is what makes Iranian film so amazing . It is an industry and a culture that thrives to international acclaim and prestige in the face of all of those rules and laws ( or maybe because of them ) . The Iranian filmmakers we met on our trip were working under conditions that we simply ca n't really appreciate in our free and freely decadent West . One of the most vivid memories of the trip was a visit to an acting school where young Iranians learned the very idiosyncratic style of acting for the Iranian screen . Men and woman should n't touch each other in suggestive ways , like hugging or dancing cheek to cheek , and of course onscreen kissing is strictly forbidden . There has n't been a filmed kiss in Iran since the Revolution . But the actors in this acting class were incredibly expressive , huffing , puffing , crying on cue and expressing pain and love and happiness through the cracks in the code . Watching them , I felt like I was like watching silent film actors of a hundred years ago . And I really could n't help but think , what do they think of Lady Gaga ?
Iran producing critically acclaimed work amid renewed passion for film . Films offer rare glimpse of cultural , individual diversity in country . VBS travels to film festival in Tehran to meet top directors , actors .