Did the Supreme Council of Cinema change its name?
While the “High Cinema Council” was to be revived a few months ago in the presence of the president, it has been reported that the cabinet has agreed to form a “cinema council” chaired by the first vice president. Although it is not clear whether this is the revived council, an important question is whether the cinema council can go beyond the responsibilities of the cinema organization to produce, safeguard and prevent the seizure of films.
Theater News Base: In the first days of his tenure at the Cinema Organization (October 1400), Mohammad Khazaei announced that the High Council of Cinema would be revived after being closed for about 10 years, “because we want cinema to develop in the future and not have legislative problems in the field of cinema.” . »
The Supreme Cinema Council was formed about 11 years ago during the presidency of Javad Shamqadari in the Cinema Organization, which was chaired by the then President. The council held a few limited sessions, but with the coming to power of the 11th government, the continuation of the sessions was canceled and then completely dissolved, because the directors of the time, emphasizing the comments of the filmmakers, considered the council as a parallel set with the cinema administration. , But the new directors in the thirteenth government had a different belief and from the very beginning considered the revival of the Supreme Cinema Council as one of their most important plans; The council, whose first meeting was to be held in the presence of the president in December, did not happen and was postponed to next month, but there was no news in January, and finally yesterday the Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance, who had very tense days Fajr Film has announced the formation of a “Cinema Council” on its Twitter account.
According to the organization’s public relations report, the members of the “Cinema Council” are the First Vice President (President), the Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance (Vice President), two ministers elected by the First Vice President, the President of the Cinema and Audiovisual Affairs Organization (Secretary), Secretary of the Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution, President of the Broadcasting Organization of the Islamic Republic of Iran, President of the Islamic Propaganda Organization, seven filmmakers and representatives of trade unions and organizations in the field of cinema elected by the Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance, at least two of whom will be women The management of the seminary of Qom and the president of one of the state universities of art are elected by the Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance.
Mohammad Mehdi Esmaili, noting that in the afternoon meeting on March 22 chaired by Ebrahim Reisi – President – the Cabinet agreed with the formation of the Cinema Council, explained the objectives of the Cinema Council as follows: گسترش “Development of soft technology, synergy and strengthening communication Between the policy-making, executive, regulatory, educational, study, scientific and production sectors in the field of art, audio-visual industry and cinema, and increasing coordination, cultural, economic, legal and technical cooperation between executive bodies and relevant institutions with the non-governmental sector in the field of cinema and “Audiovisual and improving the quantitative and qualitative level of products, production and supply of outstanding and valuable cinematic works, and reviewing and resolving challenges and problems.”
Now, a few questions arise: first, will this council pursue its work at another level by removing the word “excellent” and reducing the presidency from the president to the first vice president? Secondly, with the goals stated in this council, from now on, will the cinematographer not criticize the arrival of other devices to comment or change the script and the work made? Will this council help protect Iranian cinema products at home and abroad?
There are many questions that can be asked in this regard, but the change in the name of the council is also important instead, which will be followed up by the relevant officials.