Isfa’s insistence on breaking the law; Even after seizure

Fars News Agency – Cinema Group: A few days ago, the 13th edition of the “ISFA” short film awards released its 13th edition poster, a poster with a photo of Sosan Taslimi without a legal veil in the movie “The Death of Yazdgerd”, a poster that entered a new dimension with the margins of its unveiling ceremony to destroy the important opportunity of the short film, which can be one of the important gateways for cinematographers to enter this art.

Dealing with the law is natural

Seyed Sadeq Mousavi, Director General of Festivals and International Cooperation Office of the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, reacted to the illegality of the ISFA awards poster and said: “Publishing any poster without a veil in the promotional items of celebrations and festivals is against the current laws of the country, and in this regard, the CEO and the board of directors of Khana Cinema and related stakeholders were consulted in order to make the necessary arrangements in this regard; Because the responsibility of this issue is on the cinema house.

After this interview, the sentences of which show the consultation of the cinema organization with the cinema house before the date of the interview, until the announcement of the suspension of the event, the cinema house and ISFA did not react to this news and there was no news about the poster modification, which if it was supposed to be modified by this collection of posters, this was definitely the right time for this, which did not happen.

Everyone agrees with the growth

We talked about these events with Habib Il Begi, the vice president of monitoring and evaluation of the cinema organization. He said: “The group of the cinema organization has always been in favor of the growth and activities of cinema in different formats. Guild celebrations and events have always been supported by us, and before this, other intra-guild celebrations were held in the cinema house without borders and well, and the celebration of the production managers of the cinema house is one of these cases.

He continued: “We would definitely have been satisfied and supported if this ISFA awards had been held without borders and with a good reception by the artists, because we are always in favor of cinematic events, but the law of the season of speech is all of us and dealing with lawlessness is obvious; “No one will prevent any cinematic event if they operate within the framework of the law.”

The Deputy Director of Monitoring and Evaluation of the Cinema Organization said: “When the 39th Tehran Short Film Festival was held, this association boycotted the festival and we said that this event should be held; Because many young people have made films and they want to watch their films in a calm and professional environment and improve with its critique sessions and enter the important space of filmmaking.”

Audience comments about the poster

After the publication of a report on the subject of Isfa and the surrounding issues with the title “Isfa, the association that used the short film as a reason for politicization”, the audience of Fars news agency registered their opinions in this regard.

One of the audience wrote: “Personally, I try hard to be intellectual, but this poster has its own political charge in addition to petrification and vulgarity. I imagine that the basic concept of this poster is that women in Iran are always wearing veils and are not their true selves. Should a festival in the Islamic Republic of Iran really convey such a message to others? While all foreign festivals promote foreign values, our festivals promote foreign values ​​instead of conveying our own values, and this means that several workplaces need serious reformation.

Also, another audience wrote: “The people responsible for this poster and generally responsible for the deviation in the course of the short film are well known and they openly express their anti-Islamic views on their pages… Don’t allow them to work in a trade union.”

Isfa is a place where art and artist cannot be seen

The Iranian Short Film Association (ISFA) as the trustee of the short film trade union under Khaneh Cinema and one of the centers that is expected to take on the task of supporting young filmmakers, but perhaps activities such as the boycott of the 39th Tehran Short Film Festival show a different direction and goal on the part of this group; Because this action only makes the atmosphere of introducing new cinematographers tense through this festival.

Isfa’s insistence on breaking the law

We said everything to make it clear that no one agrees with the seizure. If an activity is within the framework of the law, there are many records of a specific political thought that sacrificed an activity to political thoughts. The newspapers of this political stream tried from time to time to spread their ban with headlines that broke the norm and with harsh actions. Remember the construction newspaper that recently experienced this.

Maybe this celebration and the events surrounding it can be placed next to this type of activities; An event that is formed only to be seized and has no intention to comply with the law. The poster of the festival with an image of the country without the legal hijab was designed by Taha Zakir, who lives outside of Iran and had specific positions during the riots.

Pinned tweet by Taha Zakir, the designer of the controversial ISFA poster, on his personal page

Even if we consider the image to be related to a film before the legalization of the hijab, it is still unforgivable that its unveiling is done by a person who did not comply with the social security laws of the country.

Even after announcing the suspension of this celebration, instead of solving the issue, ISFA has published news with a black poster about the extension of the deadline for participation in the 13th edition of ISFA Awards. It seems that for a long time, this spectrum has focused all its activities on confronting the laws of the country and civil opposition to it, and it seems that nothing about art and cinema is important to them.

All these propositions indicate the priority of political activities over the inherent duty of supporting young cinematographers for ISFA, but now we have to see what has happened that this association, which has always been against, planned to hold a trade meeting in the form of the 13th edition of ISFA awards on the anniversary of last year’s riots. An event that, in practice, was sidelined by its organizers with a poster that was clear from the beginning that it was against the law and the possibility of dealing with it.

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