Reasons for reducing the number of works in the 15th “Reality Cinema” festival

According to Fars News Agency’s cinema correspondent, the press conference of Mohammad Hamidi Moghadam, the secretary of the 15th International Festival of “Cinema Reality” was held online before noon today (Monday, December 6).

He said: “After going through a different period of the 14th Haghighat Film Festival last year, which was accompanied by the corona epidemic and made the festival online, we witnessed a vanguard and growth and transformation in relation to the audience, and fortunately the previous period of the festival had a growing path.” And influenced other festivals in the country.

Hamidi Moghaddam continued: “Based on this trend and online infrastructure, the Center for the Development of Documentary and Experimental Cinema, as a new work, started the work of expertise and error of the previous period, and the policy council was formed much faster than previous periods.” The future and the new corona courier did. It was decided to continue the online path as a serious path of this year’s festival and to invest in it and fix the mistakes. Therefore, the policy council approved that we should look at the physical implementation with regard to the elimination of the disease.

He noted: “Fortunately, last week, with the growth of audiences in cinemas, it was agreed that we would have limited physical performances, and as a result, the 15th Haghighat Cinema Festival will be held both online and in a limited physical form.”

The secretary of the 15th International Film Festival “Cinema Reality” said: “This year, due to coronary conditions, living problems and the condition of the first screening of the film, the number of documentaries participating in the 15th International Iranian Documentary Film Festival” Cinema Reality “has decreased and the number of films received this year is 551.

Hamidi Moghaddam further presented the statistics of the works received by the secretariat and said: “This year, for the first time, we considered the condition of the first display of works in the festival, which made some other works not eligible to participate in the festival.” Therefore, the number of eligible works to enter the festival was 440 films. Eventually, 30 short films, 28 semi-feature films, 23 short films, 23 Avini films, and 8 Iranian films participated in the festival outside the competition. Due to the current situation, we tried to screen 11 films that deal with the subject of “Corona” in the out-of-competition section.

Hamidi Moghaddam said: 53 filmmakers from 21 provinces and 23 cities participated, which fortunately shows the wide range of images in the documentary field. In the international section, 2,611 films from 73 countries applied to participate in the festival. 12 feature films, 7 semi-feature documentaries and 10 short films are in the international competition section of this festival. Also, 3 feature films, 2 semi-feature films and 2 Iranian short films will be added to this list, and we will also show a selection of the best works.

The head of the Center for the Development of Documentary and Experimental Cinema said: “22 works produced in the center applied to participate in the Haghighat Film Festival, and naturally 12 or 13 works of the center have entered the festival.” Of course, the participation rate of the center is different for different films.

The secretary of the 15th Haghighat Film Festival announced the statistics of the films of this period and said: 81 Iranian films will be screened in the national competition section. There are 29 films in the “Martyr Avini” section, 11 films about “Corona”, 8 films out of competition, and a total of 122 Iranian films will be screened in this period. In the international section, 50 foreign films will be screened and 7 films will be screened in celebrations. In total, there are 179 films in the 15th Haghighat Film Festival.

* A rainbow of national works in the “Martyr Avini” award

He said about Shahid Avini section: “Shahid Avini” section is not a side part or pinned to the festival. “Shahid Avini” is a special section for the festival, whose films, like other prestigious festivals in the world, are screened with their own content and package. “Martyr Avini” is an integral part of the festival, and those who submit their works to this section have quality films that show a rainbow of national works. This section also has a separate award and we see that very bold works have been made in this section.

The secretary of the 15th International Festival of “Truth Cinema” said: “This year, we also paid the legal right to show international films and we tried to prepare a good treasure and selection, some of which I will give examples; The good film “Nemesis, the Goddess of Revenge” is from Switzerland, which has won about 10 important awards so far and is an important and observational film. Another interesting film is the documentary about the ISIL conflict called “Sabaya”, which has also won many awards. For those who are interested in fiction cinema, we also have an interesting portrait called “Jangojango” which was very noisy and focuses on a conversation with Tarantino. I suggest “Before the Light Turns Off” from Moroccan cinema, as well as in the feature-length documentary “The Infiltrator” from Chile and Spain.

The secretary of the 15th International Reality Film Festival in response to Fars News Agency’s question that “we are probably witnessing your last appearance at the Reality Film Festival, what do you think is the most important challenge that the next director will face?” He said: “I think talking about the challenges is a detailed opportunity that can be talked about after the festival, such as the challenge of how to talk directly to documentarians who have opened up more space in recent years, and this has led to problems.” Encounter more. Excessive pressure on the organizing team and the secretary himself, which is very exhausting, is another challenge.

Hamidi Moghaddam continued: “My vision for the future is that expert meetings in the field of conflict of interest should be formed in the future and the Center for the Development of Documentary and Experimental Cinema should play its role as the custodian of documentary production.” Because many of the documentary filmmakers who produce in this center are oppressed in areas outside of it, and some feel that these films are placed in the competition sections by order of the center. Of course, all the previous periods of the Haghighat Film Festival have been held well, but there are also various issues that need to be discussed in detail so that with more interaction and convergence, we can attend the celebration that will be held for the country’s documentary cinema.

Asked if he had encountered anything in the submitted films that he had to remove or modify, he explained: “Some films are accompanied by a lot of noise, but there is nothing in their hearts of courage and bravery.” If there is a concerned and searching look in the works, we would definitely look for it. The result of the selection committee’s view is what we see in the festival’s screening basket. Again, it is worthwhile to make documentaries that are bold enough for the festival secretary to get permission from the relevant bodies to screen them. But this year, they kept all the safe margins.

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