The closure of the Children’s Festival has had a negative impact on the quality of films/ the condition of cinema halls is unfavorable

Charso Press: Ali Qaviten (cinema director) said about the holding of the Children and Adolescent Film Festival in Isfahan city after a few years: this year’s festival is being held again according to its previous routine after a one-year shutdown and several years of holding it online in Isfahan city and that This event was held again, it is a positive and good event in itself.

He added: Considering this holiday, this year is considered a good start for the children’s and youth film festival, and there is a good mood in the city of Isfahan, but I hope that this mood will be more cinematic next year. The opening ceremony of the 35th Children and Adolescent Film Festival was held well, but it would have been better if this ceremony had a more cinematic atmosphere. I hope that in the coming years, we will see more film crews in this event, because any festival should be a place to exchange ideas, experience and information, and this happens in the dialogue between the film crews, and it is necessary to have more in this event. Let’s witness the presence of cinematographers.

Qaviten noted: Making the atmosphere of the festival more cinematic can be encouraging and motivating for children and teenagers who are interested in entering the field of cinema, and it is necessary to see more of the actors of the films and the main actors of the works, who are usually children in this event. Unfortunately, in this year’s festival, only the producer and director of each film have been invited to the festival, and the films that were produced by the same person, only the same person has been invited to the festival.

The director continued his statement and emphasized: There is enthusiasm in the children’s festival, but this enthusiasm is related to the city of Isfahan and the presence of children who have created happy conditions, and the signs of the cinematography of this event are not enough. In my opinion, it is better to pay attention to making the atmosphere of this event more cinematic along with this enthusiasm, and one of the most important factors of this event can be the presence of more cinematographers in the festival. Of course, the presence of more people requires more money for the festival, and probably financial issues have caused fewer filmmakers to attend the festival, but I hope the officials of Isfahan, including the mayor and the governor, recognize the importance of holding the festival in this city. Holding this event in Isfahan is an opportunity for Isfahan and the officials of this city can create a lively atmosphere in this province and help the growth of cinema in this region.

He said about the effect of the closure of this festival on the quality of children’s and youth cinema: the closure has definitely had an impact on the quality of children’s and youth cinema in our country. This situation has caused many professional cinematographers who worked in the field of children’s cinema to move away from this space, and there are few people like me who have not given up on children’s cinema yet and are trying to keep this cinema alive. On the other hand, the economic situation of our cinema has caused many cinematographers to make purely economic films and only think about making money. Children’s cinema faced a lot of damage in these years, and the Children’s and Adolescent Festival, as one of the most important film events that has been very influential in preserving this type of cinema in our country, should be preserved and held with more splendor every year.

About the films present at the 35th Children and Adolescent Film Festival, Qaviten said: Until now, the films I have seen in the festival are mostly children’s works that fall under the family cinema. My film is also in the same category and does not limit itself to a certain age and year, and most of the films of this period of the festival until today have been works that can be seen in a family gathering.

This director stated: Our children’s cinema must be able to communicate with today’s children. There are many ways to communicate this, but unfortunately, our officials do not care about children’s cinema and only think about holding a festival and celebration, and then they leave this cinema until the next year when the festival is held again. I have participated in several foreign festivals and traveled to different countries and I have seen how much they care about children’s cinema in those countries. When you appear in a festival, your film rights are bought very soon, and at the same time as the festival is held, the time of showing your film on the platform where the film is going to be broadcast is determined, and the conditions are so good that every filmmaker is encouraged to make a film. While in our country, after making the film with great difficulty, it is not at all clear how you can release this film.

He added: Institutions such as the Ministry of Education in our country do not attach any importance to children’s and youth cinema, while Education can buy the rights of films and show these films in special boxes for students. Radio and TV have no regard for children’s cinema, and the tariffs they specify for buying children’s films are not as high as the salary of a composer or a sound engineer. This situation can lead to the destruction of children’s cinema and causes the few cinematographers who work in this field to be disillusioned with this situation and go towards body cinema and making works that are made only for sales and income generation. Of course, I have to say that I have no objection to box office cinemas, but the destruction of other cinemas is a very dangerous thing.

The director of the movie “Aftab, Mehtab, Zemin” continued his statement and emphasized: The biggest problem in the field of children’s and youth cinema is related to the low quality of movie theaters. In this festival, which is being held, I have seen a movie in two cinemas, in one of them the sound was very low and the picture was extremely dark, and we asked the cinema officials to make the picture brighter, but they told us that the lamps were old and this It is not possible. In the other cinema, the condition of showing the movie was unfavorable, the screen size was not standard and the corners of the picture were out of the frame. This situation is really strange in a festival, because the main event in such an event is the screening of films, and basically the festival is held so that films can be seen, but it seems that in the children and teenagers film festival, seeing films is not a priority.

He added: movie theaters are very important in all festivals of the world, and festival officials try to show movies in the highest quality theaters. I remember that one year one of my films made it to a festival in India. My film was supposed to be screened in a 2500-seat theater. When I entered the theater, I said to myself that it is unlikely that my film would be seen well in such a large theater, but when the film was released, the quality of the screening was so high that I imagined that my film would never be of such quality. I have not seen. When movie theaters have such quality, it is natural that people prefer to watch movies in the cinema, but when our cinemas have no facilities to provide better quality of broadcast than home broadcast, surely the audience prefers to watch the movie at home.

At the end, Qaviten said: In the end, I must say that I have closely witnessed the efforts of the officials of the Farabi Cinema Foundation to hold this festival as well as possible, and I hope that the officials of Isfahan will also join the Farabi Foundation and fix the weak points that exist for the next years. Provide the possibility of accommodating more cinema staff and showing movies in better and higher quality halls.