Why should Fajr festival be held?

Charso Press: In 16 days, the country’s biggest film event will begin. A festival that has many fans among the cinema body, media people and critics, and the audience has received a very good reception for each of its sessions.

This festival has been subjected to internal sanctions since the 60s, until today, in some years, for various reasons, but these sanctions could never stop the movement of this high-speed train. In some years, protests against the government’s cultural and cinema policies, in some periods, political and social movements formed in the country, in another period, the incident of the Ukrainian plane, etc. had set grounds for boycotting the Fajr festival. For this year, however, the riots created a good opportunity to boycott the festival, but the reception of the authors in a year when production was not the usual boom and the movie theaters were well received for hosting this event, shows that the boycott of the festival this year was also ineffective.

Of course, according to the unofficial news that reached IRNA’s film reporter, one of the reasons why the names of the films in the competition section were not announced on December 15 was the increase in requests from the owners of works who were unable to fill out the registration form for the festival. Therefore, it should be considered that the number of works applying for this year’s festival is many times more than the 75 films that filled the festival form within the legal deadline.

Of course, one should not unilaterally go to the judge and consider the Fajr festival area exempt from the criticisms that are made towards it. Fajr Festival, after 40 years of holding, still moves on a circuit of trial and error and constructive criticism should be used in the path of further evolution and reaching professional goals.

But it should also be accepted that closing or boycotting the festival has no benefit for any of the relevant parties. If we say that the Fajr festival will be closed for this year, what advantage or benefit does it have for the country’s cinema or the Shaal activists in it?

Which film festival in the world is closed for various reasons? Only the Second World War was able to close some world film festivals for a few limited periods, which also had a technical reason, and it was due to the fact that the amount of film production in European countries had reached its lowest level, which did not have enough grounds to hold a world festival. . The fact that a film festival in a country is closed due to internal issues is a case that has never been seen before. When the deadly corona virus could not close a festival, then should we order the closure or boycott of the festival due to protests or civil displeasure on the part of Tefimi?

And is it the wish of the boycott-loving spectrum, the wish of the entire cinema body, the people involved in it and those interested in this event? The importance of a festival in Taraz Fajr is that regardless of all the happenings, it moves its annual calendar forward carefully. It is in this calendar that even the martyrdom of the key pillar of the system, Sardar Soleimani, could not cause it to be shut down. Therefore, the discussion of banning or closing the festival is one of those rejected discussions that do not bring any benefits.

Proponents of boycotting and closing the festival, instead of highlighting such discussions, should provide constructive criticisms to further enhance this event and its efficiency. Many people who now support the banning and closure of Fajr festival, are indebted to the festival for a period or periods. Those whose works have been seen in the festival or have become a platform for their fame and popularity. Faces whose credit and even salary have been increased by appearing in the festival and…

Therefore, the festival is still a win-win game for all sides of Iranian cinema. It is also a platform for all generations to be seen in it, especially for young people. Therefore, it is neither fair nor professional to now want to boycott the country’s biggest film event with Golbekhodi.

Maybe it is better to put it this way; There is no pure and compassionate conscience in Iranian cinema who would wholeheartedly support the boycott of this cinema. It is not acceptable for a movie that is weak and oppressed by itself, to take away the opportunity to be seen from different generations and talents with internal sanctions. Fajr Film Festival is a child of this soil, which should always be appreciated.