Will the Fajr Film Festival return to its previous position?

Charso Press: The 41st Fajr International Film Festival has ended with all its controversies. An event different from its previous periods with strange and sometimes unprecedented controversies. Of course, we all have one thing in common, and that is that charm is an inseparable part of cinema. If we believe that the lamp of a gathering and a ritual like the Fajr Film Festival, which is more than forty years old and belongs to artists, should be lit by their presence and become passionate, then naturally we find and accept this year’s festival in a different way. This year’s festival was generally not attractive. In the words of friendship, maybe we can close our eyes to the facts and say that everything was great; But with a fair view, we must admit that this year’s festival, first of all, in terms of the presence of celebrities and the reception of prominent artists, was a less popular festival. Although many faces played in the films of this year’s Sodai Simorgh section, none of the films were successful in the real or virtual space and did not spread by word of mouth. 24 films were released in the main section, but the works of this period could not attract the audience. It was only the sidelines and noise that spoke first in this period of the festival.

After ten days of screening, two films attracted the attention of the judges more than the others and were nominated and won awards in most categories. One is “Metropole Cinema” directed by Mohammad Ali Bashe Ahangar and the other is “Gharib” directed by Mohammad Hossein Latifi.

The question that exists in the meantime is why an event that is more than four decades old is far from its heyday and is being ignored by a part of the people of cinema? Let’s not forget that in the last forty years, it was these artists and cinematographers who sent their films to this event despite all the criticisms and protests, and in the competitive part of it, they had an eye on Simorgh; But why not now? Can the festival be returned to its heyday? With what changes and decisions will this be achieved? In the report

Going forward, cinema experts have shared their solution with the newspaper “Etemad”.

One voice will damage the festival

Azizullah Haji Mashhadhi Fajr Film Festival, with its forty-year history, with all its ups and downs in most of its holding periods, has had a relatively acceptable and convincing track record. Apart from the continuous repetition of some inadequacies in the implementation and planning of this important event, at least in such areas as the use of film selection and judging committees – which, in my opinion, the work of the selection committee of such festivals has always been more sensitive – in the past periods, has acted more carefully, especially as we know that the Fajr Film Festival, which is supposed to be an exhibition and a place of healthy competition for the cinematic works of different generations of our filmmakers, draws the eyes of many film production agents to these scenes of friendly competition and is the center of their attention. Placed. What are the forces that were directly and indirectly present in the film production cycle (such as cinematographer, editor, set and costume designer, sound engineer and voiceover, makeup artist, writer and director, producer and especially the actors of a film) and what are the other people who are in the position Researcher, film expert or teacher and film critic have always played an indirect role in film production. Similarly, in any part of this festival, if any of these groups of cinema audiences are ignored and in the shadow of wrong decisions, even if it does not seem to be shaken, a situation will gradually arise that with the spread of such a wrong view in Among many responsible managers in the country’s cinema fields, in many government institutions and organizations affiliated to the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, for categories such as: research, translation and authoring, writing strategic articles, film criticism and in general anything that It is related to the field of cinematographic literature and screenwriting, it does not have much status and credibility, and as a result, we will not be faced with the display of significant works in the festival.

The fact is that when we talk about the Fajr Film Festival, a transparent and stainless mirror immediately appears in our minds, which is supposed to represent all the cultural and ethnic aspects, as well as our social status, dignity and national rituals in diverse cinematographic works. be us If it is other than this, it is as if there is a problem with the cinema which, like a cloudy and dusty mirror, cannot reflect a clear image of our society, or it is a problem with our social conditions, which does not reflect very impressive and soulful images in this mirror. While our expectation is that Fajr Film Festival will represent our national cinema. From this point of view, a cinema that is attractive, effective and full of colors and has high capacities to raise the lofty and humane thoughts of many spiritual and semantic concepts of our life. When cinema, as an inclusive and influential media, is supposed to be a suitable platform for portraying the social conditions and views of our rainbow society, shouldn’t Fajr Film Festival also be a full-view mirror of these social conditions and diverse views of our society?

If we do not believe in this diversity of views, we will act in our cultural policies in such a way that, for example, in an important event such as holding Fajr Film Festival, from the selection of the secretary of the festival – as a justified cultural and artistic figure with a background and a respectable record in one of the parts of the film production cycle or in the research and educational parts related to these cultural and artistic fields – to the introduction of the selection committees and The judging of the films will be done in such a way that one-dimensional, narrow-minded people who lack the necessary visions and especially disregarding the necessity of strengthening and consistency and durability of the “national cinema” will be present in the different parts of the festival, and the result of their work will not be beneficial in any way. It will not be our national cinema. While all the cultural sympathizers expect their ideal and national cinema to be joyful and joyful as its inherent characteristics, and in all the components of an artistic production, glorious and beautiful elements wave and examples produced in a healthy atmosphere. And as usual, it should be full of enthusiasm and magnificence and represent the free and independent spirit of a nation, and our cinema, far from popularizing low-quality, unattractive and lacking creativity and innovation, should not fall into the abyss of repetitive clichés!

It seems that creating a suitable platform for thinking about magnificent and thought-provoking cinema and following it, in order to have a suitable festival, the seed of such a belief must be planted first of all in the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, so that such a point of view is planted in other institutions and organizations. Affiliated to this ministry should be institutionalized as a normal behavior and a prevailing view and lead to the growth and elevation of Iranian cinema in the not too distant future. Undoubtedly, with the improvement of Iranian cinema, the Fajr Film Festival is approaching its ideal conditions. Although an important part of the inadequacies and shortcomings of the 41st edition of the Fajr Film Festival should be attributed to the inflammatory days of the last few months in the society and also the absence of a large part of the people involved in the cinema in this period of the festival, I think that the root of a more important part As mentioned, one of these inadequacies should be found in the inflexible attitude of the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance and its elected managers.

The secretary of the festival should be concerned about cinema

Shahin Shajri Kohn Fajr Festival has always been a reflection of the general state of culture, art, and politics in these years, and in the current situation, it cannot be expected to be held uniformly, naturally, and prosperously, because the society does not have a natural and healthy atmosphere, and the managers and policy makers themselves polarize the atmosphere. When the films of the festival have no relation and affinity with the happenings of the society, when the importance is given to the quantity instead of the quality of the films, when only filling the seats is considered in any way, when the goal is only to be held with any quality and dignity, the result is clear and clear. .

In my opinion, in the first place, the managers and officials of a festival should be in the dimensions of Fajr Cinema (not just the resume of film production, which many managers have made a living for themselves), from the secretary of the festival to middle managers, judges, and the executive board should be from the people. They should be cinema and cinematographers should sympathize with them, not to feel that cinema belongs to them and they have the right to make any decision. A secretary who is concerned about cinema understands that cinema has no meaning without cinema people, and if people do not accompany the festival or any other event, everything is worthless. Not only in the festival, but in most fields, including sports, economy and culture, managers do not specialize in their fields of work and are only committed. From cinema managers to the members of the production license council and the managers of the production institutions who have the budget and license in their hands, they do not know the cinema, which is why we are facing all kinds of challenges in different sectors.

As long as they proceed with the same view of insiders and outsiders, and only the blackness of the army and the gathering of forces are important to them, the state of cinema will be the same.

Cinema and invading ghosts on three fronts

Arash Khoshkho I have nothing to do with the special events of this year’s festival. Anyway, some issues arose in the society and filmmakers had understandable reactions, which will cause a part of Iranian cinema to distance itself from any government action, including the Fajr Festival; But apart from this incident, Iranian cinema was attacked simultaneously from three different sides in the last two or three years. Fundamentalists who were dissatisfied with the success of this cinema outside their favorite ideological frameworks and in a special economic cycle, critics and journalists who raised the banner of fighting money laundering in cinema and by exaggerating and exaggerating a secondary pest in cinema tied to its nature. And finally, the media figures on the other side of the water who attacked all the branches of this cinema’s success; From Asghar Farhadi to Mani Haghighi. It is strange that all three currents benefited from the same ugly literature and the word “middleman” was the name of the night of destructive operations of all three sides. It so happened that Iranian cinema had to fight with invading ghosts at the end of one of the best decades of its life. In the nineties of Iranian cinema, both in terms of the significant increase in audiences, in terms of the construction of campuses and theaters, and in terms of the variety of genres and the production of diverse films in terms of themes (historical, political, animation, avant-garde films, etc.) and the emergence New talents were going through successful years, but unfortunately, they were attacked by different groups. Professional pessimists and delusional idealists and doomsday ideologues.

With such conditions, Iranian cinema started its downward movement two or three years ago, and Fajr Festival lost its credibility following this downward movement. This year’s festival included a part of these three professional attackers. Maybe they just realized what an important cultural brand they were losing. But personally, I think it is unlikely that Iranian cinema will produce important films in the coming years. The ecosystem that allowed good filmmakers like Mani Haghighi, Shahram Makri, Aida Pahanhande, Niki Karimi, Narges Abiyar, Mohammad Hossein Mahdovian and Hamid Nematullah to make their films is unlikely to be established again. Fajr festival will suffer for many years from this big old injury that worsened this fall.

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