FESTIVAL OF THE SHORT IRANIAN FILM

Museum of Yugoslav Film Archive
Belgrade, April 18/19 2005

Behind the enormous success of the Iranian cinematography at the festivals worldwide in the past ten years – on the most prestigious and strictly specialized ones alike – lies a carefully and wisely conceived cultural strategy of the Iranian state. This success would not be possible without a few very talented filmmakers and a very specific way of assimilating the outstanding cultural heritage. However, to obtain at the end of the production line a work competitive at the world competition this would not be enough: the secret of the Iranian festival phenomenon lies in the specific organization of the filmmaking and creating of the conditions for film production at the highest professional level.

Shooting of the short films in Iran is a very important part of the said strategy: it is a way to include the non-established filmmakers of the youngest generation into the “big” world of film. That is how almost all presently famous names of the Iranian film have entered into the world of the feature-length film, and a recent example is the film Bitter Dream , (2004) of Mohsen Amirjusefi, whose "pilot" project was realized few years earlier, and in a short, documentary – feature form, titled Stony Hands , (2000).

Until this day our audience hasn't had a real opportunity to get to know, in a systematic and well laid out manner, the contemporary Iranian short film. Owing to the kindness of the Cultural Center of the Republic of Iran in Belgrade , we have got the opportunity to select – out of the extensive production of the leading Iranian producer of the short films, Young Directors' Association of Iran, thirteen films made between 1999 and 2003. This selection made not just a representative information about the aspect of the Iranian cinematography that is not known well enough, but rather as an opportunity to start rounding-up of the picture on production circumstances in which it became a world phenomenon. Namely, the production aspects of the Iranian cinematography should be the main topic of the round table that, in respect to this programme, will be organized on the eve of the Belgrade Festival of Documentary and Short Film this year.

The selection of the films has also been made in such a way that each film represents one of the environmental, thematic, style or conceptual orientations characteristic for this type of the film production in Iran . With the exception of an animated film and a film of documentary – feature structure, these are feature films in which allegorical approach dominates to the man's destiny and its facing the inevitable such as the death, loss of a beloved person, or the consequences of the war, as well as the films where the atmosphere of the ambient and the author's obsessions dominates, which has become characteristic for the Iranian cinematography.

THE NEW IRANIAN DOCUMENTARY FILM

18.04.2005

1. The Grayman`s songs, Amir Shaha Razavian, 35 min

2. Sacred Wood, 2000/2001., Shahram Daruish, 2000/2001, 17 min

3. Parhoodeh 2003., Rozette Ghaderry, 22 min

4. Kandowan land of the sun, 1999, 12 min

5. A film you were watching, Fima Emami, 2,5 min

6. Railroad patrol, Reza Sobhani, 14 min

7. Shalizeh, Azam Najafian, 2002, 14 min

19.04.2005

1. The wave and the sea, Mahdi Safakhani, 1999, 30 min

2. Two Sisters, Bijan Mir-Bagheri, 1999, 17 min

3. Music-Spirits-Mountains, Bahram Tavakkoli, 15 min

4. The Photo without Frame, Mona Zandi, 10 min

5. Neighbour, Ali Mosaffa, 25 min

6. Sharveh -The tone of the Heart, Masaud Meryyami, 14 min