Rami Sannan, the Managing Director of Falcon Films, is a Lebanese film seller who has the rights to the distribution of a lot products, including animations, live action films, and series. He has also been dealing with the IRIB for so many years. The public relations office of the 34th FIFF had an interview with him.
How many times have you been to the festival?
I’ve been coming here for so many years. I have the rights to the distribution of different kinds of films and I’ve also been working with the IRIB. I haven’t come here to buy any films, though. I’m here to sell films to either the DVD distributers or the TV.
You said you’ve been here several times. What makes you come back every year?
To be honest, the business! I have products and I want to sell these products. Iran is not a very big market for me because of the strong censorship, so only 20% of my films are accepted in Iran, but still it’s better than nothing.
How do you evaluate the quality of organization of this festival?
I don’t want to compare this festival with festivals held in any other countries. I like this festival. I like the place and I like the people. I think the venue this year is the best venue the festival has had so far. It’s a good place to meet people and make new deals. It’s also a nice place to see Tehran.
As you must know, this place is located in the city center and it’s been chosen as the festival venue because it is believed to provide a better access to the international guests for the public. What do you think of this approach?
It’s a very good approach because whenever I have free time I can leave the Festival Palace and go see Tehran. The previous locations of the festival were far from the city center, so it was quite hard for us international guests to see the city.
You must be familiar with Iranian Cinema. Tell me how much you know about it?
I’m not very familiar with Iranian Cinema because I’m not a person who’s distributing Iranian films. But I like Iranian directors and I know that they’re very talented. Two years ago, I distributed “Le Passé” a film by a very famous director, Asghar Frahadi and I was also looking forward to releasing his next film, but it won’t be possible for me since it’s an Iranian film and I don’t have Iranian films’ distribution right. I hope Iranian films will become more popular in our territory because you have very good products.
The 34th edition of Fajr International Film Festival is being held from April 20th to April 25th, 2016 in Charsou Cineplex, under the supervision of the well-known Iranian filmmaker, Mr. Reza Mirkarimi, who is also the Managing Director of Khaneh Cinema.
For more information on Fajr International Film Festival, visit the festival website, www.fajriff.com.
