The head of the Iranian Organization of Cinema and Audiovisual Affairs, Mohammad Khazaee, talked to reporters Sunday February 4th while visiting Milad Tower, on the sidelines of the 42nd Fajr International Film Festival.
Khazaee said that there is difference between the content of this year’s festival and the previous years. Young people are present in the festival every year, but this year, their works are different, which will be seen in the coming days.
The other point is the presence of the veterans alongside the youth, he said, adding that the climatic variation and diversity in the genres of the works are so great. He noted that many were opposite to presence of comedies in the festival and he had resisted against them.
Regarding Simorgh of the audience award, he said two years ago, there was cheating in the polls, so the award was deleted from the festival. A software is being designed to safeguard the votes of people, so next year the Simorgh of the audience award be come back.
About the screening of festival films, Khazaee stated, “Most of the films you saw at the festival will definitely be publicly released. When I joined the Organization, I announced that films receiving production permits during my tenure will be released as long as they adhere to the screenplay.”
Answering the question about why some festival films are not family-oriented, Khazaee stated, “Actually, I believe that this year’s films have healthier content compared to last year. Being family-oriented is one thing, and having a good content for families is another though some films may need improvement .”
In response to why we don’t have good films in the field of resistance, Khazaee said: This year, “The Heart of Raqqah” is one of the good films in the field of resistance, and it was well received. We will also films about Gaza next year.
He said about cinema at schools: We had a resolution in the Supreme Council of Cinema to set it up at schools and it was approved. We had meetings with the Ministry of Education in this regard and we saw the first results of this resolution in the movie “Smart Kid” and other works for children and teenagers. We plan to have a good output and income in this area this year.
