Close to 23 long and short films, documentaries, and experimental and animated movies were screened in three Swiss cities of Basel, Berne, and Bien during the one-week Iranian Female Independent Filmmakers Festival in Switzerland.
The festival held in cooperation with Artlink Center, Berne Municipality, and Biel Municipality on a non-competitive basis, concludes on Thursday (May 14).
The women filmmakers have proved to be as professional as their male counterparts. "Each viewpoint helps the audience look at Iran through a unique and charismatic window." The independence of filmmakers in financing their projects is of significance since movies are a means to express, analyze, and criticize social and cultural issues, Fars News Agency reported.
Their creativity has seen the production of exceptional short documentaries and short animated films. The storylines are rooted in the personal, everyday experiences of the filmmakers; and their artistic interest and curiosity in new approaches to cinema are a motivation for new experiments in the art.
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The film festival aims to help the Swiss audiences have a closer look at a selection of independent works of Iranian young filmmakers. "The event is dedicated to those who are closely connected to the rest of the world through cultural and literary efforts," says the festival website.
A series of conferences dubbed "The Concept of Independence in Filmmaking of Iranian Female Filmmakers", and a workshop on "Filmmaking in Iran: Differences and Limitations" were held on the sidelines of the event.
Swiss critic and expert on Iranian cinema Robert Richter, independent documentary maker and producer Firouzeh Khosravani, production and project manager Niloufar Taghizadeh, cinema critic and festival secretary Mehdi Abdollahzadeh, and filmmakers Shirin Sohani and Atefeh Khademolreza gave talks.
Iranian filmmaker Talkhoon Hamzavi who resides in Switzerland, was a guest invitee. Film director Hamid Akbari was also present.
In a show of respect to Iranian culture and tradition, the poster of the event portrayed a woman with Hijab (Islamic dress code).
