Iran Cinema Day was celebrated on September 12, by local cineastes and officials.
On the occasion, a ceremony organized by the Cinematic Organization was held in Esteghlal Hotel, Tehran.
Congratulating the national cinema day, Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance Ali Jannati who inaugurated the event, spoke about the problems of local cinema in the past year and stated that “trust, mutual respect, and maintaining human dignity are the key to solving them”, ISNA reported.
Reopening theaters, opening 30 new cinemas with 80 more under construction, are among the improvements since last year.
Good Days
Hojatollah Ayoubi, head of Cinematic Organization, also expressed pleasure on the resurge and revival of films. Speaking of the ‘good days’ the local cinema has been experiencing lately, he hoped for box-office hits for the rest of the movies waiting to be released. Emphasizing that the country needs 320 more cinema halls, he said the private sector was constructing 80 theatres, which can help meet the shortfall.
Referring to the ‘half-price day’ plan named ‘Hello Cinema’, which was welcomed by the public, he added, “I would like to see the day when cinemas are free of charge”.
On the national cinema day, film fans had the chance to see their favorite movies at half rate.
Other positive steps taken are: better cooperation of the private sector in the movie making process, return of prominent filmmakers to the scene after long years of silence, and screening a couple of movies which had been earlier banned.
Notable cine personalities attended the ceremony including, actors, directors, producers, and script writers.
‘Queen’ Wins
Another program was organized by the House of Cinema in Milad Tower to celebrate the day and award the best in different cinematic categories.
This year’s ceremony differed from the previous editions as awards were not presented on stage; rather the awards’ presentation was shown on screen, Head of Cinema House, Mohamad-Mehdi Asgarpour said.
The presentation of awards ‘on screen’ showed some actors reacting with surprise as they did not expect to be awarded. The screening had several ‘fun moments’ which tickled the viewers.
The movie ‘Queen’ was the absolute winner of the night as it took home 10 precious awards including for the best film, best director, best actor, best supporting actor, and best cinematography.
