Cinema halls across Iran will host filmgoers till morning during the fasting month of Ramadan (starting on May 27) similar to the previous years.
However, spokesman of the Guild Council for Public Screenings, Gholamreza Faraji, said that more details in the program or any changes will be announced in the coming days, Mehr News Agency reported.
Ramadan is the ninth month in the Islamic calendar and is observed by Muslims worldwide as a month of fasting. People abstain from eating and drinking during daylight hours, and food and drink is served before dawn and after sunset.
The program ‘From Iftar Till Dawn’ organized by the Iran Cinema Organization, Society of Iranian Cinema Halls Owners, and the Guild Council for Public Screenings, was first initiated in 2009. Accordingly, people can watch movies from Iftar (fast-breaking) at the time of sunset till dawn.
The program has helped the sale of films screened during Ramadan, increase substantially as until then it was considered ‘dead time’ by producers, distributors and cinema owners.
“We will try to increase the number of movie-goers this time compared to previous years. One of our main goals is to increase the capacity of movie theaters,” Faraji said.
In the past years, cinemas usually scheduled new movies for Ramadan to attract the people. But it seems this year, they will continue showing the current films that started screening recently, since they are doing very well in the box-office.
Roaring Start
Iran cinema had a roaring start with Norouz (Persian New Year started on March 21) screenings. Two movies, Saeed Soheili’s ‘Patrol 2’ and Peyman Qasemkhani’s ‘The Good, the Bad and the Frivolous’, have broken the record of Asghar Farhadi’s ‘The Salesman’ which was named the all-time best-seller last year by grossing $4.2 million.
Earning one million dollars in just ten days, Saman Moqadam’s ‘The Whale 2’ also had a strong beginning, which if it continues, can beat the $5 million record of ‘Patrol 2’ as well.
Currently there are 10 movies on screen on different genres including comedy, social drama, political thriller, war and for children.
On Eid-al-Fitr (feast marking the end of the fasting month) a set of new movies will be released. This year the end of Ramadan coincides the beginning of summer and school holidays which is one of the best times for screening blockbusters.
It is expected that the same trend of packed halls with film buffs will continue, and contribute to the domestic cinema industry.
