Tehraners enjoy the chance to experience the drive-in cinema at Milad Tower parking lot to watch Ebrahim Hatamikia’s latest feature, Exodus.
The first night of the program on Friday 1 may 2020 received huge welcome by cinema fans and all the tickets were sold out in less than two hours. Ordinary cinemas are still closed due to the novel coronavirus outbreak.
The first case of Covid19 in Iran was officially announced on February 19, 2010
Iranian acclaimed film director and screenwriter Rakhshan Bani-Etemad was picked by the Internet Movie Database (IMDb) among the women whose work contributed to the history of cinema.
Celebrating Women’s History Month (March 1-31), IMDb published a video on Twitter to take a look back at “cinematic history in salute of the pioneering women directors and their groundbreaking work,” the online entertainment database tweeted along the video that featured scenes of Bani-Etemad’s 2014 drama, Tales (Ghesseh-ha).
Born in Tehran in 1954, Bani-Etemad – who holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in film studies from the Dramatic Arts University in Tehran – is widely considered as the most important female director in Iran, titled ‘First Lady of Iranian Cinema’.
Her movies and documentaries picture social and cultural issues and complications in modern-day Iran.
The Tales – which adopts an episodic narrative – portrays the fates of seven characters of Bani-Etemad’s previous flicks.
The film won the award for Best Screenplay (written by Bani-Etemad and Farid Mostafavi) at the 71st Venice International Film Festival.
It also brought Bani-Etemad the Golden Royal Bengal Tiger Award – dedicated to best film – at Kolkata International Film Festival in 2014, as well as the Special Jury Prize at Asia Pacific Screen Awards (Australia) in the same year.
Also featured in IMDb’s short video were the likes of Sofia Coppola, Jodie Foster, Meryl Streep, Chinese-American film director Lulu Wang, Sarah Polley, and Barbra Streisand.
Rakhshan Banietemad, born in 1954 Tehran, began to make documentaries for the Iranian National Television in 1979, right after graduating from the University of Dramatic Arts, Tehran. From 1979 to 1987 she focused on making only documentaries. In 1987, she directed her first feature film Off the Limits. In 1991, she became the first woman recipient of the Best Director award for Nargess at Fajr International Film Festival in Iran. In 1995, she won the Bronze Leopard for The Blue Veiled at the Locarno Film Festival. Under the Skin of the City, her next film, was the highest grossing film in Iran in 2000. This film along with Gilaneh (2005) and Mainline (2006), garnered major awards in more than 50 film festivals.
While Banietemad’s feature films have been acclaimed and honored worldwide, her documentaries have also been successful and popular internationally. Our Times …, was the first documentary ever to be released in the movie theatres in Iran in 2002. It was also screened in highly prestigious and prominent festivals and TV channels such as IDFA, Sundance Film Festival and ARTE.
Banietemad started her work by making documentaries and has never ended the strong connection she has always had with her works. Making documentaries have been her main way of connecting with the society and social issues. Her approach and in depicting social issues has been so strong and effective that her works have always resulted in causing change in the lives of her documentaries’ characters.
In 2008, she received an honorary doctorate from University of London, in 2010, she was awarded the Prix Henri Langlois from Vincennes International Film Festival. Her latest feature film, Tales, was awarded the Best Screenplay prize in the main competition section of 2014 Venice International Film Festival.
More recently, she has joined the Academy Oscar, Writers branch in 2017.
KÂRÂ FILM STUDIO
KARA Film Studio is a name under which a group of professional Iranian filmmakers express their common concerns regarding humanistic, social and cultural issues through documentary films, while maintaining their own diverse and distinct vision. In KARA Film Studio, filmmakers in small or large numbers, gather together and, starting with an outline of a documentary project, complete the work in a professional manner.
KARA Film Studio operates under a number of principles: personal financing or financing through private sector; working as teams and in a workshop from development of an idea through to its completion and distribution; giving young and talented documentary filmmakers an opportunity to work with professionals and assistance with their development, due respect for the audience by maintaining high standards in the production phase, endeavor to provide improved and increased means of screening films inside and outside Iran; …
Rakhshan Banietemad and Mojtaba Mirtahmasb are the constant participants in this group.
Filmmaker Saeid Kart has received three awards including the best director award for his “Avantage” in the national competition section of the 10th Cinema Verite, Iran’s major international festival for documentary cinema.
“Avantage” also brought the best music award for Saba Nedai and the best sound award for Arash Qasemi, the organizers have announced.
Winners were announced during a ceremony held at Tehran’s Art Bureau on Friday during a ceremony attended by large number of cineastes.
Cinema Organization of Iran Director Hojjatollah Ayyubi and Documentary and Experimental Film Center (DEFC) Director Mohammad–Mehdi Tabatabainejad were among the officials participating at the ceremony.
Mehdi Asadi received the best short doc award for his “Friday Carpet” (highlighting the ritual of the carpet washing in Mashhad Ardehal), and the best mid-length doc award went to Mohammadreza Hafezi for “Passageless Path”.
The best research award went to “ Fight Feast” by Vahid Hosseini and Hojjat Taheri won the best cinematography award for “Birds in Shadow”.
Next, Arash Lahuti was presented with the best editor award for “Light Blue”, and the best film ward went to “Zero to Stage” by producer Mahtab Keramati.
The jury special award was presented to “Nena” by Mohammadreza Vatandust.
The winners of the international section were also honored at the ceremony.
“Bread and Tea” by Sarah Kaskas (Lebanon) won the best short doc award and the best mid-length doc award was given to “Hamja” by Mehdi Qanavati(Iran).
The jury did not selected a best long documentary in the international section.
However, the jury special award was given to “Under the Sun”, a production of Russia, Germany, Czech Republic and North Korea by director Vitaly Mansky.
The award-giving ceremony was followed by honoring Austrian specialist Professor Dr. Gerhard Freilinger, who appeared in Mostafa Razzaq-Karimi’s “Memories for All Seasons”.
“Memories for All Seasons” is an acclaimed documentary that narrates the memories of a group of Iranian soldiers wounded by Iraqi chemical weapons during the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war.
The 90-year-old professor, who is a specialist in plastic reconstructive surgery and treated chemically-wounded Iranian soldiers in those years, was surprised at the ceremony and said he did not expect to be honored.
He expressed hope that there not be any more war and wished for more peace and friendship./ Tehran Times
The 18th Iran Cinema Celebration has been held in the oldest District of the Tehran.
The celebration was organized by the House of Cinema NGO (Khane Cinema) to honor Iranian cinema artists and filmmakers on September 12.
The festival hosted the citizens, cinema lovers, and renowned artists in Mashq Sq., located between Imam Khomeini St. and Si-e Tir St., from 6 to 20 pm.
Mashq Square, formerly referred to as the parade square used to be a military shooting range during the Qajar period. It was then turned into a public park for a short period, and eventually, important governmental offices and museums were built around it.
A film critic for the Hollywood Reporter, Deborah Young praised the Iranian film “Sun Children” (Khorshid) directed by Majid Majidi, saying the film should be a frontrunner in Venice competition.
“Iranian director Majid Majidi has made some of the most visually stunning and emotionally stirring films in world cinema about the plight of under-privileged, exploited and abused young people, and Sun Children (Khorshid) is one of his very best. The story of street boys commissioned by a local boss to dig for a treasure unfolds around an urban schoolyard and the clever, freckled face of 12-year-old Ali (Roohollah Zamani), a stereotype-buster of non-stop courage. The movie won best film, best screenplay and best production design kudos at this year’s Fajr Film Festival and should be a frontrunner in Venice competition,” Deborah Young wrote.
“Majidi’s Children of Heaven (1998) was the first Iranian film to be nominated for an Academy Award in the foreign language category. Though Sun Children lacks the visual lushness and poetry that made Children of Heaven so seductive, its condemnation of child labor and the inaccessibility of basic education to the poor comes across with great force,” she added.
“Post-revolutionary Iranian films have often drawn from the well of children’s problems to outflank the censors and score their social critiques. The screenplay written by Majidi and co-scripter Nima Javidi (Melbourne) pins its outrage to a swift-moving, high-stakes plot that undercuts sentimentality and the conventions of the exploited-child genre,” Deborah Young went on to say.
“Sun Children” is one of the 18 feature films selected for the competition section and will compete for winning the festival top prize, the Golden Lion.
The 77th Venice International Film Festival will take place at Venice Lido from 2 – 12 September 2020. This will be the first major international film event to take place physically since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic.
It took Majid Majidi four months and nearly 4,000 auditions to find the dynamic street children stars of Khorshid (Sun Children), the Iranian director’s latest movie premiering Sunday in Venice.
But the five kids lucky enough to be cast – one of whom accompanied Majidi to the prestigious Venice film festival on the Lido – are just a handful of the world’s 152 million street children who face a grim future without society’s intervention, the director said.
“Many of these kids are selling items in the streets, or underground. They have the worst conditions but it’s not limited to Iran, it’s everywhere, unfortunately.”
Despite the heavy subject matter, an adventure story plot and Majidi’s ability to find humanity and humour in the face of adversity help highlight the spirit, intelligence and potential of Majidi’s young subjects.
In the film, 12-year-old Ali [Rouhollah Zamani] and his three friends help support their families through odd jobs, even stealing a tyre or two. One day, they are told a hidden treasure is buried underneath a school for street children. To dig for it, they must enrol.
Majidi said he deliberately sought a light touch, even including unexpected moments of humour that had the audience cheering at a press screening.
“The topics are already very sad, very heavy. So in order to be able to keep the viewers engaged, you don’t need to force them into a heavy, sad situation,” Majidi told AFP, speaking through an interpreter.
“I wanted to do a mixture of light and heavy and play between those so people can stand to watch this misery.”
The film is one of 18 in competition for the festival’s top prize, the Golden Lion.
Working at five
Just before departing for the festival, lead actor Zamani tested positive for coronavirus and could not travel, Majidi said, adding that the youngster was fine, though disappointed.
Actress Shamila Shirzad, 13, made the trip, however. In the film, Shirzad and her younger brother played roles that differed little from their actual lives. As Afghans without papers in Tehran, they worked selling items in the subway while living under the constant threat of their family being sent to a refugee camp.
“I was born in Iran and started working when I was five and went to school,” where Majidi found her, she said at a press conference.
Some three to four million Afghans are currently living in Iran, their situation worsened by their illegal status and the prejudice they face, said the director, whose 2001 film, Baran focused on Afghan refugees in Iran.
Majidi warned that the plight of street children was not limited to one country or region, saying the world could not afford to ignore these kids’ potential.
“These [children] are supposed to be the future of humanity, and what is happening to the future of humanity is disastrous,” Majidi said.
Responsibility goes “beyond the state,” he said.
“The responsibility is to understand and be aware of the children’s situation, and that concerns us all, not just those who govern us.”
Majidi and a number of crew members are on the Italian Lido to promote the film at the major international film event.
“What is portrayed in the film is a global issue that is not limited to one country, but the damage some West Asian countries are facing due to wars is more serious,” Majidi lamented.
“Our country has been under severe sanctions imposed by the U.S. government over the past 40 years, and at present, since coronavirus is a mutual affliction all over the globe, one of our most serious problems is that these sanctions threaten access to certain medicines,” he added.
He said that children and families are most vulnerable to wars and political upheavals, and added, “Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Turkey and our other neighboring countries are always suffering from wars and political crises.”
One of Iran’s serious problems is that people have illegally emigrated from these countries to Iran as a result of the wars and regional crises.
The cast members of “Sun Children”, Shamila Shirzad and her brother, Abolfazl, are two children born to an Afghan family in Iran.
These two, as well as other child members of the cast, were selected through auditions that Majidi held among the children making a living from peddling in the Tehran metro.
“A key topic the film intends to emphasize is the social responsibility people have in their societies,” Majidi said and added, “Governments are not my problem in this film, but I want to say that people should fulfill their own social duties and responsibilities on each issue.”
In their Twitter accounts, Cinema Organization of Iran director Hossein Entezami and Fajr Film Festival president Ebrahim Darughezadeh praised Majidi’s remarks during the press conference at the Venice festival.
“An artist is the voice of the people,” Entezami commented, while Darughezadeh wrote, “Majidi used the opportunity at the Venice festival to condemn the oppression of the Iranian people and violation of their rights.”
Celluloid Dreams, a major French film production and distribution company, is handling international sales. “Sun Children” premiered during February in Tehran at the 38th edition of the Fajr Film Festival, which honored it with the Crystal Simorgh for best film.
Co-written by Majidi and Nima Javidi, the film also won the award for best screenplay.
The Iranian screenplay, “Carrot Cake” by Iman Davari will take part in the 20th Nevada Film Festival in California, United States.
The screenplay, “Carrot Cake” by Iranian writer has entered the competition section of the 29th edition of the Nevada Film Festival.
The Nevada International Film Festival has been running in Nevada, California since 2011 and is known as the ‘Sundance of the Sierra’ in California for its emphasis on supporting independent cinema and showing creative films and screenplays.
This festival is one of the top 50 festivals in the world according to MovieMaker magazine for the last 2 years and also the third festival from the top 10 American festivals according to the ‘USA TODAY’ newspaper.
The festival will take place from August 28 to September 4 in Nevada, United States.
It is worth mentioning that earlier the “Carrot Cake” has already entered the judging section of the American Screenwriting Conference.
Sadeq Hosseini, Farbod Khalili: Nowrouz, the Persian New Year, is by far the most important date in the Persian calendar. The two-week holiday that heralds the spring comes packed with a string of ancient traditions that include family visits of course. That tradition – like many other facets of our lives – was transformed by the unfolding drama of the COVID-19 global outbreak.
Nowrouz under coronavirus lockdown meant no family reunions, no gifts and no dinners, but also meant no parks, no cinemas and no concerts. So Tehran’s municipality came up with a brilliant idea to bring some musical joy to Iranian families in quarantine during these hard times; to livestream one concert every single night of the 15-day holiday.
So on Friday April 3, the NowrouzKhaneh campaign was launched. The concerts were live-streamed on 46 different websites and platforms (ipTVs, VODs – Video-on-Demand). They were also streamed live on Instagram.
Before the pandemic closed down businesses and sent everyone home self-quarantining, Milad Tower was one of the main cultural hubs of Tehran, hosting major festivals and holding various other cultural events. So, the venue was rightfully picked to host the online concerts during coronavirus lockdown.
The Milad Tower standing at 435 meters, the world’s sixth-tallest tower dominates the capital’s skyline.
The online concerts in Coronavirus days on Nowrouz 2020 performed by:
Omid Hajili
Mehdi Jahani
Rouzbeh Bemani
Azeri group of Master Vahid Asadollahi
Reza Yazdani
Rahim Shahriari
Hamid Asgari
Gil and Amard Group, Nasser Vahdati
Mehdi Yaghmaei
Kurdish group Zhavana, Sadollah Nasiri
Hamid Hami
Sina Sarlak
Rastak group
Ali Zandvakili
Lian Bushehr Group
Mohamad Reza Javadi Yeganeh, Deputy of cultural & social affairs of Tehran municipality said: “Since people could not leave their homes during the New Year holidays, we sat together and came up with the idea of online concerts or concerts in empty halls. The idea was to bring the concerts to people’s homes. We also had the concept of fair distribution in mind. Many people in Iran had never been to a concert both due to cultural and economic reasons. Tehran Municipality joined forces with the culture ministry, and Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) [to make this happen] via ipTVs and VODs.”
“Bands selected from pop, traditional, folklore genres to appeal to all”
We selected pop, classical and folklore music bands to appeal to all different tastes in Tehran. Given the unknown risks involved, many of the bands were unwilling to participate. The idea of ‘a concert without a crowd’ was far-fetched to some, director of cultural affairs department in Tehran municipality said.
Majid Sahaf, channel director of Tiva IPTV about broadcasting the concerts said: “Tiva readily picked up the offer by Tehran Municipality, given its technical capacity and experience in the field. We were required to transmit the signal [of the concerts] to all various platforms and streaming services all around the country. And we made this operational. From the first night on, over 40 different platforms used our services. And this went on for 15 consecutive nights. Most of the people used the easiest mode of access which was through web streaming. Their next choice was applications, android and iOS respectively, and finally smart TVs. Many were doubtful about the internet infrastructure in the country. But we faced no issues in receiving and transmitting the signal. People also had no issues streaming at home. No complaints were recorded in these 15 nights.”
Tehran mayor:
Online concerts well received by people
Pirouz Hanachi, Tehran Mayor said: “It’s definitely been a positive experience because the world is also following suit. Many famous musicians are performing online these days. I think we set a record [of viewers]. We exceeded the five-million mark in mid-holidays. People well received the concerts.”
Gholamhossein Mohammadi an advisor to Tehran’s mayor wrote on twitter that:
“A brilliant idea enabled five million people who’d joined the StayHome campaign to fight the spread of coronavirus to watch live the first-ever online concert broadcast from Milad Tower. Tehran’s municipality feels compelled to protect the health and wellbeing of citizens.”
Javadi Yeganeh mentions that: “Level of participation was beyond our expectations. Part of this came from Tehran and the rest from outside Tehran and even overseas. The President Rouhani expressed his gratitude.”
“Over 30 million unique IPs streamed online concerts”
Director of cultural affairs department in Tehran municipality informed: “According to the numbers we received daily from the association of IPTVs, over 30 million unique IPs watched the concerts in these 15 nights. The biggest achievement of the online concerts was making culture and music accessible to all walks of life in the country during the difficult quarantine days”.
But did the concerts truly attract people’s attention or was this remark an empty official rhetoric?
“The first time I watched an online concert was about 30 something days into my home quarantine. Although I had kept myself busy with different activities, I was feeling depressed and in low spirits. It was quite a surprising scene; the concert was being held in an empty hall but apart from that it was like a normal concert with the stage and props and things like that. After performing each song, the singer would call up and introduce one of the band members who then would bow to the camera. In normal circumstances, the crowd would applaud him but since the hall was empty, there was no applause, and the artists would only bow to a quiet hall. It was a strange and surreal experience. Nonetheless, the experience felt very real to me. Although I was at home in my PJs and drawing while watching the concert, every time I enjoyed a performance I would clap to it as if I’d actually been there in the concert hall. So it was a really interesting experience.”
Fatemeh Tehrani, Tourism Activist
“In these monotonous and boring quarantine days, watching live an hour-long concert by Reza Yazdani was a big surprise for my wife and I. I’m sure its memory will stay with us for years to come.”
Mohsen Saemi, Construction Project Manager
“I always thought going to concerts was an expensive activity, and given the inadequate infrastructure, only a few people could experience it, maybe not more than 2% of the population. But when I was watching these online concerts with my family at home, I felt that now with these concerts, many people can experience -at least to some extent- how live concerts really feel.”
Seyed Milad Nazemi, Journalist
“In these times while some still haven’t grasped the gravity of the situation and think all these safety measures and home-quarantining are nothing but an unnecessary obsession, with others panicking and getting depressed from staying home for long periods, the municipality’s introduction of the initiative only shows the gravity of the situation and the halt in normal day activities. On the other hand, it shows it cares about people and has plans for their lockdown days to make them more tolerable.”
Mahsa Mousavi, Neurologist
The musicians also welcomed the municipality’s initiative:
Farzad Moradi, Singer, Rastak Music Band Emphasized: “I think Iranians are culture and art-loving people who enjoy going to concerts; something that has been missing from their lives [as a consequence of the coronavirus lockdown]. We are glad to see the Municipality organize the events despite all limitations. It was an innovative idea. I hope artists can use this platform for as long as the disease is among us. Our performance is audience-oriented. To be honest, we have never had any such experience before, and It was really difficult. During our concerts, given our considerable experience, our main concern is not music but the emotional give and take between us, the musicians, and the audience.”
First time experiencing concert in empty hall
Also Sina Sarlak, Singer said: “This is the first time in my whole musical career that I am performing in an empty concert hall.”
It could be really disappointing to see the concert that you have been counting days for postponed or cancelled altogether.
Both for fans and the artists themselves. That’s why musicians of all stripes and sizes from all around the world are taking to social and streaming platforms these days to play live for their fans from their homes or empty venues.
This might be an intuition, or a false hope. But I strongly believe we will ultimately win the fight against COVID-19. The virus, however, is likely to stay among us for quite some time. So for the time being we have to learn to adjust to this new reality of life. This might come with some complications but also with some fortunate by-products like the virtual concerts. In the meantime, keep your safe distance with others and follow health guidelines.
Tehran Review
Episode 1, Online concert during coronavirus
Editor in Chief and Producer: Sadeq Hosseini
Reporter: Farbod Khalili
Cameraman: Saeed Naeeni
Edit: Amirhassan Saadati
Production: Iran This Way
In Cooperate: Shahr news agency and Commutation center of Tehran Municipality
www.shahr.ir
www.tehran.ir
Iranthisway.com
Three Iranian films garnered the most awards at the 38th Fajr Film Festival’s closing ceremony, held on February 11 in Tehran.
‘Butterfly Stroke’, directed by Mohammad Kart, brought the best supporting actress award for Tannaz Tabatabai’s role in Kart’s directorial debut which also brought Amir Aqaei the best supporting actor honor.
The best editor award went to Esmaeil Alizadeh. The film also received the best sound engineer, and audience choice award.
The film narrates the story of some ostracized people from poverty-stricken neighborhoods in Tehran. The people have to pretend to be strong if they want to survive the brutality of their environment, ifilmtv.com reported.
A number of top-rating Iranian actors such as Mohammad-Javad Ezzati, Tannaz Tabatabaei, Mahlaqa Baqeri, Pantea Bahram and Amir Aqaei star in the film.
‘Day Zero’, directed by Saeid Malekan, brought the best costume design award for Amir Malekpur and best special effects for Mohsen Ruzbehan.
Malekan’s film also received Best Film in the New Look section and the Special Jury Prize.
The Golden Simorgh for the Best Film, from the national point of view, also went to this movie.
The film is about Iran’s intelligence and police operations to arrest the Jundallah terrorist group founder and leader Abdul-Malik Rigi.
Iranian actors Amir Jadidi and Saeid Soheili play two lead roles in the project alongside a couple of international actors.
‘The Sun’, Majid Majidi’s drama about child labor in Tehran, won the Crystal Simorgh for Best Film.
Majidi and his co-producer Amir Banan received their award during the closing ceremony of the festival organized at Tehran’s Milad Tower.
The film, co-written by Majidi and Nima Javidi, won the award for Best Screenplay.
The film also received the Best Set Design award for Keyvan Moqaddam.
A cast of Iran’s A-list film stars, including Ali Nassirian and Tannaz Tabatabaei, and some students of a special school for child workers in the slums of Tehran played roles in the movie. The group of child workers received honorable mentions.
Majidi’s film narrates the story of a child who works in a tire graveyard and his mother is hospitalized because of mental illness. The deprived child who is living in a poor neighborhood is told by one of his neighbors that there is a treasure in the basement of his school. So the child, accompanied by his friends, gets involved in an adventure to find the treasure.
The 38th edition of the festival kicked off on February 1 and closed on February 11.
Since its establishment in 1982, the Fajr Film Festival has played a vital role in the development of Iranian cinema.
Supervised by Iran’s Culture Ministry, the festival hosts veteran directors and new filmmakers from Iran every year.
The international version of the festival will be held in April 2020.
Over 150 films apply to attend the 38th Fajr Film Festival in Iran.
Some 151 titles, including 115 feature films and 36 documentaries, have applied to take part at the 38th edition of the Fajr Film Festival in Iran.
As the deadline for entries came to an end, the Public Relations office of the Fajr Film Festival announced that 115 feature films and 36 documentaries filled out the application form to attend the event.
Some 37 movies made by first-time filmmakers are among the submitted feature films, according to the report.
Mansour Jahani – Globally acclaimed Iranian filmmaker Pouran
Derakhshandeh is slated to kick off the 10th Jagran Film Festival in
India, also known as the world’s largest ‘Travelling Film Festival’
(TFF), with her latest film “Under the Smokey Roof” to be screened at
the inauguration.
Her 2013 “Hush! Girls don’t Scream” will hit the silver screen in New
Delhi on July 19.
Most of the Iranian filmmakers and film producers seek to portrait the
problems of children and women, who have been overshadowed in the
Iranian society.
The 10th edition of the Jagran Film Festival (JFF) will hold a
Retrospective of World films and celebrate the life and works of the
Iranian film director, producer, screenwriter, and researcher Pouran
Derakhshandeh. Filmmaker’s finest award-winning movies like Hush!
Girls Don’t Scream, Under the Smokey Roof, Eternal Children and Wet
Dream will be screened at the festival. Her films deal with societal
issues like child abuse and women’s rights.
Jagran Film Festival (JFF) is an initiative by the Jagran Prakashan
Group towards creating a culture of cinema appreciation and an honest
and sincere attempt create a platform that connects great content with
audiences across the country.
Last year, with over 18 towns, 400+ screenings, 18 cinema appreciation
workshops, the festival directly touched over an audience of over
55,000 people, and the media coverage of Jagran puts the reach of JFF
well beyond 50 million people across India.
In its 9th year, the Festival received great response from filmmakers
internationally having received a record number of 4500 film entries.
The Jagran Film Festival will start from Delhi, travelling through
Kanpur, Lucknow, Allahabad, Varanasi, Patna, Dehradun, Ranchi,
Jamshedpur, Bhopal, Indore, Gorakhpur, Agra, Ludhiana, Hisar, Meerut,
Raipur and finally culminates in Mumbai. This makes it geographically
the largest film festival perhaps in the world. The festival screens
films across genres from around the globe.
A unique feature of JFF is that the cast and crew of a few select films are invited to a discussion with the audience on various elements of the film to
wherever the Festival travels.
An important aspect of the festival is to generate discussions on the various aspects of Cinema and its impact on society and popular culture.
The Jagran Film Festival starts from 18th July in Delhi and will
travel through Kanpur, Lucknow, Allahabad, Varanasi, Agra, Meerut,
Dehradun, Hisar, Ludhiana, Patna, Ranchi, Jamshedpur, Gorakhpur,
Raipur, Indore, and Bhopal, across the 18 cities and finally culminate
on 29th September in Mumbai.
Several awards would be presented to the winners in several sections
including Icon of Indian Cinema, Special Contribution to Cinematic
Art, Rajnigandha Achievers Award, Best Foreign Feature Film, Best
Feature Film, Best Director Winner, Best Debut Director Winner, Best
Male Actor, Best Female Actor, Best Short Film, Best Screenplay, Best
Background Score, Best Cinematography, Best Editing, Cinema of the
Seller (Gold), Cinema of the Seller(Silver), Cinema of the
Seller(Bronze) , Best Music Director, Best Student Film as well as
Best Documentary.
