Hyrcanian Forests Festival Calls for Entries

TEHRAN. (Iranart) -O rganized jointly by the Iran National Commission for UNESCO and Iranian Youth Cinema Society, the first Hyrcanian Forests Film and Photo Festival will be held in early autumn in Tehran.

The festival is aimed at spreading awareness about the ancient Caspian Forests in the Republic of Azerbaijan and north Iran. The forests cover parts of three Iranian provinces, namely Golestan, Mazandaran and Gilan.

The festival will show photographs and films on various aspects of the Hyrcanian Forests and introduce their natural beauty and unique richness of biological diversity, according to the Iranian Youth Cinema Society website Iycs.ir.

The Caspian Hyrcanian Mixed Forests eco-region, in the temperate broadleaf and mixed forests biome, is an area of lush lowland and montane forests covering about 55,000 square kilometers. The forest is named after the ancient region of Hyrcania.

After registration at Iycs.ir, participants can submit photos and films to the secretariat of the festival by August 22. The secretariat is located at No. 20, Alley 19, South Gandhi Street, Vanak Square.

By raising awareness about the role and significance of the forests, the festival seeks to create a national consensus to help protect and preserve the eco-region. In the statement isseud by the organizers local communities are given significance when it to comes to the protection of the forests.

Film section of the festival will admit works with the maximum runtime of 30 minutes. The first award of the section is a cash prize of 50m rials ($625).

The photo section admits single photos and photosets. The first photoset will receive 30m rials ($375), and 20 million rials ($250) is considered for the first single photo.

source: FINANCIAL TRIBUNE