Identity, Reality and Creativity
TEHRAN.(Iranart) – T he 11th Cinema Verite Iran International Documentary Film Festival to be held at Charsou Cineplex in Tehran is a week away. It is opportune time to take a brief look at the various sections of the annual event slated for Dec. 10-17.
The first edition of Cinema Verite was held in 2007. Over the past decade it has evolved into one of the most important events in Iran’s documentary film calendar.
As was the case in the past, the upcoming edition consists of different sections, namely national competition, international competition, Martyr Avini Award, national and international sections and professional workshops.
The festival aims to help preserve national identity, promote creative documentary cinema, reflect on the relationship between documentary film and the realities of society, familiarize Iranian filmmakers with developments in the world’s documentary industry, help address economic problems and facilitate production, distribution and screening of documentaries in and outside the country.
National Section
The national section includes two categories of short (less than 45 minutes) and feature documentaries (more than 45 minutes) in each of which 38 and 42 films will compete, respectively.
“In this edition, the quality of works were really good and we could hardly make a selection from among the large number of works we received,” Ahmad Talebinezhad, one of the jury members told HonarOnline in an interview.
“We were supposed to select 2,000 minutes of film, but thanks to the high quality of the works, we chose 3,000 minutes. It merits mention that Iran’s documentary film industry has made significant progress.”
International Section
This section comprises three categories of short, mid-length and feature documentaries.
After reviewing around 4,000 submitted films, the jury picked 26 films to be screened and compete in the international section.
The works are from 19 nations, namely Lebanon, the UK, Russia, Austria, Belgium, Switzerland, Germany, Poland, Portugal, Syria, Croatia, Spain, Canada, Italy, Romania, Georgia, Norway, South Korea and Singapore.
Martyr Avini Award
This section is dedicated to documentary films related to strong resistance of the Iranian people during the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war. Films related to the Iraqi military aggression, invasion and occupation, and the defense and self-sacrifices of the Iranian nation has had a special place in Cinema Verite for four consecutive years.
Thirty films will compete in this section, 13 of which vie simultaneously in the national competition section.
Research Workshops
Research workshops are one of the interesting sections of Cinema Verite where prominent filmmakers from in and outside the country are invited for a discourse with young filmmakers and share their knowledge and experience with them.
This year, Gianfranco Rosi, a distinguished Italian documentary filmmaker, will be among the tutors at a workshop.
East Azarbaijan Documentary
One notable section of the 11th edition of the festival is the commemoration of East Azarbaijan Province endeavors in documentary cinema. Twenty films by documentary filmmakers from the province will be screened and commended in the closing ceremony.
In the past Cinema Verite has paid tribute to documentary films from other provinces, namely Isfahan, Kerman and the southern regions.
Non-Competition Section
The festival has a non-competition section for selected films which include categories of Wild Life, Our Time, Another Look, Danish Docs, Portrait, Cinema du Reel, Anthropology Docs and Special Screenings. In each of the categories noteworthy films from several countries will go on screen.