International jury members and workshop trainers have shared their ideas on the 33rd edition of the ICFF.
Iranian filmmaker Majid Majidi said, “Firstly, I have to thank the ICFF organizers. We’re going through such hard circumstances, yet I hope we can get over all these problems and see the cinema flourishing one more time. “'The Sun' addresses labor children, which is an international issue. I think this problem is beyond governments. These kids build the future of the country, and if we neglect them, we will suffer the consequences.”
Indian Film producer, promoter, and CEO of Mountain River Films, Chandra K. Jha is another guest and trainer at this edition of ICFF who believes that ‘Children Cinema is an important genre in the world of cinema and it’s a genre which can top the charts and give competition to mainstream fiction or any other most popular genre of the time. It is also important as children are the future of the planet and a good cinema can contribute towards the healthy mind of a child and bring them close to culture, art, ethical values such as family unity, respect for humanity, self-esteem, social responsibility, environmental concerns and love for the earth as well as creating awareness of the uprising future challenges that the coming generations will potentially encounter’.
He knows the Iranian Cinema and is interested in it. ‘Iran has achieved excellence in cinema which is praiseworthy and it sets an example for movie makers around the world. It is a lesson to a lot of people and many filmmakers follow Iranian cinema to learn excellence. It is also a source of inspiration for filmmakers across the globe and many filmmakers try to copy Iranian films, which is in itself applaudable’, he says.
Asal Bahador, the jury member, also wishes that the 33rd film festival that is being held virtually this year, due to the coronavirus outbreak would be an amazing festival and full of flowers and butterflies that are flying on our amazing earth. She says, “As you may know, living without cinema, art and children is meaningless for everyone and cinema makes our days colorful.”
Yeganeh Mohammadi, another member of the jury, expressed her happiness to be a part of this festival and said, "I hope children from all around the world spend their time in the best possible way and this is exactly the festival’s purpose to spend your time in happiness. Stay cool and try to watch all the festival’s movies if you can."
Yann Jouette, one of the workshop trainers, who participated in the previous edition of the festival, as well, and was fascinated by the beauties of Isfahan and its people’s kindness and hospitality, says, "Well, I suppose everything is different; for me culture represents social link: the goal of the culture is to propose some representation of the world that we don’t use to see, to listen, and to create some dialogues between people. So, virtuality can break that possible discussion or meeting of people."
Established in 1982, the International Film Festival for Children and Young Adults (ICFF) is an annual film festival held in the historic city of Isfahan, Iran.
ICFF is organized by the Iranian Organization of Cinema and Audiovisual Affairs, the Farabi Cinema Foundation, and the Municipality of Isfahan.
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