Raed Faridzadeh underscored that the expansion of joint productions has caused geographic diversity in this edition of the festival, adding that the festival is planned to establish a permanent "video library".
Commenting on the characteristics of this international cinematic event, he said that this film festival is one of ones in the region and has attracted children’s cinema activists for several years.
He underscored that the festival has managed to establish a good position and reputation in this field, while it also enjoys cordial relations with specialized children's festivals around the globe.
"Last year, due to the spread of coronavirus, the festival was held online," he said, adding that due to the continuation of this deadly virus, the international section of the event will be held in online format this year too.
Faridzadeh said, "We have two competitive areas in the international section. The first section consists of 'Feature Film Competition' and the second 'Short Film Competition', in which 12 and 13 films will compete respectively."
He said the two Iranian films including "Edo" directed by Mehdi Jafari and "Sons of the Sea" directed by Afshin Hashemi and Hossein Ghasemi-Jami will participate in the international section.
"Two short fiction films and a short Iranian animations will compete in the short section of the festival," he added.
He continued, "The jury members of the feature-length section are from France, Germany, Chile, and Sweden. In the meantime, the jury members of the short section are from Turkey and Afghanistan, accompanied by Iranian juries including Ghazal Shakeri, Alireza Shoja-Nouri, and Mehrdad Oskooi."
Faridzadeh emphasized that several films from India, Spain, Russia, Lebanon, Turkey, Croatia, Luxembourg, Norway, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Estonia, Mexico, Poland, Switzerland, Peru, and Iran will compete in the international section of the festival.
"Like the previous editions, several children jury members from nine countries including Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Ukraine, Japan, Denmark, and Greece, along with three Iranian referees, will review the films," he added.
"Three international workshops from Turkey, Chile, and Germany will also be held on the sidelines of the festival," he noted.
The 34th edition of the festival will be held from October 8 to 13, 2021, in collaboration with the Iranian Cinema Organization, Farabi Cinematic Foundation, and Isfahan Municipality.
The festival's movies will be screened in two cities, Tehran and Isfahan, both in an online format and in theaters in compliance with the Coronavirus health protocols.
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