Along with China, Iran has been lauded as one of the best exporters of cinema and some critics now rank Iran as the world's most important national cinema.
Like other parts of the world, Iranian films are regularly shown in different Pakistani cities in which people show keen interest.
Last year an Iranian film festival was held in Rawalpindi city while in January this year another Iranian film festival was held in eastern city of Lahore and both events attracted a good number of people.
This year again a five-day Iranian film festival has been organized in Islamabad during which five famous Iranian movies, ‘So Far So Close’, ‘Bodyguard’, ‘A Cube of Sugar’, ‘Crazy Castle’ and ‘Where are my shoes?’ are to be shown.
Post-revolutionary Iranian cinema has been celebrated in many international forums and festivals for its distinct style, themes, authors, idea of nationhood, and cultural references.
The continuous presence of Iranian films in prestigious international festivals such as the Cannes Film Festival, the Venice Film Festival, and the Berlin Film Festival attracted world attention to Iranian masterpieces.
Pakistan Council of the Arts Director General Jamal Shah has said that Iran is among the important film making countries of the world and pointed out that the central theme of the Iranian movies pertained to protecting the society against use of drugs, corruption and social evils.
He said that those movies have had a very positive impact on the Iranian society.
“Film makers from Iran have taken filmmaking at a stage where it has become a reality. For many film makers, the film making is jihad against social evils, corruption, drug abuse or other evils in the society,” he said.
He said films like ‘Separation’ and ‘Salesman’ have won international repute and top awards world over and film makers like Majid Majidi and Asghar Farhadi are now internationally famed directors.
“Cinema in Iran today is world’s best cinema. This has been proven by Iranian film makers’ wining international prizes. I salute film makers from Iran for giving us true cinema,” he said.
Director and producer of Pakistani films Ijaz Gul said that the screening of Iranian film in Pakistan was a welcome step as it would make the cultural exchanges between the two countries more effective.
“When Islamic Revolution came in 1979, I and other film critics thought that cinema in Iran will be dead but we were wrong and it was not dead rather it took a new turn, a very positive turn, and from that onwards Iranian cinema went on and on,” he said.
He said that today in 2017 there is not a single international film festival where Iranian films are not shown.
“These films are not only shown but they win top awards, films like ‘Separation’ and ‘Salesman’ are real examples of this,” he said.
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Iranian cinema one of the main enthralling cinema industry in world
Dec 13, 2017, 8:45 AM
News ID:
82761742
Islamabad, Dec 13, IRNA - The Iranian film industry has been one of the main enthralling and appealing cinema industry in the world and has gained special status among the world’s cinema industry with its unique and innovative film directing techniques.
