TEHRAN – 110 Iranian theaters will offer free tickets for all on Monday to watch a documentary about Lieutenant-General Qassem Soleimani.

The theaters will screen “Qassem”, a biographical documentary directed by Mehdi Farsi about Soleimani, to commemorate the second martyrdom anniversary of the IRGC Quds Force chief who was assassinated in a U.S. airstrike in Baghdad on January 3, 2020.

The free admission program has been initiated by the Cinema Organization of Iran at the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance.

The film made at the Haqiqat Documentary Film Center chronicles the life story of General Soleimani from childhood until his assassination.

It was broadcast on May 4, 2021 from the Mostanad Channel, an IRIB channel dedicated to screening documentary films.  

“The documentary begins with pictures from his childhood and presence in Iran’s frontlines during the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war,” producer Morteza Shabani, who is also the director of the Haqiqat Documentary Film Center, said at that time.

“However, the documentary mainly focuses on his key role in the war against ISIS terrorists in Iraq and Syria as well as in the victory of the Lebanese in the Israeli 33-Day War of 2006,” he added.    

“Most of the scenes are shown for the first time and the most important fact about the documentary is that every picture has been used in its right place and this increases the film’s influence,” he noted.

He said that the scenes were recorded by the Haqiqat Documentary Film Center’s cameramen, who accompanied General Soleimani on different operations.

The center has also used films from the archives of the IRGC 41st Sarallah Division commanded by Lieutenant-General Qassem Soleimani during the Iran-Iraq war.

Several documentary films have been made about various aspects of General Soleimani’s life and career following his martyrdom.

“Liberation of Amerli” directed by Hamed Hadian is one of them, which premiered at the Cinéma Vérité festival in Tehran in December 2020.

The documentary underlines the key role Iran’s Quds Force played in breaking the 89-day siege of the northern Iraqi town of Amerli by the ISIS terrorists.

Amerli, an Iraqi town of Shia Turkmen located in the Tooz District of Saladin Governorate, was besieged by the ISIS terrorists from June 2014, cutting off access to food, electricity and water.

Photo: A poster for the documentary “Qassem” directed by Mehdi Farsi.

MMS/YAW