TEHRAN – The 35th Fajr Film Festival unveiled its official poster featuring the portrait of legendary filmmaker Ali Hatami (1944-1996), mostly famous for his particular attention to old Tehran and its culture. 

The unveiling was held during a special ceremony at the Film Museum of Iran in Tehran on Sunday evening.

The ceremony was attended by Hatami’s widow, Zahra Khoshkam, only daughter, Leila, and her husband, Ali Mosaffa, and the two grandchildren.

Majid Barzegar is the designer of the official poster for the 35th edition of the Fajr Film Festival.

Great cinematic figures including actor Mohammad-Ali Keshavraz who had appeared in several films and TV series by Hatami as well as filmmakers Khosro Sinai and Puran Derakhshandeh attended the ceremony.

The participants were asked to observe a moment’s silence for the victims who lost their lives in the collapse of the Plasco Building in Tehran after a fierce fire broke out in the 17-storey commercial center on Thursday.

A short film made by Aziz Sa’ati about Hatami was next screened for the audience and producer Mohammad-Mehdi Daadgu said that there are plans to prepare a package of all the works by Hatami including his interviews as well.

Next Hatmai’s family members and Keshavarz appeared on stage to unveil the poster. Keshavarz recalled the old days when he used to have roles in Hatami’s films and said, “I am always indebted to Hatami.  Hatami began work with theater. When he began his early works we used to work together. He next entered the world of cinema and turned into the icon of Iran’s cinema.”

Addressing the audience, he said, “If you want to succeed in cinema you must begin with theater.”

The package containing films, which have won the Audience Choice awards over the past editions of Fajr festival, was next unveiled and several filmmakers and producers whose productions have won the awards were honored on stage.

Ali Hatami was born in 1944 in Tehran and died in 1996.  He was a filmmaker, screenwriter, art director and costume designer.
 
A graduate in cinema from the College of Dramatic Arts, his debut was “Hassan Kachal” (Hasan the Bald, 1969), the first Iranian musical film. Since then, he paid particular attention to unusual rhythmic dialogs and also the use of traditional settings and architecture in his films, stylistic details that became characteristic of his works.

Photo: Right to left, actress Leila Hatami, actor Davud Rashidi’s widow, Ehteram Borumand, filmmaker Ali Hatami’s widow, Zahra Khoshkam, Ali Hatami’s grandchildren and Fajr Film Festival secretary Mohammad Heidari pose with the official poster of the festival at the Film Museum of Iran in Tehran on January 22, 2017. (Mehr/Masud Saki)

RM/YAW