TEHRAN – Secretary of the 35th Fajr International Film Festival Reza Mirkarimi has said that the festival aims to raise standards by revising schedules and criteria for selecting films.

He made the remarks in a press conference held Thursday at Tehran’s Charsu Cineplex, which is currently playing host to many Iranian cineastes and filmmakers from around the world for the event.

“We need good equipment to hold a high standard festival, part of which is software. We selected fine films and have made good programing to achieve a better result,” he said.

“On the other side, the number of halls screening the films have been increased due to the high number of participants and audiences,” he stated.

He also added, “We actually found out that a festival is not only a place to watch films, but is an art and cultural ritual to get together and watch films and discuss the films as well.”

“Participants and guests are high in numbers, about 350 guests from 66 countries provide a good chance for more meetings and discussions. About 70 percent of the filmmakers whose films will be screened in different sections of the festival are attending the event.

There are a good number of meetings in addition to several programs to be held in honor of Abbas Kiarostami,” he concluded.

A selection of 15 films will be screened in the Cinema Salvation, the official competition section of the festival.

“Blindness” by Ryszard Bugajski from Poland, “Mother” by Riri Riza from Indonesia, “Exiled” by Davis Simanis from Latvia, “Glory”, joint production of Bulgaria and Greece co-directed by Kristina Grozeva and Petar Valchanov, “Guilty Men” by Ivan D. Gaona Colombia and “Ivan” by Alyona Davydova from Russia are among the films.

The lineup also includes three films from Iranian directors. The films are “Negar” by Rambod Javan, “End of Dreams” by Mohammad-Ali Talebi and “Home” by Asghar Yusefinejad.

The festival, which opened Friday, will be running until April 28.

Photo: Secretary of the 35th Fajr International Film Festival Reza Mirkarimi poses at Tehran’s Charsu Cineplex on April 20, 2017. (Mehr/Masud Saki)

RM/YAW