TEHRAN – Farshad Afshinpur, director of several acclaimed wildlife documentaries, has proposed to the organizers of the Cinéma Vérité festival to dedicate a special category for this genre.

“Such a decision to add a special section for wildlife documentaries would be inspiring, and those filmmakers active in this genre of documentary films would have their own special prize at this festival,” Afshinpur said in a press release published by the organizers of the festival.

Cinéma Vérité, Iran’s major international festival for documentary films, is organized in Tehran every year in December by the Documentary, Experimental and Animation Film Center (DEAFC).

The 16th edition of the festival will take place from December 11 to 16 at the Mellat Cineplex.

“Cinéma Vérité is Iran’s sole specialized festival for documentary films. Consequently, it has a professional obligation to all genres of documentary cinema,” said Afshinpur whose latest film, “The Wild World of Zagros”, will be competing in this year’s Cinéma Vérité festival.

He also asked the organizers to hold special workshops and master classes for nature documentaries or wildlife documentaries.

“‘The Wild World of Zargros’ focuses on the wildlife in the Zagros Mountains where from my ethnic origin comes; therefore I did my best to provide a deep insight into the region,” he added.

He called Iran’s nature virgin and unknown, and noted, “Numerous documentaries have been made about the environment, wildlife and nature of the country’s different regions, however, making films about these issues is still of vital importance to the country.”

“In ‘The Wild World of Zargros’, I depict the natural potentials and beauty of the mountains and offer the audience in-depth information about them,” he added.
   
The Zagros mountain range begins in northwestern Iran and roughly follows the country’s western border while covering much of southeastern Turkey and northeastern Iraq.

As a result, the extensive expanse of the mountain range itself caused Afshinpur’s crew many problems in making the documentary.

“Tackling grave problems is all part and parcel of working on nature documentary film projects and we should accept them all,” said Afshinpur who has previously made “A Journey to Amadai”, “Life in the Heart of Dena”, “Life in the Heaven” and several other documentaries. 

Photo: A poster for the 2022 Cinéma Vérité festival shows an image of filmmaker Farshad Afshinpur.

MMS/YAW