TEHRAN – The director of Russia’s Union of Cinematographers, Valery Ivanovich Tonkikh, said that Russia is seeking to collaborate with Iran to provide an alternative to the Oscars, the U.S. film gala organized annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Tonkikh is visiting Tehran as the head of a Russian film delegation to attend a review program for several new Russian films that opened on Saturday at Iran’s Farabi Cinema Foundation.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, Tonkikh said that they plan to launch a film society of the Caspian states and a Eurasia film academy with contributions from Iranian film organizations.

He also added that Iran and Russia have a lot in common, based upon which they can join forces to form a unique award equivalent to the Oscars.

Positive results were produced from a meeting held by the Russian delegation and the Farabi Cinema Foundation to discuss the issues, Tonkikh asserted.  

Cinema Organization of Iran director Mohammad Khazaei also attended the opening ceremony of the program entitled “Russian Film Days”.

“By its monopolistic position, the West has always challenged the principles of our cultural heritage, art and civilization,” said Khazaei in a brief speech.

“In this way, the West uses the means of sanctioning to get what it wants,” he added and noted, “The idea of sanctioning in the cultural fields is doomed to failure.”

The Russian Film Days began by screening “Don’t Bury Me without Ivan” directed by Lyubov Borisova.

The film follows Yakut Stepan Beresekov who periodically falls into a lethargic sleep. Only a Russian, the son of a priest, Ivan Popov, can distinguish his condition from real death. But Popov is going on a long ethnographic expedition. Stepan decides to follow his savior so as not to be buried alive.

“Elsa’s Land” (2020) and “Are You Alive?” (2022) have been selected to be screened in the three-day program, which ends today.

Photo: Director of Russia’s Union of Cinematographers, Valery Ivanovich Tonkikh, speaks during the Russian Film Days at the Farabi Cinema Foundation on December 24, 2022. (FCF)

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