TEHRAN- The 36th edition of the International Film Festival for Children and Youth has received 176 submissions from 48 countries.

Participating countries include Serbia, Tajikistan, Bulgaria, Uzbekistan, Hungary, Italy, India, Palestine, France, China, Jordan, Russia, Qatar, Norway, and Armenia. Additionally, Spain, Mexico, the U.S., Mongolia, Portugal, the Netherlands, Germany, Tunisia, Iraq, and Ukraine, IRNA reported on Wednesday.  

The competition is further enriched by entries from Sweden, Finland, Sri Lanka, Belgium, Switzerland, Japan, Argentina, South Korea, Turkmenistan, Turkey, Moldova, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Bolivia, Chile, Luxembourg, Denmark, Canada, Lebanon, Syria, Austria, Poland, and Thailand, all vying for a spot in the festival's competitive sections for short and feature-length films.

The lineup of the selected movies will be announced in the near future. 

Back in July, the secretary of the festival Majid Zeinolabedin said that this year, conditions have been set in place for young filmmakers to participate in the festival and have their works compete with other productions.
 
The reality is that despite all the positive steps taken for children's and youth cinema in previous years, this cinema is extremely weak and in dire need of a strategic plan for support, he added. 

"Appropriate cultural funds should be allocated for this cinema."

For such festival film viewing for families alongside children and youth attending the festival should be facilitated, he explained. 

Moreover, incentive mechanisms should be established to support selected Iranian films at the stage of public screening, he mentioned. 

The 36th edition of the International Film Festival for Children and Youth is set to be held in the central Iranian city of Isfahan from October 5 to 10. 

SAB/