Cinema Celebration honors 4 cineastes

The 21st edition of Iran Cinema Celebration has honored four cineastes for their lifetime achievements.

The influential figures of Iranian cinema were celebrated during a special ceremony at the Eyvane Shams Hall in Tehran on Tuesday night.

Stage and screen actor and director Akbar Zanjanpour, makeup artist Bijan Mohtasham, sound engineer Hassan Zahedi, and film director Sirous Alvand received the lifetime achievement awards.

Director of Iranian House of Cinema Manouchehr Shahsavari, speaking during the ceremony, praised culture as the field of friendship, respect and unity, adding “If an individual enters cinema without these, s/he will not succeed.”

“What gives us the opportunity to work in the field cinema, despite all these hardships, is our unity, and if we don’t take the time and have patience, the future of Iran’s cinema will be dark and painful,” he also noted.

Receiving the award, Zanjanpour said “Tonight is the night to feel relieved after 53 years of constant work.”

“I am happy to be honored by my colleagues at the Iranian House of Cinema. Artists are lonely and this loneliness gives credit to an artist, and I am one of the lonely ones,” he added.

Praising Mohtasham, prominent make-up artist Abdollah Eskandari said, “The history of make-up in Iranian cinema is mingled with Mohtasham. During those years when make-up had no meaning in cinema, Mohtasham went to the US to learn the art and returned home and trained many students, including me.”

Zahedi said “Tonight is a big honor for me to be beside masters of cinema. I must express thanks to those who I have worked with all these years.”

Then Alvand received the award and said “Four nights are very important for me, one is my birthday night, the other is the night I married my only love Nahid Abbasi, the third was the night I received the best director award and the fourth is surely tonight.”

The Iranian House of Cinema holds the celebration every year to commemorate Iran’s National Day of Cinema, which is September 12.

But this year’s celebration was held a few weeks earlier due to the coincidence of September 12 with the mourning lunar month of Muharram.

MG/MG