Finland eager to make films with Iran

The Finnish Film Foundation CEO Lasse Saarinen has said that his country is interested to cooperate with Iran on filmmaking.

The CEO arrived in Iran as the head of a Finnish cinema delegation to attend the Finnish Film Week in three Iranian cities of Tehran, Isfahan and Mashhad.

He made the remarks during a visit to the Film Producers Guild of Iran in Tehran last week.

Saarinen said the foundation likes to collaborate on joint film projects with Iranian private sectors.

He said that the activities of the Finnish Film Foundation are quite similar to those of Iran’s Farabi Cinema Foundation.

The CEO also noted that the foundation annually receives a sum of about €25 million from the government, about €20 million of which are spent on film productions and the rest is allocated to international projects.

Director of the Film Producers Guild of Iran Seyyed-Zia Hashemi for his part said that joint film productions can help promote cinema in the two countries, while they also can familiarize the people of the two countries.

Head of the International Department of the foundation Jaana Puskala said the Finnish cinema has actively participated at international festivals such as Berlin and Toronto, and that foreign companies from France and Germany are mostly after films produced in Finland.

She also noted that the ground is ready in Finland for a close partnership with Iranian cinema.

Keijo Norvanto, Finnish Ambassador to Iran, also attended the meeting.

A lineup of 16 short and feature films from Finnish filmmakers was screened during the program in Iran on September 28-October 4, 2019.

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MG/AG