FIFF announces Eastern Vista jury

Members of the jury panel for the Eastern Vista section of the 35th edition of the Fajr International Film Festival have been announced.

The organizers recently released the jury list for “Panorama of Films from Asian and Islamic Countries” which includes Hani Lachine, Hamida Omarova, Omirbaev Darezhan Karazhanovich, Zeki Demirkubuz, and Kamal Tabrizi.

Born in 1951 in Monufia, Egypt, Lachine is a renowned Egyptian filmmaker and actor who graduated from Cairo University in Cinema. He teaches directing and scriptwriting in the university as well as Pro Step Academy.

Winner of numerous national and international awards, Lachine has also served as a member of jury on different occasions, most remarkably in Egypt’s Cinema Syndicate Awards and in Alexandria Film Festival as President of jury.

Born in 1957 in Baku, Azerbaijan, Omarova graduated from Moscow Cinematography University (VQIK) and then she continued her interest in cinema, culture, and theatre. She has also created some theatre plays and TV shows and programs.

A film director, screenwriter and film critic, Karazhanovich graduated from the Mathematics Faculty of the Kazakh State University in 1980. Being the director of the studio Kazakhfilm since 1988, he has worked as a teacher, programmer and editor at the film studio.

Born in 1964in Isparta, Turkey, Demirkubuz began his film career as assistant director to Zeki Ökten in 1986, and worked as assistant director for different directors until making his first feature film ‘Block-C’ in 1994. Then he continued to work as an auteur and independent filmmaker and wrote his own original screenplays.

Film critics and international audiences noticed Demirkubuz with his second film, ‘Innocence’ (1997) which went on screen at Venice Film Festival and ‘The Third Page’ (1999) which went on screen at a number of festivals in Turkey and Europe.

Born in 1959 in Tehran, Tabrizi is an Iranian film director, screenwriter, editor and cinematographer who earned a degree in Cinema from Tehran University Faculty of Fine Arts.

He began his cinematic activities with cinematography of a movie made by Saeed Haji-Miri in 1983. He is most famous for making the memorable movie ‘The Lizard’ (2003) for which he received the Audience Award and Special Jury Award at the 22nd Fajr Film Festival as well as the Golden Zenith for Best Film from Asia at Montréal World Film Festival in 2004.

Established in 1982, the Fajr International Film Festival celebrates cultural exchange, displays creative achievements of highly acclaimed cineastes and pays tribute to local and international films.

Since its establishment, the Fajr International Film Festival has played a vital role in the development of the Iranian Cinema.

Supervised by Iran’s Ministry of Culture, the festival hosts veteran directors and new filmmakers from Iran and across the world every year.

The 35th International Fajr Film Festival is scheduled to take place in the country’s capital of Tehran from April 21 through 28, 2017.

MG/AI