Cinema Vérité honors female documentarian

The 14th edition of the Cinema Vérité, Iran’s major international documentary festival, has held a commemorating ceremony for Iranian documentarian Mahvash Sheikholeslami.

Speaking during the ceremony, the director of the festival Mohammad Hamidi-Moqaddam described Sheikholeslami as a capable documentarian. 

Commenting on the festival being held totally online, Hamidi-Moqaddam said, “It had never happened that there was no one in the hall at the opening of the Cinema Vérité and we speak to the cyberspace audience. This is a new world opened up to us. This is a new and inevitable world.”

“Online screening of films has affected the world, and film analysts and commentators say film festivals will enter a new era from the next year, simulations with the Cannes Film Festival,” he added.

The director also noted that “Given the fascinating experience of the online world, many did not know whether they enjoyed this way of showing films at the festival. It was not a collective experience, but it was another good pleasure and experience. Many filmmakers told us after the first day of the festival that it was strange that we were able to watch seven films in one day. Or someone would say that I used my time well and watched a short movie in the car. Well, these are the new features that cyberspace has given us."

The 74-year-old Sheikholeslami graduated from Cinema School in London. She has so far produced several TV series and documentaries, winning several awards from different film festivals in Iran, Finland, etc.

Earlier, the Cinema Vérité organizers announced that a selection of documentaries praised at the 2020 edition of several international events would be reviewed during a special section titled “World’s Best”.

The international section of the festival contains several non-competition sections such Special Displays, Mirror of a Festival, Portrait, Perspective of One Country Documentary Cinema, Chile Documentary Cinema, Masters of 2020, and 13 Editions & 13 Films.

The 14th Cinema Vérité, being held online due to the coronavirus outbreak, opened in Tehran on Tuesday and will come to an end on December 22.

MG/AG