RIFF to turn overseas filmmakers into art ambassadors

Mohammad Khazaei, the director of the 15th edition of the International Resistance Film Festival (RIFF), has said that the festival is seeking to transform the overseas filmmakers participating at the event into art emissaries for resistance movements.

Talking during in a press conference on Tuesday he said “As a result of the Islamic Revolution, a national resistance movement was formed and developed in Iran before any other.”

“This can be considered as a role model for export to other countries,” he added.

He also noted that the festival seeks to turn into a favorite haunt of those independent filmmakers whose films have been ignored by other international events due to censorship.

London-based Venezuelan TV producer and documentary director Luis Castro and several other foreign cineastes have been invited to attend the festival.

Syrian actress Salma Almasri, the star of Iranian director Seifollah Daad’s drama 'The Survivor', is also among the invitees.

A large number of feature and documentary films have been selected to screen at the festival.

'Take Off' by Mahesh Narayan and 'Tiger Is Alive' by Ali Abbas Zafar that depict the true story of the rescue of 40 Indian nurses held captive by Daesh in 2014, will be competing in the event.

In addition, 'I Am Rohingya: A Genocide in Four Acts' by Yusuf Zine from Canada, 'The Occupation of the American Mind' by Loretta Alper and Jeremy Earp from America, 'The Coming War on China' by John Pilger from Australia, 'On a Knife Edge' by Jeremy Williams from America will also be screened at the documentary competition.

This edition of the festival has received more than 1600 submissions, including feature, short and documentary films, from more than 70 countries around the globe.

Most of the submissions are from the US and France. Filmmakers from Germany, Turkey, England, Italy, Canada, Spain, Brazil and dozens of other countries have also applied to take part at the event.

The RIFF is dedicated to productions on wars and the repercussions of armed conflicts in the world.

It also puts a spotlight on the resistance of the Palestinian people against the Zionist regime, Daesh and their terrorist attacks in the region, and the world’s tyrants and their backing of Daesh.

The RIFF is being organized every year by the Revayat Cultural Foundation and the Film Association of the Islamic Revolution and the Sacred Defense in collaboration with other cultural organizations.

The 15th edition of the RIFF will be held on November 26-December 1, 2018, at Felestin Theater Hall in Tehran.

MG/AG