37th Fajr Film Festival opening ceremony was held

The opening ceremony for the 37th annual Fajr Film Festival was officially kicked off in Tehran, with many members of the Iranian cinema and cultural community in attendance.

Earlier tonight, the festival featured a statement by the chairman, an awards ceremony for the festival’s promotion competition, along with a ceremony honoring Iranian cinema veterans and the late actor Ezzatollah Entezami.

The festival which began with the recitation of The Holy Quran along with a performance of the national anthem of the Islamic Republic of Iran was immediately followed by a statement from the festival’s chairman, Ebrahim Daroughehzadeh.

In his statement, Daroughehzadeh welcomed the guests in attendance and spoke highly of the accomplishments of Iranian cinema over the years.

Among the guests in attendance were Khosro Khosroshahi, Gholamreza Mousavi, Azizollah Hamid-Nejad, Rasoul Sadrameli, Javad Razavian, Ebrahim Haghighi, Majid Entezami, Masoud Radayi, Morteza Razaq-Karimi, Shahrokh Dolkou, Sirous Alvand, Bahman Farmanara, Naser Mamdouh, Ashkan Rahgozar, Shabnam Moqaddami, Javad Norouzbeygi, Mohammad Ehsani, Farid Sajjadi, Nayereh Farahani, Pejman Bazeghi, Fereshteh Ta’erpour, Mohammad-Reza Honarmand, Mehrdad Sediqian, and other notable figures in Iranian cinema.

An awards ceremony was later held for the best promotional work for this year’s festival with Crystal Simorghs presented to winners for Best Film Photo, Best Poster Design, and Best Trailer.

The Crystal Simorgh for Best Film Photo was awarded to Habib Majidi for the film ‘Bomb: A Love Story’.

Best Poster Design was awarded to Taha Zaker for designing the poster for the movie ‘Kopal’.

For Best Trailer, the Crystal Simorgh went to Rouhollah Movahedi for the movie ‘Wolf Games’, who in his acceptance speech announced that he will present his award to his wife.

A separate ceremony was also held, honoring Iranian cinema veterans who were deceased in the past year, including the late Ezzatollah Entezami, as well as veterans currently active in Iranian cinema.

The opening night of the 37th annual Fajr Film Festival came to a close with the screening of a clip about the mothers of Iranian cinema which was dedicated to Lady Fatimah Zahra (PBUH), the daughter of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).

Founded in 1982, the Fajr Film Festival is an annual event held on the anniversary of the victory of the Islamic Revolution in Iran, celebrating Iranian cinema.

Over the years, the event has played a key role in the development of the Iranian film industry.

This year’s festival will be held from January 30-February 11, 2019 commemorating the 40th anniversary of the victory of the Islamic Revolution in Iran.

MB/FM