Coronavirus cancels Fajr int’l film festival

The 2020 edition of the Fajr International Film Festival has been cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Mohammad-Mehdi Asgarpour, the secretary of the 38th Fajr International Film Festival, said this year’s edition of the event was expected to be held in June instead of April due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

But, he said, the upcoming edition of the festival would not be held this year and would be postponed to next year as the virus still poses a threat and as the lockdown measures imposed to curb the pandemic would also ban many foreign filmmakers from attending the event.

The national version of the festival was held in February.

The Fajr Film Festival coincides with the Ten-Day Fajr (Dawn) ceremonies across Iran, marking the anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Since its establishment in 1982, the Fajr Film Festival has played a vital role in the development of Iranian Cinema.

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

SQ/MG