Humanistic values of Iranian cinema impress Malaysians

Senior assistant at Malaysia’s All-Asian Satellite Television and Radio Operator (ASTRO) has said humanistic values of Iranian movies impress Malaysian people.

Ho Hock Doong said in a Saturday media interview that “the people of my country like Iranian movies. They can relate to the humanistic values in the Iranian movies. We showed Asghar Farhadi’s ‘The Salesman’ last month in the Malaysia International Film Festival, and all the seats were packed.”

Attending the 35th Fajr International Film Festival in Tehran, Doong is slated to visit the Iranian Film Market currently underway on the sidelines of the event.

“This is the second time I am attending the market; the first time was in 2015. I just arrived today but I see some differences and I think it is good,” he said.

Saying that he is planning to acquire some Iranian movies for his country, he added, “We need Iranian movies for our audiences in Malaysia.”

Doong said we select the films to air through our channels. We have a movie channel that plays all the world famous movies screened at international festivals from Cannes to Berlin.

He also named several Iranian movies his company acquired previously, including ‘The Salesman’ by Asghar Farhadi and ‘A Cube of Sugar’ by Reza Mirkarimi.

The 35th Fajr International Film Festival takes place in Tehran from April 21-28.

MG/AG