16th RIFF holds closing ceremony in Tehran

The 16th edition of the Resistance International Film Festival (RIFF) has held the closing ceremony in Tehran.

The ceremony, attended by several high-ranking officials and cinematic figures, was held at Tehran’s Sacred Defense Garden on Sunday night.

High-ranking officials, including Iranian Minister of Health and Medical Education Saeed Namaki, director of the Ravayat-e Fath Cultural Foundation Mohammad-Yashar Naderi, music composer Majid Entezami, and families of some martyrs and mass media reporters, attended the ceremony.

Addressing the attendees, head of the festival Mehdi Azimi-Mirabadi said art plays a key role in influencing the audience.

So far more than 9,000 works from 180 counties have been submitted to the secretariat of the event, of which 3,700 works are from the US, the UK, France, India and Palestine, he added.

Hailing the passionate efforts by the organizers of the festival, Azimi-Mirabadi said the prestigious international cinematic event was eventually held despite the spread of Coronavirus.

He further noted that the event has been highly welcomed by a huge number of Iranian artists and audiences.

Coinciding with the Sacred Defense Week and covering the Health Defenders and Festival of Festivals sections, the first part of the event was held on September 21-27.

The next part, to be held on November 21-27, coinciding with “Basij” week, will include Main Competition section, Resistance Prominent Martyr - special section, Best Film Competition in Absolute Sense section, and Narrations of Pen - Scriptwriting Competition section.

The RIFF, one of the most prestigious international film festivals in Iran, 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 its terrorist attacks in the region, as well as the world’s tyrants and their backing of Daesh.

MG/MG