Fajr screenings to take place outdoors

Iran’s Fajr International Film Festival (FIFF), to open later this month, has planned to implement some modifications amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Iranian filmmaker and writer Mohammad Mehdi Asgarpour, the secretary of the FIFF, told media on Wednesday that most sections of the upcoming edition of the festival will take place online.

He said that Fajr screenings will take place at a number of outdoor movie theaters this year in an unprecedented move.

If the coronavirus situation improves and movie theaters reopen, some indoor screenings at one-third capacity could also take place, Asgarpour said.

This year’s edition of the festival will screen prominent films such as Italian feature ‘Our Father’ (or Padrenostro), which grabbed an award at the 2020 Venice Film Festival.

Earlier reports also said that Ukrainian film ‘We are Here, We are Close’ by the prominent director Roman Balayan will compete at the FIFF.

Roman Balayan is a Ukrainian-Armenian film director who considers himself as the student of Sergei Parajanov, one of the 20th century's greatest masters of cinema.

‘Final Report’, a new film by Oscar-winning Hungarian director Istvan Szabo, will also participate in the 38th edition of the FIFF.

This year, the FIFF will open in Tehran on May 26 and run until June 2.

The 2020 edition of the FIFF was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic.

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

The 39th edition of the national version of the festival was held on January 31-February 10.

SQ/MG