Iran cinema marks Sacred Defense Week

Iranian art of cinema marks the Sacred Defense Week.

The Sacred Defense Week is an Iranian annual commemoration of the 1980–1988 Iraq–Iran war. It is annually being held in Iran on the first week of autumn.

The Iranian art of cinema has always paid tribute to the Sacred Defense via several popular war-themed movies, including ‘Duel’ by Ahmad-Reza Darvish, ‘The Eagles’ by Samuel Khachikian, ‘Flight at Night’ by Rasoul Mollaqolipour, ‘The Outcasts’ by Masoud Dehnamaki, ‘Snorkel’ by Ali Soleimani and Hadi Hajatmand, ‘The Lost Strait’ by Bahram Tavakkoli, and ‘From Karkheh to Rhine’ by Ebrahim Hatamikia.

A long list of the war-themed movies and series, including ‘Kimia’, ‘Passion to Fly’, ‘Mahoora’, ‘The Night Bus’, ‘Arvand’, ‘Standing in the Dust’, ‘Queen’, and ‘The Scout’, has been aired by iFilm English TV.

The image up there shows 5 Iranian troopers (most likely locals) crossing Khorramshahr (Sept.-Nov. 1980) bridge to counter Iraqi aggressors in a desperate effort to buy more time for evacuation of the city’s residents! The troopers never returned and nobody knows who they were!

The video attached to the story shows an extract from ‘Kimia’ series. It shows Martyr Mohammad Jahan-Ara, also known as "Iranian Hero of Resistance", who is the symbol of resistance against the Iraqi invasion before the liberation of Khorramshahr.

On May 24, 1982, the Iranian city of Khorramshahr was liberated from Iraqi forces. The city had been occupied by forces loyal to Saddam Hussein. Jahanara is remembered in Iran for his heroic resistance against enemy forces. A memorable song titled, "You were not there, Mamad," pays tribute to the national hero. You can hear the song in the video.

MG/MG