Iran, Iraq to expand cinematic cooperation

Iran and Iraq have agreed to expand cultural ties between the two countries.

Mohammad Khazaei, the head of Iran’s Cinema Organization, and Ahmed Musa, the head of the cinema authority of Iraq, held a meeting at the headquarters of the Cinema Organization in Tehran on Monday and discussed expanding cultural and film cooperation.

Referring to the cultural commonality and long-standing ties between the two nations, Khazaei said cinema could enhance the mutual cooperation.

He noted that the two sides have agreed to facilitate the participation of skilled human resources from the two countries in joint productions, dispatch professors and filmmakers to Iraq, and to pave the way for joint productions about regional issues.

For his part, Musa said that the strengthening of mutual cultural cooperation and making joint productions “serve the interest" of Iraq and Iran, stressing that “there is a lot of potential for cooperation” due to the cultural and religious commonalities between the two nations.

Noting that the Iranian cinema has a very good place in the region and the world, the Iraqi official said holding film weeks in the two countries and making joint productions as well as the presence of Iranian professors in Iraq “would lead to the development of Iraqi cinema”.

SQ/AG