A look into Fajr Int’l festival opener 'Ostad'

The 41st edition of the Fajr International Film Festival (FIFF) was inaugurated on February 1 with Iranian feature film ‘Ostad’ (Maestro).   

'Ostad' is a social drama themed upon one of Iran's social issues. It is an adaptation of ‘Oleanna’ written by David Mamet.   

Directed by Emad Hosseini and produced by Behrouz Afkhami, 'Ostad' is set in the Iranian province of Yazd.

Hassan Majouni, Sajjad Babaee, and Mehdi Abu Hamzeh played in the film.

In a press conference held with the film staff, Afkhami addressed the professional cast team of this project and how it was warmly welcomed by the audience on the first day of the festival.

As the other keynote speaker, the film's director, Hosseini, stressed: “'Ostad' has its message for anyone.”

Hosseini further noted, “I have made the film because the subject seems to be the issue in many societies.”

Prior to the screening of 'Ostad', the director of the 41st  Fajr International Film Festival also held a speech, saying that “despite the problems in recent years in Iran, including the COVID-19 pandemic and other issues such as a little delay in the production process of the country's cinematic works, high-quality films are selected to screened".

Mojtaba Amini emphasized the holding of a promising festival and expressed hope the festival would be economically effective and fruitful.

The Fajr International Film Festival will run until February 11, 2023 in Tehran in two competitive sections and one non-competitive section.

This year, the domestic and international versions of the Fajr film festival will be once again held as part of one event titled “Fajr International Film Festival” after five editions of separate versions.

The Fajr festival coincides with the Ten-Day Fajr ceremonies across Iran, marking the anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

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

The event has screened many preserved classics from Iran cinema in previous runs of the international film event annually held in Iran.

Supervised by Iran’s Ministry of Culture, the festival hosts veteran directors and new filmmakers from Iran and across the world every year.

MM/AG