Minister congratulates National Cinema Day

Iran’s Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance Seyyed Abbas Salehi has congratulated the National Cinema Day in a message.

An English translation of the text of Salehi's message is as follows:

“National Cinema Day is a celebration of one of the most comprehensive and influential manifestations of contemporary culture and art; an art that, in direct connection with people's lives, provides both an opportunity for happiness and leisure, and can also carry thought, emotion, and the noblest human meanings.

The power of cinema also begins with this relationship with the people. Before it wants to convey a message to the audience, cinema must be able to take them with it; it must present them with a story to listen to, a character to empathize with, and a world to experience.

It must be emphasized that, in order to continue and grow, Iranian cinema needs, more than anything else, to maintain and strengthen its connection with the people; to works that recognize the diversity of generations, tastes, and needs of society, give the audience the right to choose, and have a worthy share in happiness, joy, solidarity, and social hope.

In the year that has passed for the Iranian people, especially from the ups and downs of the 12-day war to the heated days of the Ramadan war with the foreign enemy, noble manifestations of courage, sacrifice, altruism and attachment to the homeland were revealed; values ​​that found meaning in the context of people's lives and emerged victorious from a difficult test. Cinema can take this human experience beyond the level of an event and transform it into a lasting work with the language of story, character and image.

This capacity is not limited to the domestic audience. Iranian cinema, with its cultural support and international reputation, can narrate aspects of Iranian people and society that the world has rarely had the opportunity to know.

I hope that Iranian cinema will be with the people more in the coming year; contribute to the happiness and hope of society and, at the same time, reflect the lofty human and cultural concepts arising from the experience of the people of this land with the influential language of art, in Iran and the world.

I sincerely congratulate all artists and those involved in this field and to the people whose presence and choice bring cinema to life on National Cinema Day.”