36th FIff reveals list of special guests to appear at event

The organizers of the 36th edition of the Fajr International Film Festival have revealed the list of special guests to hold workshops.

The list includes six special guests, including Stella Kaltsou, Philippe Ros, Aida Begic, Isabelle Giordano, Roberto Perpignani, and Anna Henckel-Donnersmarck. They will hold a number of workshops at the event.

Kaltsou is one of the most established and well-known set and lighting designers in Greece. She has signed the lighting design for numerous productions of theatre, opera, dance and concerts in Europe and Asia.

Born in Thessaloniki, she studied lighting design, set-costume design and theory of theatre in the School of Fine Arts of Aristotle University. She is a member of Hellenic Film Academy and a collaborator of Lighting Art. She was also nominated for the Best Lighting Design of 2017 at the Greek Theatre Awards.

In cinema, she has done art direction for three feature films. The first was 'The Taste of Centuries' by Zachos Samoladas in 2009 and then 'The Students' by Giorgos Bakolas in 2013. The most recent is the awarded 'Invisible' by Dimitri Athanitis which gained 15 awards in international festivals all over the world.

Ros is a French cinematographer, digital imaging supervisor, consultant and instructor; as well as a specialist in hand-held camera and ergonomics techniques. He is fully acquainted with digital shooting systems and postproduction workflows. He worked as digital imaging director for five and a half years in the Oceans’ films directed by Jacques Perrin and Jacques Cluzaud.

He recently made a European tour of 17 capitals to show his 4 short demo films, 'The Bot -Trilogy' shot in 4K with Digimage and HD Systems. 'The Bot-Trilogy' was financed by Leica and Sony, and screened all over the world. In 2016, he taught in Denmark, the CWC Workshop (Camera, Workflow and Creativity) for cinematographers. His next workshop will be in Zurich.

Born in Sarajevo, Begic graduated in directing from the Sarajevo Academy of Performing Arts. Her graduation film Prvo Smrtno Iskustvo (First Death Experience) was presented at The Cinéfondation Official Selection of the Cannes Film Festival. Her debut feature 'Snijeg' (Snow) premiered at Cannes 2008, Semaine de la Critique, where it won the Grand Prix and 30 other festival awards from around the world.

She is a regular columnist and has written six books. Giordano founded the association Cinema Pour Tous in 2006 (which organizes regular film screenings and debates for underprivileged people) and is a member of several boards of directors: the Forum des Images, the Forum d’Avignon, and the Fondation HSBC for Education.

She is the president of the Fonds Pour Le Service Civique and a qualified public figure appointed by the Fondation Égalités des Chances. In 2013, she was decorated as Knight of the National Order of the Legion of Honor.

Born in Rome in 1941, Perpignani studied painting. In 2012, he received the David di Donatello Award for 'Caesar Must Die' (directed by P. and V. Taviani). He also received for the same film the Nastro d’Argento and was nominated for the European Film Academy Award. He has in his name the recognition of the Independent European Cinema Critics.

Henckel-Donnersmarck has worked for several festivals as member of the jury: Saguenay International Short Film Festival Canada 2018, Nordisk Panorama 2017, Tehran International Short Film Festival 2016, Szpilman Award 2013-2014, Curtas Vila do Conde2014, Milano Film Festival 2013, Kurzfilmfest Dresden 2011, Achtung Berlin 2008, and Sehsüchte Potsdam 1999.

Established in 1982, the FIff celebrates cultural exchange, displays creative achievements of highly acclaimed cineastes and pays tribute to local and international films.

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

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

Directed by Reza Mirkarimi, the 36th edition of the festival is slated for April 19-27, 2018, in the Iranian capital city of Tehran.

MG/FM