Alireza Rezadad, Director of the 30th International Film Festival for Children and Youth, is an experienced manager in cinema. He was the director of a few editions of the international film festival for children and youth. As a manager of children film festivals, Rezadad believes such festivals must be a point to connect audience and children cinema on the one hand and filmmakers and investors on the other.
Following is an interview with Rezadad as the 30th edition of the festival kicked off on June 30:
There was a gap between the last time you served as the president of the festival until this year that you joined again. What has changed during this interval?
I believe there were proper steps taken forward. I was concerned about screening spaces which was properly improved and led to higher sales in cinema. Children films are not made as often as other films. That is a weak point which we try to change for better. Digital studios are replacing analogue technology.
However, the overall structure of the festival has not changed. Foundation of a fan club has drawn the audience attention to films and screening of children movies.
Some critics would say the number of films in children cinema is not as many as needed to hold an international film festival. However, the Iranian children cinema is a result of previous children festivals. How do you evaluate such criticism?
Continuity is the key to promote a cultural project. If we can keep production, festival and screening will be connected all the time. If we lose one of these elements, we will lose the other two. However, maintaining such connections can lead to extraordinary results. I believed the festival has played its role pretty well so far. We like to continue the same path and provide more opportunities for good quality films.
The festival provides an opportunity for cheerful atmosphere for the audience. How do you include such an element in your policy-making?
Our audience expects high quality films with a different angle and even a different narration. We must convey our audiences’ expectations to filmmakers and they must consider such expectation in their future evaluation of the audience. It must be a two-way traffic between the audience and the filmmakers.
The 30th edition of the festival put extra focus on script writing. What was the reasoning behind such a decision?
We always had a scriptwriting category in our festival. However, with some extra attention to this category with received over 300 scripts. Firstly we can easily see the potentials of script writing in the country. Secondly, such scripts should not be archived, we must find ways to pass them to producers, directors and any artists who turn their works in film.
The animation section seems to be very popular this year too. How do you evaluate that?
When creating an animated film, most of the team spends their times in studios. That is the reason why they do not face typical problems a filmmaker faces. However, they face different obstacles. Iran has much potential to let the animators grow and we must use such potentials.
How can the festival help animation industry?
The festival must take animation industry seriously, encourage animators, and attract the audience attention to animation production.
What is going to be done for the judgment of the festival?
We signed a five-year agreement to hold the festival in Isfahan. The agreement will apportion responsibilities between Isfahan and the Culture and Islamic Guidance Ministry.
The festival will be held from June 30 to July 6 in Isfahan, screening more than 50 films with guests from 44 countries in attendance.
MS/PR