He described the festival as the first cinematic event which was held simultaneously via both online and offline platform.
He added that over 33,600 audiences have participated in online workshops of the festival free of charge.
"In this festival, we screened a total of 201 films in the form of 36 boxes in the sections of fiction, documentary, experimental, and animation for 5 days from January 20 to 25, 2021. Of these 201 films, we screened 135 works in the online systems of "Hashour", "Video" and "Tiwal" platforms, and 11 hours of TV content daily on the official Instagram page of the Iranian Youth Cinema Association, with the subject of reviewing films, introducing books, interviews with prominent artists and directors in the field of cinema, especially short films."
"We received nearly 5,000 films from directors in 102 countries, more than last year. Due to the spread of Coronavirus, we thought production would decrease, at least the works we received from other countries were more than last year. On the part of Iranian filmmakers, compared to last year, the number of submitted works decreased by 5%, which is still very acceptable for us. In this situation, production activities had been suspended for several months from the beginning of the Iranian year. Last year, we received about 1,700 films, and the current year, about 1,600 films in the fiction, documentary, experimental and animation sections were sent to the festival secretariat."
"Some 37 years have passed since the start of Tehran International Short Film Festival. This year we paid more than 6,000 dollars in prizes. As you know, nearly 5,000 films were sent to our secretariat. On the other hand, when a festival is nearly four decades old, it shows its validity and, undoubtedly, in the West Asian region; With this antiquity, we do not have a festival for short films, and like in previous years, this year we were very well received and we will continue this path in the future."
Commenting about the beginning of work and introduction of prominent directors of Iranian cinema from the heart of Tehran International Short Film Festival, including; "Asghar Farhadi", "Reza Mirkarimi", "Shahram Mokri", "Mehrdad Oskooi", "Mohsen Amiryousefi", "Touraj Aslani" and etc, Mousavi said," The Iranian Youth Cinema Association is the largest cinema school in the world. We currently have 80 offices and agencies throughout Iran. We attract more than 4,000 students a year. 700 teachers across the country receive a stipend from the association, and a number of these students enter the film and film, industry professionals. This process of discovering talent and introducing it to the future world of cinema continues."
He added that the language of cinema in Iran has really spread and the world of cinema knows Iranian cinema because every cinema has its own taste.
"If festivals are not valid; the secretary of festivals such as; "Krakow" of Poland or other directors of prestigious festivals and famous foreign directors do not accept judges or lecturers of specialized sessions of Tehran International Short Film Festival in Iran, and this shows the credibility of Tehran International Short Film Festival in other festivals around the world," he said.
"In my opinion, in the short section, Iranian cinema is moving more progressively than other sections and it is at the forefront of this cultural movement; it is a short Iranian cinema. I think the future belongs to the youth, and in the field of imagery, the future belongs to the short film," Mousavi concluded.
RHM/PR