Raed Faridzadeh: “We’re going through a brand-new experience at the 33rd ICFF”

Faridzadeh added, “The international section of the festival includes feature films, animated feature films, and short animated films. The jury board includes members from Sweden, France, Afghanistan, and Iran. Moreover, jury members from Kazakhstan, Latvia, and Iran will be judging the short films.”

The head of the international section at the 33rd ICFF stated, “Twelve feature films and twenty short films from countries such as, Russia, Germany, Norway, Denmark, France, Belgium, Sweden, Estonia, Finland, Portugal, Italy, Spain, the Philippines, Luxembourg, the Czech Republic, India, Kazakhstan, and Norway. This edition of the festival has attracted a lot of different countries.”

He added, “The main themes of the international competition section are friendship, peace, protecting the environment, using imagination, fighting racism, honesty, and attention to the family.”

Referring to the COVID-19 section at the 33rd ICFF, Faridzadeh mentioned, “Films from Germany, Serbia, Japan, Croatia, Slovenia, Bulgaria, the UK, and France have been selected to take part at the COVID-19 section. Moreover, the 33rd ICFF has allocated a section to review the selected films at India’s Smile International Film Festival for Children and Youth.”

He emphasized, “The joint conferences will include virtual meetings with representatives from Serbia, Pakistan, Armenia, and India. The CIFEJ jury board includes members from Argentina, India, and Iran. Moreover, we have seven international and six national workshops in this edition of the festival.”

Faridzadeh added, “Four-hundred titles, including feature, animated feature, and short films, have been added to the video library. International buyers and distributors can access the films on the festival website.”

Stating that a lot of international film festivals have been virtually held amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Faridzadeh added, “Most of the prominent international film festivals have been virtually held. The 33rd ICFF is being virtually held as well, and this is the main difference we observe between this edition and the previous editions of the festival.”

Due to the outbreak of the new coronavirus and based on the multimedia agreement made by the Iranian Cinema Organization, Farabi Cinematic Foundation, and Isfahan Municipality, this edition of the festival is being held virtually from October 18 to 23, 2020 under the supervision of Alireza Tabesh.

The festival is organized in a competitive format in two different sections; Iranian Cinema Competition and International Cinema Competition.