According to Mehr News Agency, a ceremony honoring the policymaking team and secretariat of the Film 100 festival was held at the Hozeh Honari building, attended by members of the policymaking council and the executive team of this event. At this meeting, the attendees, while reviewing the experience of holding the festival's recent edition, examined this event's capacities for talent scouting, supporting young filmmakers, strengthening the identity of the Cinema of the Revolution, and expanding international cooperation.
The Film 100 Festival Must Move Away from Stagnation
Mohammad-Mahdi Dadman, head of Hozeh Honari, at this meeting, while thanking the festival's executive and policymaking team, considered holding this edition at a suitable quantitative and qualitative level worthy of appreciation and stressed: The Film 100 festival must move away from stagnation and pursue the path of development while preserving its identity features.
He considered three components essential for the identity of this festival: talent scouting and introducing the new generation of the Cinema of the Revolution; preserving the festival's cultural and content identity; and making use of the distinctive format of 100-second films.
The head of Hozeh Honari, referring to the 60 percent presence of first-time filmmakers among the works of this edition, considered this statistic a sign of the festival's attention to its talent-scouting mission, while stating: The quality of the selections and the identification of real talents must always be given priority.
Dadman also counted the 100-second format among the festival's main advantages and said: Given the expansion of cyberspace, planning for the targeted publication and distribution of the works in this space can help strengthen the festival's position.
The Average Age of the Festival's Participants Was 28 Years
Mohaddeseh Pirhadi, secretary of the Film 100 festival, at this meeting, while thanking Mohammad-Mahdi Dadman and the other attendees for their support, described the experience of cooperating with the members of the policymaking council and the festival's executive team as valuable and instructive.
She, referring to the participation and support of the policymaking council members in approving the festival's slogan, sections and topics, said: In this edition, around 1,600 works were received, which, after being reviewed by a seven-member selection committee, saw the selected works placed at the disposal of the jury.
The festival secretary, referring to the participants' average age of 28 years and the 60 percent presence of first-time filmmakers among the creators of the works, considered this feature one of the festival's strengths and emphasized its importance in identifying the new generation of filmmakers.
The Film 100 Festival Must Seek to Discover Meaning
Then Babak Khajeh-Pasha, a member of the festival's policymaking council, expressing satisfaction with the experience of attending the Film 100 festival, stated: This event has a different atmosphere for me from other festivals.
He, criticizing some of the common currents in today's cinema and one of the weaknesses of Iranian art, stressed: The Film 100 festival must not remain limited merely to common patterns and established artistic formats, but must seek to discover meaning and to provide the ground for fresh outlooks to emerge.
Khajeh-Pasha also, referring to the dominance of the economic outlook in part of the relations of film production, stressed the necessity of paying attention to the artistic motivations and concerns of filmmakers. He went on to call for conditions to be provided in which young artists can pursue their creative path independently of purely financial considerations.
The Importance of Supporting Artists After the Competitions End
Mohammad Ehsani, a member of the policymaking council, referring to the experience of attending various festivals, especially events focused on young people, considered one of the important gaps of these festivals to be the absence of a specific program for supporting artists after the competitions end.
Then Mohammad-Reza Rezapour, also a member of the Film 100 festival's policymaking council, emphasizing the importance of the continuity of the activities carried out in the international sphere, called for managerial stability to be created so that the achievements of this section bear fruit.
Shahab Esfandiari, a member of the festival's policymaking council, referring to the existing gap in the path of guiding graduates of art disciplines after entering the professional arena, stressed the necessity of forming a coherent ecosystem for nurturing and supporting artists.
Ali Hayati, artistic director of the Film 100 festival, expressing delight at being among the festival's team, described this edition's executive team as young, hardworking, creative and energetic, and expressed hope that the opportunity to continue working in the next 2 editions would also be given to this team, so that the ground for positive events to take shape is provided.
Sajjad Entezari, a member of the festival's selection committee, also, referring to Pirhadi's several years of experience in interacting with artists of the counties, considered the attention to provincial capacities one of the valuable features of this edition.
Overall, the ceremony honoring the policymaking team and the secretariat of the Film 100 festival emphasized this point: that a festival's success is not limited merely to holding the event and introducing the selected works; rather, the continuity of contact with artists, support for emerging talents, preservation of cultural identity and creation of fresh opportunities for production and cooperation can turn its achievements into a lasting current in Iranian cinema.
Source: Mehr News Agency
