Isfahan to host int’l film festival for children, young adults in next 4 years

According to the information center of the 30th International Film Festival for Children and Young Adults, Rezadad said, “Last July, a five-year long agreement was signed among the Cinema Organization, the City Hall of Isfahan, and Farabi Cinema Foundation on holding the children and young adults film festival, which has been put into action since last October.”

“In this year's edition, we have a new change which is separating children's and young adults' categories. Therefore, movies in each category are going to be judged and awarded independently,” he added.

Rezadad noted that another considerable difference is special attention to animated features. Since there is a rising interest in making animation in the country, we have separated categories for animated short films and features this year in the festival.”

Talking about the theatres which get ready for the festival, Rezadad added, 'It’s been a month since four cinema complexes in Chahr-Bagh Boulevard were rehabilitated, in which three movie theaters are exclusive to the festival. Felestin cinema along with a new one in Isfahan’s city center is also among the cinemas in which festivals’ films will be shown. There are two other theatres which will be constructed until the beginning of the festival.”

“It is the first time that the festival is going to be held in summer. Our main focus is to encourage children and their parents to attend. To fulfill this goal, we established a club for audience so as to get them informed about the details of the event. 12,000 Isfahani people have enrolled in the club until now. We predict an increase to 15,000 by the beginning of the festival. By the means of this amount of members, we can make all Isfahani people familiar with the festival.'

Considering the filmmaking lab’s last edition for young adults, Rezadad said, “Although we want to spot and develop young talents who are interested in filmmaking, the film festival is aimed at showing professional productions. Last edition in Hamedan was a success despite the fact that there was no independent category for young adult movies. But this year we decided to focus only on the festival.”

“Farabi Cinema Foundation knows how important a festival is to improve the conditions of children’s cinema. Therefore, children’s movies need to get more support. Our main responsibility as the festival organizers is to introduce qualified materials for the audience,” he added.

Rezadad added,”The final selectees and the schedule of all sections will be announced till June 5. We will definitely pay a special tribute to Donya Fanizadeh (an Iranian puppeteer who passed away last year due to cancer).”

The 30th International Film Festival for Children and Young Adults will be held from June 30 to July 6 in Isfahan.

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