cinema trust Mohsen Khimedoz wrote in Etemad newspaper: The 41st short film festival was held in two sections, Iranian short films and non-Iranian short films, as in previous years. But unlike the previous periods, it did not have a surprising effect. Although, according to festival traditions, they inevitably gave awards to a number of people, but there were few or no works that you could be eager to see again after the show.
The composition imposed on most Iranian films of this period was comedy and fantasy. There is no doubt that films should be made and filmmaking should be experienced in these genres, especially that the feature films of Iranian cinema in the comedy and fantasy sectors have become so nauseating and vulgar that in this kind of cinema, young novices should create lasting works far from vulgarity. to create, but directing all the films of the short film festival in this direction at once is an imposition to forget the tragic wounds by using short film filmmakers, which of course was not and is not the right thing to do. It is very unfortunate that there was not a single film about the bitter story of the society among the films, both for the festival and for the filmmakers. However, two films from among the short films of the festival and two films from the international section stood out from the others, and they can be considered separately from the rest of the films and seen, enjoyed and admired from the aesthetic and artistic point of view. Criticize them if needed.
1- Art celebration Director: Ali Tavakoli
“Celebration of Art” may be considered the best Iranian short film of the festival. A well-made film with a good script (written by Ali Tavakoli and Arash Rawadeh) with a regular narrative, a new subject and in a humorous form that narrates the combination of a spy incident at the Shiraz Art Festival in 1356. The dialogues are also tasteful and beautiful, especially in the humorous and enigmatic dialogues that are expressed between the two main characters, between an investigator from Savak (played by Mohammad Ashkanfar) and a lady who is a guest at the Shiraz Art Festival with her dancing group (played by Farzaneh Maidani ). The acting of these two actors is another strong point of this film which makes it spectacular. This film is one of the few films of these four decades where the main character speaks with a Shirazi accent, but he plays it correctly, and the combination of the Shirazi accent with humor in the words is also elegant and audible.
The set design (Arman Mirbabai), costumes (Fateme Safarizadeh) and music (Pyam Azadi) of this film are also worth seeing and hearing.
2- Ax Director: Mehdi Ganji
The second spectacular and tolerable film of the 41st festival is the movie “Tabar” with a good script (by Mehdi Ganji and Majid Hekhet) and the right direction by Mehdi Ganji with eye-catching mise-en-scenes. In the genre of an incident with an anti-hero form. However, in this film, two professional actors face each other (Farhad Aslani in the role of a rent-seeker and a wood smuggler who killed a young forester and was acquitted and Maryam Bobani in the role of the forester’s mother and in the form of a spectacular anti-hero). .
But the film is not only because of the presence of these two actors, which is the attractive and strong point of the film. Farhad Aslani has a good performance in this movie, but he has not gone beyond the level of his previous performances, but the shining star of this movie is undoubtedly Maryam Bobani, who adds to the dramatic tension of the movie with her presence in every frame of this movie. Playing with the look, playing with silence, playing with the act, playing with the dialogue and the correct expression of speech music are the characteristics of Maryam Bobani’s performance in this film, and finally, in the final scene of the film, Bobani with a good performance and by saying a good sentence ( “Tolerance makes cruelty fatter”), captures the shocking moment of the movie well on the screen.
The film has a good costume design (Lila Naqdpari), good field special effects (Arash Aghabeyg) and good music (Mujtabi Saharkhiz). We cannot ignore the role of the producer of this spectacular work (Mohammed Kart).
3- Artwork (Spain). Director: Rafael Nieto
The first spectacular short film of the international section of the festival tells about a difficult artistic issue in the postmodern world. From the definition of the nature of “work of art” in the contemporary era.
After Kant, who considered the aesthetics within the work to be the basis of the work being artistic, the followers of postmodernism, by going through Kant, concluded that the “artistic society” has priority over the “artwork” and it is the artistic society that determines what the work is. It is artistic, whether it is a non-artistic work or vice versa.
In this short film, while cleaning a museum before holding an exhibition, a female employee collects and throws away a set of installations, recognizing that it is garbage that has been dumped on the floor. The woman who is the director of the museum decides to fire the female employee. The female employee protests and demands the reason for her dismissal. The director of the museum says that you damaged an art installation which is a work of art by a world artist thinking that it is garbage. The employee asks how do you know what I threw away was a work of art? The manager also says that all those who consider it a work of art are art experts. The female employee also says that with the same argument, you have no right to fire me, because I am the only expert in identifying trash and garbage in this museum, and you have no right to interfere with my expertise.
The ending of this film and the fight between these two women is interesting and spectacular, just like its subject, which should be seen on the screen.
4- Moon Sacrifice (Poland).
Director: Piotr Pavel Shubra
This film may be considered the best foreign film of the 41st festival. The story of a poet named Ivan, who has a dreamer’s mind, but it bothers him in the nights when the moon is full. Ivan’s dreamer’s mind is influenced by a writer who met him years ago. The movie “Qurbani Mah” is attractive and spectacular from several points of view.
First, the film is adapted from the famous and readable novel “Morshid and Margarita” by Mikhail Bulgakov. The breath of this difficult adaptation can show the importance of the film.
Second, the film has attractive and beautiful frames in the expressionist narrative style.
Thirdly, the acting of the actors is suitable for this narrative style and is of a difficult expressionist type of acting, and fourthly, the film has a difficult and at the same time attractive direction in black and white form, which can be seen in its good and difficult mise-en-scenes. For this reason, watching this movie only on the wide screen is attractive and spectacular.
These features, along with the poetic side of the film, have turned it into a “cinematic quartet”. A film that is ahead of other films of the 41st Tehran Short Film Festival.