Trust cinema Mahmoud Gabarlo, a member of the selection board of the 43rd Fajr Film Festival, wrote: He wrote: Thirty-three films should have been selected from among ninety-two films, the film or video format was not important, any film that the secretariat provided to the selection board. It should have been seen that compliance with the rules is not within the authority of the selection board, such as whether the film is the first or the second, or why a certain filmmaker or producer has several films, or the year of production, all together. were seen
From the day when the first introduction meeting was held, the movie viewing started. Usually, from eight in the morning until late at night, we watched movies on the cinema screen of the festival office, even those that were not complete.
The composition of the selection committee was made up of seven cinematographers or cinema lovers with a history that “watching a good movie” and “cinema” in general were important to them. Each of them had the necessary skills and expertise in their own work, of course, with all their weaknesses and strengths that they themselves do not deny – naturally, they could have been other people, but the lot had fallen in the name of this group, the difference of this group was that it had a specialized view , was replaced by a thematic and sometimes ideological view, the external reflections were also interpreted in this way, of course, it is natural that everyone has their own ideology and they are sensitive and determined about them, but we decided not to start with the pre-determined criteria.
Based on this, the film’s design should be correct and lively. The story should be told correctly, it should have a new look and form, it should have a strong and pleasant narrative, we should see innovation and creativity, it should involve the audience, actors, whether actors, cameramen or others. , have acted professionally and that it is at the level of a valid festival. We decided not to pay attention to the producer and other factors, or a well-known director, or the first film, or a certain organization and organization, it was important to us how the filmmaker was able to convey his idea to the audience in the form of a good and acceptable film with innovation and creativity. ,
After watching the movie, each of us would write down our notes, sometimes we would make comments, or to better understand the movie, we would ask each other about the points we were confused about, but we would write down our definite opinion in a notebook that was hidden from everyone. We did, we got tired and sometimes angry while watching some movies, and we enjoyed watching some movies, and the tiredness of the previous movie left us.
After a few days, when the movie was finished, we had a preliminary summary meeting and discussion for a few days until we reached the final meeting and a difficult decision had to be made. Doubts to questions. For example, we asked if genre diversity or topic diversity is important to you.
They said that we want to have a colorful festival or that it should be for all tastes, but if this issue causes injustice and injustice to a film, then pass this opinion. One of the beloved ones of the festival was responsible for compiling the table of theories, it was a very difficult and daunting task, we didn’t want to sift through the hard work of the filmmakers to reach the legal number (thirty three).
In the first place, we discarded the films that did not have the desired level and we did not agree with them at all, of course, it was very difficult, we reached the films that had high votes, that is, without exception, they had seven votes and there was no discussion about them at all, we chose them. And we left it. It was the turn of the films that had six votes, the person against or the five people in favor expressed their arguments, then we voted again, this time we brought the films with the highest votes to the competition section, and the remaining films were again opposed and in favor of the arguments. They expressed themselves, the work was more difficult this time, we had to argue in such a way that others would be convinced.
After the discussion, we voted again. Some movies that did not get high votes, according to the voting rules, we selected any movie that got half plus one (ten votes) and above and added it to the competition section. Two or three films got the same level of votes, so we debated and argued again and voted again between those few films until we finally reached thirty-three films, and we kept the last film that reached a relative vote for reservation until maybe Technically, a film could not be replaced. .
In the meantime, we saw some movies and apparently they were liked by the majority of the members, such as Pir Pasar, Roxana, and Bisurasada. In the middle, they announced that they had a legal ban and it was mistakenly given to the selection committee to watch. One of these films could have brought about a change in Iranian cinema.
The selection board suggested that some films that were left out of the competition and were not selected due to legal restrictions, such as Pir Pasar, or some films that had sensitivities in the past years and were not shown publicly, such as The Wild Killer, with the consent of their creators in the section be exhibited in a special way.
But in the end: we saw some films that were made and registered for the festival, and the secretariat made them available to us, and there must be other films that we didn’t see. The selection committee chose based on their ability, skill and tact. My analysis is that if there were others, their choice, most of these films would be in the competition section, because here it depends on the taste and view of people. And the other thing is that accepting to be a member of the selection board is really a difficult and exciting and stressful task.
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