cinema trust The difficult economic situation of some artists, especially cinema people, is not a new issue. Sometimes, one of the residents of the seventh art shares his social complaints on social networks, and this issue quickly becomes hot. Recently, a director announced that he decided to sell one of his kidneys due to economic problems.
Alireza Najafzadeh In a conversation with Cinema Saba reporter, the inspector of the Board of Directors of Cinema House expressed his regret about the living conditions of the artists and said: Unfortunately, the living conditions of many cinema artists are difficult today. Many promises, such as allocating two percent of the sales of movies to cinema houses, have not been fulfilled, while many artists are living in difficult living conditions.
He stressed about the problems of artists’ insurance: Filmmaking and serial production projects must pay the members’ insurance premiums, but unfortunately, artists cannot benefit from insurance benefits. In fact, the money that goes to the social security organization is not used for the benefit of artists.
Emphasizing that the duty of the Art Credit Fund is to take care of the insurance and livelihood of artists, Najafzadeh clarified: Did the officials of this fund fall asleep after hearing this news, many artists are currently facing livelihood problems, for example, one of the veteran actors in a container in He lives in one of the northern cities of the country and another artist lives in a garage in the suburbs of Tehran. The existing supports are not enough to solve their problems and sometimes even these aids seem insulting.
He added: Many artists have made successful films, but they have not been heard from for a long time. The media should be more active in this field and reflect the issues and problems of anonymous artists. The sale of a few comedy films cannot be a measure of the prosperity of the cinema industry. We have to return to the policies where films were director-oriented and based on quality, not capital-oriented. Also, legal ways to solve insurance and livelihood problems should be found.
The inspector of the Board of Directors of Khana Cinema noted how the livelihood problems of the artists are solved: the officials must deal with the problems with full knowledge and ability and create more transparency in the budget and expenses. This problem requires serious and urgent measures. The trustees should convey the voices of the artists to the authorities so that the problems can be solved and the officials should be elected who have the ability to solve the problems. I hope the authorities know that the artists also need support and their problems should be taken into consideration We should use the past experiences and not allow these problems to continue. If we can reach a transparency and cooperation between the artistic community and the authorities, maybe we can achieve better results. Unfortunately, artists’ insurance is still not properly pursued. This issue has been discussed for years, but we do not see a clear answer. Officials should be more transparent and talk clearly about problems.
Regarding the role of the government and officials in solving this problem, he said: We expect the government officials to examine the problems with a national and expert approach and take the necessary measures to solve them. I hope Mr. Salehi and other officials will act more actively in this field. During Mr. Khatami’s government, a law was passed to allocate two percent of cinema sales to Cinema House, but this law was not properly implemented and the budget that was supposed to be allocated to Cinema House has not yet been implemented. Also, artists’ insurance and unemployment insurance were not followed up seriously, and this has caused artists to face serious problems during unemployment and illness, while the livelihood is not only for filmmakers, but includes all cinema people. Currently, some artists have reached a dire situation due to financial problems and are forced to sell their assets. This situation is not only painful, but also shows the authorities’ lack of attention to the livelihood problems of cinema residents.
Najafzadeh stated that various officials, including the Ministry of Labor and the Social Security Organization, did not pay attention to these problems and did not have the will to solve them, adding that the definition of the job of cinema and filmmaking is not specified in the laws, and this issue has caused tax and insurance problems for artists. Finally, the need for a radical and serious approach to solve these problems is felt.