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Iranian film festival kicks off in Karachi

Iranian film festival kicks off in Karachi

The week-long festival featured different Internationally acclaimed Iranian productions
15 Feb, 2018

A week-long Iranian film festival kicked off on Wednesday at the Iranian Cultural Centre, opening up to Pakistani audiences an unfamiliar world.

Different Iranian productions, internationally acclaimed, are set to be screened at the cultural centre to allow a more meaningful exchange between the two countries. All the movies instead of having subtitles were dubbed into Urdu.

The chief guest at the festival was actor Javed Sheikh who expressed his desire to see cultural exchanges between Iran and Pakistan, especially in the film world, which is a sure-shot way to improve bilateral ties between the two countries.

The language barrier can be a deterrent for people to watch such movies, and the decision to dub the movies rather than include subtitles was a good idea, the senior actor observed. In this way, just like audiences were drawn to Turkish dramas dubbed in Urdu, they would also enjoy watching Iranian films.

Mr Sheikh even hoped he could at some point in his career work in an Iranian film.

“Iran is an example where the government did not shut down the film industry but instead encouraged it to pick up meaningful themes and still keep Islam in view when making films,” he said.

The director general of the Iranian Cultural Centre, Dr Raza Baqri, spoke about how social causes and the battles of real life are usually the premise of most Iranian films, which is a clear departure from most film industries around the world. Not only are the stories of a superior quality, but so is the execution which is why the Iranian film industry in being recognised the world over and winning accolades.

He explained the evolution of Iranian cinema before and after the Islamic Revolution.

“Before the revolution most of the movies featured a lot of violence, misbehaviour against and misuse of women, and other immoralities. However, after the revolution the government encouraged and guided the film industry to honour human society by making films about morality, cultural commitments, and the human community. This was the new Iranian cinema.”

The first film shown was The Willow Tree which is about Youssef, a man blinded in a fireworks accident as a young child.

The film festival will continue till Feb 18, from 3pm to 6pm.


Originally published in Dawn, February 15th, 2018

Comments

Ehsan Karim Feb 15, 2018 11:24am
Would love to watch Iranian movies here in Lahore, Specially Majid Majidi's movies.
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sheikh muhammad naeem Feb 15, 2018 12:52pm
would love watch iranian and pakistani movies here in karachi.
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Zak Feb 15, 2018 01:07pm
Great, we should connect to our western neighbours, Iran, Turkey with whom we share culture, blood relations and historical ties.
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Zain Hasan Feb 15, 2018 04:05pm
Show them to Shaan and Syen Noor, who want us to watch garbage in the name of patriotism. Iranian cinema is a prove that we do not need big budget or large market to make meaningful cinema. Iran's population is not even half of Pakistan and their movies never get commercial release in Europe/Americas/GCC region, yet they never complain about budget, revenues and censor board.
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Dr. Salaria, Aamir Ahmad Feb 15, 2018 04:53pm
Welcome to the brotherly neighbor's club.
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speak_truth Feb 15, 2018 09:30pm
@Zain Hasan Agree. More Iranian movies in Pakistan, please.
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AWAN Feb 16, 2018 12:01am
Good effort.. Needed to be done long time ago
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