TEHRAN -- Iranian Short Film Association (ISFA) is ready to screen its short films in Tehran’s Azadi Cinema Hall.

In a visit to several sections of the Azadi Cinema Hall on Saturday, members from the ISFA board of directors held talks with the cinema manager Rahmatollah Mehrabi and discussed the issue of dedicating a hall to the screening of short film.
ISFA manager Mohammad Shirvani said that the association is also planning to hold its seminars and technical meetings in one of Azadi’s halls, MNA reported.
Board of directors’ member Mehdi Qorbanpur also gave the good news of wide-scale short film screenings across the country, saying, “A selection of shorts which took part in last year’s Celebration of Iranian Cinema will go on screen in the Azadi hall.”
Member Naqi Nemati also said that Iran’s cinema is in dire need of new events and that based on a compiled program, short film screening must continue for a long time.
Director Mehrabi announced that the Shahr-e Farang Hall of the cinema is ready to screen the shorts and hold seminars from June 21.
He also called upon the association to follow up the issue of short film screenings with great concern, adding, “Short film screening is not financially rewarding these days, and it has become a major problem.”
Tehran’s Azadi Cinema reopened on February 6, 2008 after a ten-year hiatus. The original cinema was destroyed in a fire in 1997.
The Art Bureau, which runs the cinematic complex and the Tehran Municipality, collaborated in the reconstruction of the five-theater complex. The main hall of the cinema has a seating capacity of 600.