TEHRAN -- The Iranian Artists Forum (IAF) hosted the opening ceremony of the Parvin Etesami International Film Festival on Saturday.

The festival, named in memory of the Iranian poetess Parvin Etesami, has been elevated to an international event this edition.
Speaking at the ceremony, the festival’s secretary Mazyar Rezakhani stressed the importance of introducing such festivals to world, saying that foreign cineastes are interested in films made by Iranian female directors.
He also praised the presence of cineastes Tahmineh Milani, Marzieh Borumand, Kamal Tabrizi, Mohammadreza Zarrindast and Mohammadreza Asalni at the ceremony, referring to them as celebrated artists who validate the festival.
At the ceremony, the United Nations Development Program’s Resident Representative at interim in Iran Elzira Sagynbaeva went on stage.
She congratulated the festival’s officials for holding the event, pointing out that over 800 films were submitted to the secretariat, which manifested the importance of the event.
This is the reason for the sponsorship by the UNDP of the festival, she said.
Member of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime Gelareh Mostashari also spoke at the ceremony.
Humans always try to express their problems and wishes in the form of artwork, and cinema is one of the best ways for these expressions, she mentioned.
She went on to say that she wants to attract the attention of the audience to gain its support for helping battered women and taking care of their needs.
At the end of the ceremony Iranian veteran actress and dubber Jaleh Olov recited poems composed by Etesami and was accompanied by setar.
The festival is being held at the Mellat Cinematic Complex and Iranian Artists Forum from November 22 to 27.
A total of 41 foreign films from 20 countries have been slated to compete in the International Section of the event.
The national section jury members Shadmehr Rastin, Mohammadreza Aslani and Parivash Nazarieh chose 103 films from the 400 submitted to the gala’s secretariat.
The jury members Nasser Bakideh, Kurosh Jahed and Hadi Manbti selected 41 films out of 135 movies submitted at the international section.
Parvin Etesami (1907-1940) was born in Tabriz and composed her first poem in the classical style when she was only eight years old. She received her high school diploma from the American Girls’ School of Tehran and also taught at the school for two years.
Her poems focus on themes of social awareness and the human aspect of life with simple yet insightful allegorical elements. There are no signs of romanticism or feminism in her works, although she lived in the period when Iran was beginning to modernize.