TEHRAN – Iranian cinematic figures gathered to discuss Iran’s cinema management during the 1980’s in Iran in a meeting held at the Iranian House of Cinema (IHC) on Wednesday.

Organized by the Association of Iranian Cinema Writers and Critics, a number of film producers and filmmakers including new IHC director Reza Mirkarimi, Manuchehr Mohammadi, Rakhshan Bani-Etamad and Jahangir Kowsari attended the meeting, Persian media reported on Friday.

Expressing his regret over the fact that cinema veterans are forced to be stay-at-home individuals and nobody asks about them, film producer Manuchehr Mohammadi said that during the 1980’s, the simplest work produced by the youth was paid special attention.

“The managers of today believe their job is a bureaucratic and official duty. This behavior totally differs with the sympathetic and loving behaviors of the managers in 1980’s,” he added.

Director Kamal Tabrizi continued that the managers used to support the youth and novices in those years.

“In those years there was a good feeling and a good atmosphere between the filmmakers and the officials of the Culture Ministry, a relation that has been diminished now. Perhaps the reason that cinema flourished in those years was the favorable bilateral interaction between the filmmakers and the managers,” Tabrizi said.

He asked the managers to evaluate the methods used by the managers in 1980’s and then to change their style of management.

Filmmaker Sirus Alvand stated, “In 1980’s, officials took care of filmmakers, but today it is the opposite. The major point is that we must be careful to avoid any harm to [Cinema Organization of Iran Director Hojjatollah] Ayyubi.”

He also pointed to the difficult conditions of filmmaking in those years and said, “We must not forget that the managers tried to protect the filmmakers of the pre-Islamic Revolution and also support the young filmmakers during the special conditions that existed in the 1980s.”

“However, I can say it was not like we were very happy and made films easily. There were lots of arguments, but the major thing was that the cinema was being formed in those years and we thought we were fighting over something that was being created anew, that is, we tried to make it with the help of each other,” filmmaker Rakhshan Bani-Etemad continued.

Later others made use of the honors of the cinema, she added.

“The panorama (Mohammad) Beheshti has imagined for the cinema, made us ponder, our minds used to broaden in the meetings we had together.

“Although we sat on opposite sides of the table, we had the same view and outlook, but we have lost our attitudes and our views today, both the filmmakers and the managers,” she concluded.

RM/YAW
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