TEHRAN – The 16th Resistance International Film Festival announced on Tuesday that the best screen and TV adaptions of books on the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war, which is known as Sacred Defense in Iran, will be honored in a new special section this year.

Adaptions of books on the Islamic Revolution, resistance and regional issues, and Islamic awakening will also be accessed in this section named “Narration of the Pen Section”.

A short and a feature-length movie and a telefilm will be honored in this section. 
 
Screenwriters from across the world whose screenplays have not been made into films are invited to attend the festival in the three languages of Persian, English and Arabic. 

The 16th Resistance International Film Festival will review films on Commander Qassem Soleimani’s role in awakening people of the region and the world in a special section. 

Interested filmmakers are asked to submit their films on the main characteristic of the martyr as the symbol of resistance, highlighting the bravery of the commander and the soldiers without borders as the main themes of the section named “Prominent Resistance Martyr Section”.

The oppression of the people in the region, their resistance, and the role of Soleimani in their awareness are also highlighted in the section, which is due to be held internationally. 

The organizers have so far received over 700 submissions, including videos, short films, screenplays and mostly documentaries in this section.

The festival has been organized in two stages, the first of which took place during the Sacred Defense Week from September 21 to 28.

The second part of the festival will be held from November 21 to 27 to celebrate the anniversary of Basij Day, which falls on November 25.

Following the assassination of Commander Soleimani during a U.S. airstrike in Baghdad on January 3, several other cultural events in Iran established awards in memory of the chief of the Quds Force, the overseas arm of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards.

The first of them was the Fajr Film Festival, which announced it would honor films on resistance and jihad with an award named after Soleimani.  

The award went to “Abadan 11, 60” directed by Mehrdad Khoshbakht about the people’s fight against Iraqi forces in the southwestern Iranian city of Abadan during the early months of the Iran-Iraq war.

In addition, the 17th edition of the Resistance Theater Festival has established an award named after Commander Qassem Soleimani to honor a play every year.

“Due to the importance of the resistance issue and the need to promote the teachings of the popular figure of Iran’s resistance culture and the leader of the resistance front, Lieutenant-General Qassem Soleimani, we plan to honor a top play with an award named after Hajj Qassem Soleimani this year for the first time,” the organizers have announced.

The award will be presented in the next editions of the festival to represent its organizers’ committed devotion to the divine commander.

The Association of the Revolution and Sacred Defense Theater organizes the festival every year in collaboration with several other institutions.      

This year’s edition is scheduled to be held during November or December.

Photo: A poster for “Narration of the Pen Section”.

RM/YAW