TEHRAN - The Manager of the House of Cinema, Manouchehr Mohammadi, said, "As long as there is no real sponsor for the country's cinema, we can not expect creativity and dynamism from Iranian cinema. The continual changes of managers and lack of proper policy and artistic taste has damaged cinema."

Commenting on the Fajr Film Festival, he stated, "This festival has not had clear structure in planning, even after 20 festivals.

"A festival is a place to present cultural productions to be criticized, but the Fajr Film Festival has created problems due to its lack of proper structure. The officials of this year's festival invited only one representative from the House of Cinema to be a member of the selection board.

"Considering the excellent state of Iranian cinema and the effect of the Fajr Film Festival on the national cinema, it would be wise to change the time of festival, because the festival has almost been turned into a ceremony."

The spokesman of the Policy Council of the House of Cinema, Ali Mo'alem, said, "It seems that the structure of the cinematic organization and the Fajr Film Festival needs to be revised.

"If wrong decisions are being made in regard to the festival and cinematic activities, cinematic figures should not be blamed because we lack a clear cinema policy.

"Twenty-three years after the victory of the Islamic Republic of Iran, why is nobody asking cinematic officials what they have done? Do they have a clear definition of cinema? Why are the religious and national cinema policies which have been explained by the Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran not being carried out?"

He called for the problems of cinema and artists to be solved and for an end to the political disputes of the country's cultural officials.

Ahmad Reza Darvish, Ali Mo'alem, Mohammad Ali Najafi, Abol-Hassan Davoudi, Alireza Raeisian, Touraj Mansouri, Foaad Nour, and Jahangir Almasi of the Policy Council of House of Cinema also attended the meeting.