Iranian film festival to celebrate COVID-19 healthcare providers

Organizers of the festival announced that the 372 films submitted in this category include movies from the United States, Brazil, Spain, Italy, Britain, France, India, Turkey, Iraq and more.

The scene at last year’s Arava Film Festival (photo credit: EDWARD KAPROV)
The scene at last year’s Arava Film Festival
(photo credit: EDWARD KAPROV)
In another sign of how the coronavirus crisis is impacting countries around the world, the 16th Resistance International Film Festival in Iran reported that 372 applicants sent films to compete in the “Defenders of Health” section.
The 372 films submitted in this category include movies from the United States, Brazil, Spain, Italy, Britain, France, India, Turkey, Iraq, Indonesia, Egypt and Nigeria, the organizers of the festival announced.
The Resistance Festival will take place in two sections this year, September 21-27 and November 21-27.
The Defenders of Health section will be held in September, and its films will express “global gratitude” to those who fight the COVID-19 virus. More than 350,000 people have been diagnosed with the virus in Iran since the crisis began and over 20,000 deaths have been reported.
Many cultural events in Iran have been canceled, postponed or have moved online due to the virus. The 38th edition of the Fajr Film Festival, a major Iranian film festival, was held in Tehran in early February, just a few days before the first cases of the coronavirus were diagnosed. The international edition of that festival, which was set to take place in April, was canceled due to the pandemic.
Some Iranian arts events gradually have been becoming more liberal, according to dissidents. In November, Israeli director Dekel Berenson’s movie Ashmina won a special jury prize at the Tehran Short Film Festival, although the movie, which is set in Nepal, was listed as a British-Nepali co-production. Berenson, who is based in the UK, did not attend the festival.
Many film festivals around the world spotlight Iranian films, both by filmmakers who work with the approval of the regime and those who live abroad and make movies that would be censored in Iran.
Two films by Iranian director Asghar Farhadi have won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film over the past 10 years – A Separation and The Salesman. He continues to work both in Iran and abroad.