Varesh International Film Festival seeks to bolster cultural diplomacy

Interviewed by Maryam Azish Tehran, May 2, IRNA - International Manager of the 9th edition of Varesh International Film Festival Elahe Nobakht, said this cinematic event is seeking to bolster the cultural diplomacy in the country. [Varesh International Film Festival seeks to bolster cultural diplomacy] Nobakht reiterated that the festival has put its spotlight on the five Caspian Sea littoral states and the Persian language, the common heritage, including (Iran, Afghanistan and Tajikistan) and the Caspian Sea as the natural heritage which includes (Iran, Azerbaijan, Russia, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan). She added the festival, with the theme of common heritage-public culture (behavioral, speaking and biological traditions), is a best venue to discover talented youth in film industry. Nobakht, who was also a jury of several prestigious international festivals, the 13th International Oriental Film Festival of Geneva in Switzerland in particular, underscored that the festival also is seeking to portray the Caspian Sea littoral states' concerns through displaying films. She added so far, over 1,650 works have been submitted to the festival secretariat, adding that the panel of jury would be announced in near future. Commenting on the global cinema audiences' enthusiasm to watch Iranian films, she added that the Iranian films have managed to shine in international festivals recently. Organized by Mazandaran Culture and Islamic Guidance Department and Cinema Organization of Iran, the festival is slated to be held in this northern province on early May 2019. The main themes of the festival are behavioral, speaking and biological traditions. The behavioral traditions films are focused on rituals, national and religious celebrations, habits, folk games and etc. The speaking traditions include videos based on folk tales, ethical, wise, romantic stories, songs, poems, native poems, ancient myths and parables and etc. 9060**2050 Follow us on Twitter @IrnaEnglish