Madrid to get a glimpse of Iran’s cinema

TEHRAN,March 4(MNA) -- Iran’s Cultural Attaché’s Office in Madrid organized a special screening program for Iranian films aiming to familiarize Spanish citizens with Iranian cinema. Six movies are seen in the list including “So Far, So Close” by Reza Mirkarimi, “Hell, Limbo, Heaven” by Bijan Mirbaqeri, “Intersection” by Abolhassan Davudi, and “Canaan” by Mani Haqiqi, all of which will go on screen with Spanish subtitles. The two other movies are Abbas Kiarostami’s “Where Is the Friend’s Home?” and Majid Majidi’s “The Color of Paradise” to be screened in Spanish, the Persian service of IRNA reported on Saturday. Francisco Garcia, a professor at the Complutense University of Madrid who is in charge of screening the Iranian movies, and the secretary of the event Clara Janet Santos attended the session hosted by the office. Speaking at the session, Garcia regarded Iranian ancient civilization as a great treasure for the world and stressed that culture means development and peace between nations. Cinema portrays thoughts and ideas of a nation and shows the social and cultural rules and regulations of a nation, he said. Iran’s cultural attaché Amir Purpezeshk next pointed to Asghar Farhadi’s “A Separation”, which received the foreign-language film Oscar, and regarded it as Iran’s great success at the 2012 Academy Awards. Iran has long been presenting its cultural and literary portrait to the world despite being invaded by the enemies in the East and the West, Purpezeshk said. Persian art and culture especially cinema has made a good progress in the contemporary world and the Iranian people speak the language of art and literature with the world, he added. A group of cineastes and those interested in Iranian art and cinema also attended the session. Several sessions on Iran’s cinema are also arranged during the two-week screening where critics and experts are expected to attend.