Nima Javidi, director of the acclaimed drama “The Warden” and Sareh Bayat, star of the Asghar Farhadi’s Oscar-winning drama “A Separation”, are among the members.
The jury also has Bahram Tavakkoli, director of the acclaimed war drama “The Lost Strait”, which was highly acclaimed at the Fajr festival in 2018, earning awards in six categories including best film and best director. He is also the director of “Gholamreza Takhti”, a biopic about legendary Iranian wrestler Gholamreza Takhti.
Mostafa Kiai, director of the comedy film “Motreb”, which has become Iran’s box office hit of the year by grossing 380 billion rials (about $9 million) in 2020, has also been selected for the jury.
The jury is also composed of cinematography director Morteza Pursamadi, producer Jamal Sadatian and cultural manager Mohammad Ehsani.
Fajr president Mohammad-Mehdi Tabatabainejad said earlier that the festival, which is Iran’s major film event, will be organized on its regular date from January 31 to February 10, 2021.
He also said that the event would go ahead with screenings but only for the jury due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, he later said that the entries will be screened for a limited number of journalists, critics and filmgoers.
He added that they have no plans for organizing the festival online.
Earlier in August, Cinema Organization of Iran director Hossein Entezami said that the organization is searching for a safe platform to organize the Fajr Film Festival online if the pandemic continues until February 2021.
He stated that there is no platform in Iran able to guarantee the festival entries against piracy.
The 38th edition of the Fajr festival was held in Tehran from February 1 to 11, just a few days before the first cases of the COVID-19 infection were detected in the country.
Afterwards, the international edition of the festival, which was scheduled to be held in April, was canceled.
Source:Tehran Times