The delegation led by the Syrian Deputy Information Minister, Ahmad Dawa, who is also the director general of the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA), held a meeting with the director of the festival, Jalal Ghaffari, and Mohammad Hosseini, the director of the Association of the Revolution and Sacred Defense Cinema, the organizer of the festival.

Cooperation on joint film projects about Islamic resistance and mutual interests in cinema were discussed at the meeting.

“Portraying the Syrian war, which was launched with the aim of terminating the security and civilization in the country, is of crucial importance,” Dawa said.

“Films can play a key role in showing a true image of what is going on in Syria and the aftermath of the hostile acts of the West and Western media against the Syrian people,” he added.

For his part, Hosseini said, “There is great potential for producing short and feature films and documentaries, especially in resistance cinema.”

“By combining and exploiting the potentials and capabilities of the two counties, we can produce quality works in the resistance cinema,” he added.

Ghaffari said that the 17th edition of the International Resistance Film Festival will be held next year in the Iranian calendar and invited Syrian filmmakers to attend the event.

He called the festival “a permanent and dynamic cultural current of the Islamic world,” and added, “This meeting could produce good results and blessings for Iranian and Syrian filmmakers.”

This is the second time within the past six months that a Syrian cultural delegation has visited Iran. 

Syrian Culture Minister Lubanah Mshaweh and a group of her aides visited Iran previously last September to discuss arrangements for an Iranian cultural week that subsequently was held in Damascus.  

Mshaweh also held meetings with several Iranian officials, including Islamic Culture and Relations Organization (ICRO) director Mohammad-Mekdi Imani.

She said that Syria is ready to team up with Iran on film projects, and added that her country is interested in learning from Iranian filmmakers’ experiences.

There are many people in Syria that can speak Persian, Mshaweh said, and added that Damascus University launched a department for the Persian language in 2008, which has taught many students.

She praised the Iranian Cultural Center in Syria for its great endeavors to promote the Persian language.

 

Source:Tehran Times