Mr. Minister, please form an inquiry committee!
Loghman Madayen, Film Critic
According to a report by the Cinemadrame news agency, Loghman Madayen wrote in an exclusive note in support of Manouchehr Shahsavari, the secretary of the 43rd Fajr Film Festival: “Let’s set aside formalities; Shahsavari inherited a wreck and must bring it back to the path of growth that Shadmehr Rastin, Reza Kianian, and Reza Mirkarimi had laid out! Public opinion is a priority, and Shahsavari has shown with his recent actions that he is shouting ‘Wajihatan ‘Indallah, Ashfa’ Lana ‘Indallah.’ He has invited respected individuals to the scene so that the first positive signal to the people, who are ‘Ayal Allah,’ is that the era of ignorance has ended. Though it’s not perfect, and veterans from every field should have been invited to ensure a well-rounded festival, let’s not forget that an unwritten dictation always gets a score of 20!
The previous process of the festival was disastrous. Milad Tower was not coordinated until the last minute because the municipality, with its authoritarian mindset, had conditioned that if our film and anime were not added to the list, they wouldn’t provide the venue. The municipality hadn’t even put up a banner out of goodwill to give the city the atmosphere of the festival. There wasn’t a glass of water, tea, or even a place where you could buy something with your own money. The artists were left in a desert of the apocalypse to follow the films in thirst and hunger. The screenings were delayed, the entrance was disorganized, everyone came without paying attention to the entry pass, many had received passes during overtime. Journalists would come to me and say, ‘You speak more easily, please tell them the festival wanted to cut our quota so we couldn’t enter,’ and when I asked why, they said it was because we had written a critique of the staff’s performance! This means the authorities couldn’t even tolerate the media’s criticism! The media and critics were confused and asked each other why the sound of the films was bad, only to later find out that the problem was the hall, not the films! Suddenly, they delayed the screening of a film for three hours to allow the former minister and Mr. Amini and Khazaei to attend with their families and watch football in the large cinema hall. The hall staff, with a heavy heart, complained to me and said, ‘Mr. Secretary, the festival head pulled me aside and forced me to leave three rows empty in every screening for the esteemed family.’
I’m not saying that they are bad people, I would never say that. They didn’t know! As martyr Chaman said beautifully, ‘Whoever, even if pious, accepts a job they are not qualified for, is impious!’ They didn’t know what a festival was! They confused it with administrative work! It was normal for artists to stand in long food lines and not get served! It was normal for there to be no space to sit! Otherwise, Amini wasn’t a bad person, Khazaei didn’t have bad intentions, and Mr. Esmaili, despite all the critiques against him, made a great effort to help the artists, but they were ignorant. This ignorance led them to mobilize the entire ministry against Mr. Kianian.
My request to Mr. Shahsavari is that, just as the selection of the judging committee was intelligent, he should also include all perspectives for the jury panel, bring in critics from all backgrounds, and include the elders. Why shouldn’t Shadmehr Rastin be there? Why shouldn’t Professor Golmakani be there? Why not Professor Fahim? Why not Professor Soltanmohammadi? They shouldn’t settle for just one director. They should see how many genres have been included in the festival and bring expert directors from each genre. Naturally, a director who has worked in comedy won’t be drawn to a film of a different genre. Among the actors, they should examine each one’s mastery over different acting techniques and invite the veterans in those fields. There should be separate committees for each area like editing, color correction, lighting, set and costume design, sound, poster design, storyboarding, set photography, screenplay, direction, makeup, music, and acting, so they can seriously contribute in their specialized fields.
I ask the festival secretary to leave space after each screening for a meaningful press conference, not like the past years when my dear brother Mr. Moghaddasian had to censor critiques in a short time to avoid negative comments and ensure everyone was praised, or when the podiums were only used for reading statements to divide the artistic community. Let the hosts be free to teach the participants that if they present subpar work, they will be held accountable in front of the media and critics. The paper-based critique system should be removed so that media and critics have to submit their questions electronically before the conference.
Assign people to approach every critic and record all their critiques in audio and video, then share them on social media to avoid passive critics. The solution is simple: if a critique of any work is not recorded, they shouldn’t be allowed entry the next day.
Organize the media; if the usual programs from last year are still being run with the same presenters on TV, use different platforms so the real voice of the festival can be heard.
My exact point is that your seriousness gives the festival credibility, and others will take it seriously. Stop the groupthink and return the festival to its global standards, and keep it moving forward.
Finally, I ask Dr. Seyed Abbas Salehi, the esteemed Minister of Culture, to form a truth-finding committee with honorable and clean-hearted individuals to investigate how low-quality works that made their way into recent festivals were funded. Was the budget proportional to the output? How much were invoices issued for the team and their associates? How did they make their way into a national festival? The Resistance Film Festival, which took everyone to Kish Island, screened repetitive films, and after playing with naval rides, was canceled! How much did it cost, and what was its output? For the sake of public peace, please take serious action so that if any corruption is identified, those who appear to be involved in cultural corruption will be cut off from public funds.”
