40th Tehran Int’l Short Film Festival gets kudos on its first days
ILNA – The 40th Tehran International Short Film Festival, which opened on October 19, has attracted an audience of thousands on its first days.
Mehrab Mohammadzadeh, the head of the festival’s Information Committee, announced that over 6,000 cinephiles flocked to the festival on its opening day.
Speaking about this unprecedented reception, Mohammadzadeh expressed his hope to be a perfect host to all artists, guests, and festival-goers, given the available resources.
Attracting more than 6,000 attendees on the event’s first day signifies a revival of cinematic festivals, he highlighted.
He further said, “In response to the audience’s demand, we have also introduced special screenings to ensure that no one misses the opportunity to experience these short films.”
Mohammadzadeh highlighted the success of the specialized panel discussions, adding that Hall 12 of the Mellat Cineplex hosted eager students who had registered in advance. However, due to the students’ high interest, daily single-meeting ticket sales have been sold out at the venue, and the hall was filled to its capacity.
According to information posted on the festival’s website, out of the 7,216 submissions from 131 countries, 58 short films have been selected to be screened in the International Competition Cinema Competition.
The selected films will compete in the sections of short fiction, animation, documentaries and experimental films.
The 40th Tehran International Short Film Festival kicked off on October 19 at Mellat Cineplex, and will run until October 24 in the two main categories of the Iranian Cinema Competition and the International Cinema Competition.
The festival’s secretary, Mehdi Azarpendar, said 1,787 films were submitted for the national section, comprising 1,185 fiction films, 267 documentaries, 222 experimental films, and 113 animations.