Cinema Vérité Festival Tehran
From November 30th till December 7th the DEFC (Documentary & Experimental Film Center) organizes the 8th edition of Cinema Vérité Iran International Documentary Film Festival.
There have previously been appeals for boycott of this festival, that of course is supported by the government, several have asked me whether they should let their film go there or not, my answer is yes, ”take a look at the programme of the festival” and I have listened to what EDN’s film consultant Ove Rishøj Jensen has said, he has been there and knows the people behind the festival.
And this year he and EDN (taken from EDN website) ”… are in collaboration organising the first edition of Cinema Verite DocPro. It is a three-day seminar focusing on the international documentary market. Taking place in the framework of the 8th Cinema Verite documentary film festival, Cinema Verite DocPro will offer Iranian filmmakers three days of seminar sessions, focusing on a variety of aspects connected to working with international documentary projects. Among the topics covered during the seminar are pitching of documentary projects, international financing possibilities, how to construct documentary narratives and project consultations…” The workshop runs December 4-6.
The festival has a fine programme – let me mention Oppenheimer’s ”The Look of Silence”, ”Deep Love” by Jan Matuszynski, ”The Man who Made Angels Fly” by Wiktoria Szymanska , ”Two Ragin Grannies” by Hpåvard Bustness, ”A Diary of a Journey” by Piotr Stasik, ”National Gallery” by Frederick Wiseman, ”Five Broken Cameras” by Guy Davidi and Ema Burnat, ”Concerning Violence” (photo) by Göran Olsson, ”Happiness” by Thomas Balmes as well as there are retrospectives from Visions du Réel and a panorama of Japanese documentaries. Read more on the website, which is still a bit incomplete.