Intense Competition in 61st Cannes Film Festival

A Song for Loneliness of Tehran (Saman Salur) was screened in “directors’ fortnight” section of Cannes Film Festival. The film was taken to Cannes and distributed internationally by Dreamlab Company which is managed by Nasrin Mireshab and was the sole Iranian film at the 61st Cannes Festival. Although, Iranian filmmakers were not happy that their country was only represented by a single film at one of the world’s most important cinema affairs, their reactions were more logical than the preceding year. Cannes Film Festival is considered very important by film producers and distributors due to its significance as a cinema event and the opportunity it provides them to market their films. Since film production has increased in many countries, an intense competition usually takes place to be among 100 films that are finally selected for three official sections of the festival. Many names were crossed out in this year’s competition which included surprising omission of Abbas Kiarostami and his latest film, Shirin. In that competition, quality of films and the way they are presented has the first say and, undoubtedly, officials of Cannes follow their own cultural and even political goals and policies, just as is the case with other international festivals including Fajr International Film Festival. Cannes film market is also a good opportunity for presentation and introduction of new Iranian films and Cinema Farabi Foundation also helped official and state-run organizations as well as private distribution companies to be present at Cannes as an Umbrella for the Iranian Cinema. Shahrzad International Media and International Affairs Department of Cima Film were independently present at Cannes.