Since a few years ago, the Iranian national television has paid special attention to producing telefilms in addition to television series. Television managers have allocated a generous budget to recruiting cinema directors and actors and have caused concerns that people may lose interest in going to theaters due to production and screening of telefilms. That concern is quite justified because telefilms are aired on the television in the best hours of holidays and reduce people’s motivation to go to the movies.
Since there are currently 40 television channels (aired inside and outside the country) the need for telefilms has increased and managers of various channel are trying to get famous directors make them. In the past, cinema directors and actors kept their distance from television because airing films on the television would have downplayed the importance of their films. On the other hand, since telefilm makers produce them in the shortest possible time and on lower budget, their chances of low quality is higher. Such films are aired on holidays while other channels are airing such attractive programs as soccer matches, which reduce their audience. On the other hand, telefilms are aired one or two times and then are sent to the archives.
Thus far, many famous directors have cooperated with the national television. Interestingly, their viewpoints about television are different. For example, Sirous Alvand, one of the most experienced Iranian directors, is apparently not interested in television, but he made two telefilms last year and is planning to make his third during the current year. He likes that because television producers, unlike cinema produces, do not impose their own viewpoints on him. Iraj Karimi, who unlike Sirous Alvand is more inclined toward intellectual themes, maintains that working with television is ideal for directors.
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