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16th Fajr International Film Festival

The 16th Fajr International Film Festival (Persian: شانزدهمین جشنواره بین‌المللی فیلم فجر) held 1–11 February 1998 in Tehran, Iran.

16th Fajr International Film Festival
Official poster
Opening filmThe Glass Agency
LocationTehran, Iran
Founded1983
AwardsCrystal Simorgh
Editor-in-chiefSeifollah Dad
Festival date1–11 February 1998
LanguagePersian, English
Fajr International Film Festival

The Glass Agency (Ebrahim Hatamikia, 1998) was the festival's best film in "Competition of Iranian Cinema" and The Promise (Luc Dardenne and Jean-Pierre Dardenne, 1996) —a Belgian film— was the festival's best film in "Competition of International Cinema".

The Glass Agency won a record-tying nine awards including Best Film, Best Director and Best Screenplay.

Selection committee

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Majid Nadiri, festival's public relations officer, was announced the selection committee members on 3 January as below:[1]

Juries

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Competition of Iranian Cinema
Competition of International Cinema[2]

Competition of Iranian Cinema

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Closing ceremony of the
16th Fajr International Film Festival
Date11 February 1998
SiteVahdat Hall
Highlights
Best FilmThe Glass Agency
Most awardsThe Glass Agency (8)
Most nominationsThe Glass Agency (13)[a]

Awards and nominations of the Competition of Iranian Cinema sections are below:[3]

Audience Choice
Competition
Non-nomination Crystal Simorgh
Films with multiple nominations and awards

The following 10 films received multiple nominations:

Nominations Film
13[a] The Glass Agency
8 The Tree of Life [fa]
7 Birth of A Butterfly [fa]
The May Lady [fa]
3 Mercedes [fa]
The Sorcerer [fa]
The Pear Tree
2 Psycho [fa]
The Cloud and the Rising Sun [fa]
Takhti: The World Champion [fa]

The following 3 films received multiple awards:

Awards Film
8 The Glass Agency
2 The Tree of Life [fa]
Birth of A Butterfly [fa]

Competition of International Cinema

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Crystal Simorgh for Best Film
Crystal Simorgh for Best Director
Crystal Simorgh for Best Performance
Crystal Simorgh for Best Screenplay
Non-nomination Crystal Simorgh
Crystal Simorgh of Special Jury Prize
Additional Honorary Diploma

Non-competitive sections

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The festival's other sidebar sections included tributes to Anthony Quinn and Ezzatolah Entezami, retrospectives of the works of three directors —Fred Zinnemann, Krzysztof Kieślowski and Ebrahim Hatamikia— , screening of the selected works for which Ennio Morricone had composed the music, "Festival of Festivals", and special screenings.[2]

Facing Mirrors

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Retrospective of the Fred Zinnemann's career highlights:[4]

Retrospective of the Krzysztof Kieślowski's career highlights:[4]

The Green Narrative

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Retrospective of the Ebrahim Hatamikia's career highlights:

For All Seasons

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Tribute to the Anthony Quinn by screening of 14 films of his career.[5]

Tribute to the Ezzatolah Entezami by his career highlights:

Once Upon a Time

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Tribute the Ennio Morricone by his career highlights:[4]

Ceremony information

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63 films were requested to participate in the festival which 22 of them were approved for the "Competition of Iranian Cinema" section.[3] For the first time, FIFF had had opening ceremony that took place on 31 January 1998, at the City Theater in Tehran, Iran. Also for the first time, press conference for each film of the competitive sections was held at the Sahra Cinema [fa].[6] elimination of the "Debut Films" section is another feature of festival's this edition.[7]

The "Competition of International Cinema" section in the festival was introduced for the second time. The first time was in 1990.[2] The section was added in order to FIFF accredit by FIAPF as a competitive international film festival.[7] Sheila Whitaker mentioned that this was the first time in the festival's history, held an international competition with an international jury, headed by Abbas Kiarostami.[8] At the closing ceremony, Kiarostami read out a statement in which he made it clear that the jury felt it impossible to give awards to foreign films that could only be screened in Iran with major cuts.[c][8]

The "Iranian Film Market" (IFM) was established and took place during the festival. For example, National Film Development Corporation of India (NFDC), the central agency of Indian cinema, sent a delegation to the IFM and spent ₹83,864 (equivalent to ₹380,000 or US$4,500 in 2023) at this market.[9]

Critical response

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16th FIFF marked by a powerful selection committee that did not allow many commercial films to enter into competition section. An Audience Award also introduced this year. All these made the FIFF regain the credibility it had in the past, i.e. before the politicians not familiar with cinema took charge.[10] However, impact of the former government's policies still remained.[11]

Footnotes

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Notes

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  1. ^ a b The Glass Agency had had two nomination for Best Supporting Actor category.
  2. ^ a b c d Honorary Diploma winner
  3. ^ including all scenes of sexuality, violence and drug-taking

References

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  1. ^ سینماهای نمایش‌دهنده فیلم‌های جشنواره فجر [Fajr Festival's screening cinemas]. Hamshahri (in Persian). No. 1450. 4 January 1998.
  2. ^ a b c Rastin 1998, p. 54.
  3. ^ a b برگزیدگان شانزدهمین جشنواره فیلم فجر [16th Fajr Film Festival winners]. Hamshahri (in Persian). No. 1481. 12 February 1998.
  4. ^ a b c یادمان زینه‌مان، کیسلوفسکی و موریکونه در جشنواره فجر [Tributes to Zinnemann, Kieślowski and Morricone at the Fajr Festival]. Hamshahri (in Persian). No. 1462. 18 January 1998.
  5. ^ Eldredge, Richard L. (6 January 1998). "Engaging affair". The Atlanta Constitution. p. 2. ProQuest 413644202
  6. ^ شانزدهمین جشنواره فیلم فجر، امروز در تهران گشایش می‌یابد [16th Fajr Film Festival opens today in Tehran]. Hamshahri (in Persian). No. 1470. 31 January 1998.
  7. ^ a b Yaʿqubian 1998.
  8. ^ a b Whitaker, Sheila (6 March 1998). "The veil of fears". The Guardian. p. 12. ProQuest 245223887
  9. ^ Lok Sabha 1999, p. 93.
  10. ^ Rastin 1998, pp. 53–54.
  11. ^ Gozāresh 1998, p. 162.

Sources

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