The 11th edition of the Resistance Film Festival was held 5 years later than its previous edition, the 10th edition. The 11th edition of the festival was held in Shahrivar, 2010, under the direction of “Mohammad Khazaei.” Khazaei, who was known as a producer and investor in Iranian cinema, created a fundamental change in the format of the Resistance Festival and was able to serve as the festival’s secretary for 5 consecutive terms.

The change in the secretary’s position was a problem that the Resistance Film Festival had suffered from for years, and even the decline in its quality level in the last few editions was largely due to this annual change of secretary and, of course, the change in the festival’s policies. Of course, this problem was not only at the Resistance Festival; most of our festivals have been and are suffering from this problem!

In any case, after going through a multi-year and multi-period stagnation on the one hand, as well as its shaky policies on the other hand, the festival now seemed to have reached a comprehensive program and a more specific framework and was about to move towards the goal that was intended for it. In other words, the sections and programs of the eleventh season of the festival were a sign of a more systematic and systematic program for the future of the Resistance Film Festival.

The four sections of “Iranian Cinema” which included documentaries, short and long stories, “Promotional Items” including photos, trailers and posters, “Golden Pen”, “Revolutionary Image” and “International”, were the five sections that made up this period of the festival.

Several sections in this period of the festival were very notable, one was the “New Look” section in Iranian cinema, the other was the Revolutionary Cinema section and most importantly, the return of the International section to the Resistance Film Festival. The International section returned to the Resistance Film Festival after almost a decade, and that too in a competitive manner; Because several previous editions of the Resistance Film Festival have hosted the international section, but this happened in a non-competitive and guest-only manner, but in this edition, foreign works were also fully competitive and judged.

According to the policy of the Resistance Film Festival, it was decided that in each edition of the festival there would be a section in the international section called the “Special International” section, which in 2008, the eleventh season of the Resistance Film Festival, this section was dedicated to the topic of Gaza and its related films.

Selection Board and Jury

Pooran Derakhshandeh, Ali Nasirian, Majid Rajabi Memar, Mohammad Ali Bashe Ahangar, Masoud Faraste, Mahmoud Arbabi, Fereydoun Jairani, the late Seyyed Ziauddin Dari, Habibollah Kaseh Saz, Majid Majidi, Masoud Jafari Jozani were among the judges of the various sections of the festival, who selected over 480 works (documentaries, short and feature films) for this edition of the festival.

Works

“Executioners 1” by Masoud Deh Namaki, “Saturday Hunter” by Parviz Sheikh Tadi, “Mim Like a Mother” by the late Rasoul Malaqlipour, “Democracy in the Bright Day” by Ali Atshani, “Influence” by Ahmad Kavari. Mehdi Fiouzi, “Night Bus” by Kiyomars Pour Ahmad, were among the most memorable works of that season of the Resistance Film Festival.

A simple review of the films of the recent periods of the Resistance Festival, especially the eleventh season, and also a general look at the filmmaking trend with themes of resistance and defense, in the late seventies and eighties, shows a fundamental change in the aforementioned cinema.

That is, in the 60s and even until the mid-70s, films that wanted to be made with the concepts of resistance and defense (films in line with the values ​​of the Islamic Revolution and the ruling system), generally had their story, atmosphere, and location set in the scene of a hard war and the days and nights of the 8 years of sacred defense.

Even if the intention was to show the spirit of resistance in Iranian women and families, which naturally had to be produced in cities, villages, and residential neighborhoods, it would still end up in a Cold War-era story.

It was natural because when a society and a nation are under bombardment, their loved ones are on the battlefield, and the country is surrounded by the enemy, the definition of “resistance” is different from the post-war era. In those days, resistance meant standing up to cannons and guns, while in another time, “resistance” meant defending the same values, ideologies, and protecting them (both the principle of movement and thought, and those who became examples of resistance for the life of this family tree, whom we call martyrs).

Conclusion; When the definition or example of “resistance” changes in different times, its depiction in the medium of cinema must also undergo change, which happened. So we see that in the late 70s and 80s, short and feature-length films, television works, and documentaries; Those who have the concepts of resistance and defense in their hearts, focus their attention and focus on defining resistance in the institution of family, culture and society; that is what was called soft war.

And this difference in perspective and definition of the concept of “resistance” from hard war to soft war was considered the biggest orientation and change in resistance cinema.

Winners

Let’s return to examining the 11th International Resistance Film Festival, which was the first to carry the suffix “International”; the winners of this period were as follows.

Iranian Cinema / Cinema

Best Film: The Son of the Soil, produced by Ahmad Miralai

Nominees: The Night Bus (Mehdi Homayounfar), The Awakening of Dreams (Ali Ashtianipour), Democracy in the Bright Day (Mohammad Ali Zam), Mim Mesle Madar and Aser Rooz Deh (Manucher Mohammadi), The Child and the Angel (Hassan Kalami), Farewell to Baghdad (Mehdi Naderi and the Center for the Development of Documentary and Experimental Cinema)

Best Director: Mohammad Ali Bashe-Ahangar for The Son of the Soil and The Awakening of Dreams

Nominees: Rasoul Malagholipour (The Son of the Soil), Kiyomars Pourahmad (The Night Bus)

Best Actor: Hamid Farrokhnejad for The Night of the Event

Nominees: Amin Hayaei (The Awakening of Dreams), Amir Jafari (The Influential), Khosrow Shakibaei (The Night Bus)

Best Actress: Pantea Bahram for The Goodbye to Baghdad and Hengam Ghaziani for The Awakening Dreams

Nominee: Mahtab Nasirpour (Son of the Soil)

Best Screenplay: Mohammad Reza Gohari for Screenplay