SARI (MNA) – Some 3,341 Iranian and foreign movies have been submitted to the secretariat of the 9th edition of Varesh International Film Festival, the secretariat's manager has said.
According to Morteza Kazeminia, some 1,672 domestic and 1,669 foreign producers have submitted their works to vie at the festival.
Among the Iranian entries, some 1,201 movies will take part in the national competition, 243 will attend at the special competition (Caspian Hyrcanian mixed forests) and 228 movies will vie at the section focused on the northern Mazandaran province’s nature.
The festival’s main objective in the international section is to introduce the common cultural heritage of various Caspian Sea littoral ethnic groups whose film productions deal with common religious, cultural, geographical and historical themes, adding that identifying new talents in short film production, encouraging filmmakers to produce religious titles, introducing cultural issues, as well as reviving mutual relations among the filmmakers, are also among the goals of the event.
Varesh features short films running 100 seconds to 40 minutes in the three categories of main international and special section.
The festival has been taking place in the city of Babol, Mazandaran province, since 1999.
The 9th International Film Festival will also be held Babol in the spring of 2019. It was halted for several years; the previous edition was held in 2015.