Virtual Isfahan Tourism:
A Gift by the Festival to the Audience
This year, for the first time, no guests traveled to Isfahan to attend the Isfahan International Film Festival for Children and youth. Instead, Isfahan hosted its national and international audience. The Tourism and Urban Marketing Committee of the 33rd Festival, led by Nafise Hajati, a specialist journalist in the field of heritage and tourism, produced videos introducing the lesser-known attractions of Isfahan. During these video narrations, the relationship between Isfahan and the Festival was shown to local, national, and international audiences.
The 380-year-old Hasht Behesht Palace which is less visited by tourists but especially attractive because of its gold chamber, the Ashraf Hall which is usually open only to ambassadors and high-ranking foreign guests, the Rakibkhaneh Building with its great tower and fine Qajar decorations, the house of Amin al-Tojjar which may be called the Museum of Iranian Architecture, all were among the selected locations the Festival audience was able to experience a virtual trip to. Of course, Chaharbagh, an important 400-year-old passage of Isfahan and the nostalgic route of the Festival, was also of the main videos presented to the audience in this project.
Especially in the four periods of being capital, Isfahan was known as a multinational city in which citizens of different religions, ethnicities, and nations lived: from Switzerland, Portugal, and Spain to Armenia, Georgia, USA, Austria, and Poland. In the video collection of the Tourism Committee, Armenian-Iranian and Georgian-Iranian children and adolescents are also present, introducing the heritage of nations in Isfahan.
The produced films were also sent to the cultural advisers of the Iranian embassies in cooperation with the International Committee of the Festival so that this cinematic-tourist invitation could reach different countries.
The idea of virtual tourism and the introduction and branding of the event and origin were implemented for the first time in the 33rd Isfahan International Film Festival for Children and youth, and it can be claimed that none of the similar festivals had ever worked in this field.
All videos are in two to three languages. Various people, including Hadi Allayari, Masih Nekouie, the PersianTanin team, Mir Saeid Hadian, Amirhossein mir Moeini, Karin Dermardirosian, etc., worked hard to produce these narratives, with Marjan Doras in charge of translating the subtitles from Persian to English.
It is the beginning of a new way and chapter in content production for one of the main international festivals in Iran.
The 380-year-old Hasht Behesht Palace which is less visited by tourists but especially attractive because of its gold chamber, the Ashraf Hall which is usually open only to ambassadors and high-ranking foreign guests, the Rakibkhaneh Building with its great tower and fine Qajar decorations, the house of Amin al-Tojjar which may be called the Museum of Iranian Architecture, all were among the selected locations the Festival audience was able to experience a virtual trip to. Of course, Chaharbagh, an important 400-year-old passage of Isfahan and the nostalgic route of the Festival, was also of the main videos presented to the audience in this project.
Especially in the four periods of being capital, Isfahan was known as a multinational city in which citizens of different religions, ethnicities, and nations lived: from Switzerland, Portugal, and Spain to Armenia, Georgia, USA, Austria, and Poland. In the video collection of the Tourism Committee, Armenian-Iranian and Georgian-Iranian children and adolescents are also present, introducing the heritage of nations in Isfahan.
The produced films were also sent to the cultural advisers of the Iranian embassies in cooperation with the International Committee of the Festival so that this cinematic-tourist invitation could reach different countries.
The idea of virtual tourism and the introduction and branding of the event and origin were implemented for the first time in the 33rd Isfahan International Film Festival for Children and youth, and it can be claimed that none of the similar festivals had ever worked in this field.
All videos are in two to three languages. Various people, including Hadi Allayari, Masih Nekouie, the PersianTanin team, Mir Saeid Hadian, Amirhossein mir Moeini, Karin Dermardirosian, etc., worked hard to produce these narratives, with Marjan Doras in charge of translating the subtitles from Persian to English.
It is the beginning of a new way and chapter in content production for one of the main international festivals in Iran.