By Samaneh Aboutalebi
TEHRAN – Kati Juurus, the artistic director of DocPoint – Helsinki Documentary Film Festival has said that the screening of Iranian documentaries in such international events can expand public understanding of Iranian society.
“This year the festival will screen five Iranian documentaries, which can increase at least the Finnish audience’s knowledge of Iranian documentary films,” Juurus told the Tehran Times in an email interview on Friday.
The DocPoint festival plans to hold a retrospective of Iranian documentarian Mehrdad Oskui by screening his award-winning documentaries “My Mother’s Home, Lagoon”, “Nose, Iranian Style”, “Sunless Shadows” and “The Other Side of Burkha”.
“Family Relations” by Iranian filmmaker Nasser Zamiri, about a father whose family members are against him, will also be screened at the official section of the festival.
“I had seen ‘Starless Dreams’ and got curious about Oskui’s career,” said Juurus, who is also the curator of the international section of the festival.
“He seems to be one of the directors who keep telling the same story with variations. So I decided to find out more about Oskui’s work and to run a retrospective of his works as he’s not well-known in Finland,” she added.
She also noted that the festival is choosing films based on their cinematic qualities, topics and relevance. “A unique voice is always good,” she stated.
She also said that the Cinéma Vérité, Iran’s major international documentary film festival and Iranian documentaries are not widely known in Finland.
“Iranian drama films are more famous here,” she said and added, “I’m a fan of Asghar Farhadi’s films. And Abbas Kiarostami is very well-known here.”
“There’s wonderful filmmaking and interesting filmmakers in Iran, so I hope that there will be cooperation [between Iran and Finland] in the future,” she concluded.
The DocPoint – Helsinki Documentary Film Festival will open in the Finnish capital on Monday and will continue until February 2.
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