Twenty movie theaters in Tehran and five other cities will host people on the National Day of Cinema, announced the Secretary of the 13th Iran Cinema Celebration.

Farhad Tohidi pointed out: “Iran Cinema Celebration was initiated in 1997 by the late Seifollah Dad and a number of prominent moviemakers of the country. The idea behind this nongovernmental celebration is to evaluate the one year report card of the Iranian moviemakers by their peers.”

He further added: “This is a celebration where the judges, unburdened by the usual expedient policies or considerations of the governmental festivals, base their choices solely on the professional assessment of all entries. Although the annual celebration was and is mainly an inside event of the House of Cinema, it caught the attention and interest of movie fans from the very first year. Every year, news of the movie screenings, judgment process and closing ceremony dominate the cinema related news for the duration of the event. The people’s enthusiasm for attending the closing ceremony of Iran Cinema Celebration each and every year verifies the unbreakable bond between the cinema of Iran and its main audience, the people.”

Tohidi maintained: “For reasons reiterated time and again on different occasions, the 13th Iran Cinema Celebration will be held in a non-competitive fashion. Nonetheless, the attention of the event’s policy-making committee will still be focused on the main addressees of motion pictures.”

He then went on to say: “National cinema cannot be defined except with people and every one of people. National cinema relies on people; if they don’t go to cinema, there won’t be a cinema. Our cinema has gone beyond borders as a cultural ambassador to the farthest parts of the world to introduce the Iranian culture and art and wisdom and lifestyle, and there would be no sign of it today had it not been for the loving support of people. So, to celebrate the National Day of Cinema and to reinforce the mutual bond between cinema and people, the policy-making committee of the 13th Iran Cinema Celebration invites the people, who are the very breath that keeps the Iranian cinema alive, to the free screening of selected films of the previous 12 celebrations in 20 movie theaters in Tehran, Isfahan, Mashhad, Tabriz, Ahvaz and Rasht on September 14th and 15th, 2009. May the splendor of people’s participation bring a new meaning to the National Day of Cinema in our country.”