Tunisian Director Hails High Quality of Iranian War Films

Anis Lassoued, Tunisian director, praised the high quality of the Iranian war cinema, known as the cinema of Holy Defense.

Lassoued made the remarks in an interview on the sidelines of the 12th International Moqavemat (Resistance) Film Festival in Iran’s Southeastern city of Kerman.

Anis has been in Iran twice and he is back for the third time as a member of the jury in the International Fiction and Documentary Section of the 12th IMFF.

He was a member of the jury in Tehran’s Short Films Festival last year and he came back for the 30th Fajr International Film Festival to participate in the Islamic Awakening Conference. It is worth mentioning that Anis was one of the speakers of the conference.

Asked about the IMFF, he said that he’d come to Iran “with a lot of curiosity” about this particular festival. He emphasized the importance of Defense and the films made in this area. He pointed out that prior to participating in the festival, he’d read a lot about the Holy Defense in Iran; however, he was not sure what it was particularly about. Being a part of this festival has illuminated the fact for him that the Islamic republic of Iran has been in defense against Imperialism, the Zionist Regime, and the United States for many years. Moreover, Iranian people have been trying not to be inflicted by Israeli and American beliefs. Anis believes this to be a very important kind of defense against the Israelis and Americans.

Asked Lassoued about the Iranian films which are made to depict the Holy Defense in Iran throughout the war with Iraq, he replied that he’d seen a few of them and that he thought they can be very impressive.

“As a result of the propaganda against Iran, most of the Arab countries sided with Saddam throughout the 8-year war; these films have been very clarifying, nonetheless,” he added.

He believes IMFF provided a picture of what really went on in Iran throughout the war and modified the international image of the country.

He compared the Iranian films made about the Holy Defense to similar ones from Russia, China, Japan, and Algeria, and said that the Iranian films are different because they are trying to portray the Iranian culture.

Lassoued will be back in Tehran next month to take part in the Children International Film Festival due to be held in Isfahan.