The important function of the Cinema Book of the Year award is to introduce books to the audience

According to the Iran Book News Agency (IBNA), Ramtin Shahbazi, the secretary of the Cinema Book Award, told reporters at a press conference held today (Wednesday) at Cinema House: “I am happy that after a new pause, the Cinema Book of the Year Award will be presented again, and we will have the award ceremony in May 1405 (Persian calendar). This award can definitely be significant for cinematic writers. We plan to review books published from 1400 to 1403. According to Cinema House, 717 cinematic books have been published during these three years, which definitely makes our job difficult. So far, 31 titles from 6 publishers have reached us for judging.”

Shahbazi emphasized that the deadline for submitting books is the end of Azar (end of December), after which the judging process will begin.

The university professor continued: “In my opinion, cultural and media attachments are important for any event, and I ask the media to help us with media coverage. Also, with the help of Cinema House, 10 specialized meetings will be held with the aim of assessing the shortcomings of the Cinema Book of the Year Award and the field of cinematic publishing.”

Shahbazi then announced the names of the jury members: “Nazanin Mofakham, Shahabuddin Adel, Shadmehr Rastin, Mehrzad Danesh, and Amirreza Nouri Parto are the judges for the Cinema Book of the Year Award.”

In response to IBNA about supporting books and research, Shahbazi said: “There is always concern that specialized books are published but reach the audience without being advertised. The important function of this award is to introduce these books to the audience. One of the issues that needs to be assessed is the current status of books that won awards last year.”

The cinema critic commented on the status of authorship and translation in the judging process: “In this period, we will have one winner in each section: authorship, translation, and publisher, and we will also consider an award for a prominent figure in the field of cinema literature. In this edition of the Cinema Book of the Year Award, the prizes are equal, but it must be said that authorship is very neglected in Iran. Authorship takes more time than translation and engages the writer more due to the research involved.”

In response to a question about judging educational cinema books, the award secretary clarified: “Certainly, technical and specialized books will also be judged with the help of the knowledge and expertise of our friends (the judges).”

Regarding the lack of theory in Iranian cinema, Shahbazi stated: “One of the perennial problems of Iranian cinema is the lack of theorization; some believe we have been negligent in this area, while others believe Iranian cinema does not need a different theory from the rest of the world. This issue is defined within the history of cinema, and we will certainly address it in our meetings. It is necessary for various institutions to join hands to write the history of Iranian cinema after the revolution.”