Crime” going on in Iranian theaters

TEHRAN -- The cast and crew of Masud Kimiaii’s “Crime” attended a special ceremony held at Tehran’s Felestin Cinema on Saturday to promote the film, which won a Crystal Simorgh for Best Film in February.

The crowd that had gathered outside the theater waiting for the celebrities to arrive was overwhelmed to see the cast and crew members and showered them with applause.

The film’s story, which is set in the Iran of decades ago, is about a man who is trying to remain faithful to his beliefs through a dilemma.

Felestin Theater hosted the ceremony where the cast and crew as well as filmmaker Kimiaii were honored.

“Sometimes, people of our generation feel sad when we lose one of our good people. My heart cried out when I heard that Nasser Hejazi (Iran’s legendary goalkeeper and football coach) was no longer among us. Whenever a legendary individual dies, all of us hope that an individual among you (the youth) will replace him,” Kimiaii told the audience. Hejazi passed away from lung cancer last week.

Director of photography Turaj Mansuri regarded the ceremony as a worthwhile act, saying, “This is a good thing to do, like the countries that own the cinema industry. When we hold an official premiere, it means we respect those who have worked hard on the project and it gives them a chance to watch the movie along with the audience.”

Musician Karan Homayunfar next said, “It is a great honor to stand beside Kimiaii, I only express thanks to Kimiaii who gave us all these hopes and wishes, and I am happy that I composed the music for the film.”

Actors Dariush Arjomand, La’ya Zanganeh, Akbar Moazzezi, and Shabnam Darvish each made short remarks. Pulad, son of Kimiaii thanked the acting couple Ali Mosaffa and Leila Hatami for their participation.

Actor Hamed Behdad expressed his interest in Kimiaii’s productions and performed a famous song without music.

Honoring the director of the dubbing of the film Khosrow Khosroshahi and his coworkers Manuchehr Esmaeili and Changiz Jalilvand was also part of the program.

The ceremony was brought to an end with a screening of “Crime”.