Exceptional Nowruz for Iranian Cinema

Iranian cinema has experienced an unprecedented Nowruz in terms of audience reception for its films. Distributors of various films reported new records for ticket sales during this period. The level of interest in some films was such that they were shown 24 hours a day for several days. Mohammad Reza Faraji, the director of the Professional Cinema Office of the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, announced that the total sales of films during Nowruz 95 exceeded 16 billion tomans, marking the highest figure recorded for the Nowruz holidays in recent years. Mr. Faraji identified the highest-grossing Nowruz film as 'I Am Not Salvador' with sales of around 8 billion tomans. This film began its screening a few weeks earlier than other Nowruz releases and managed to gradually attract more viewers due to extensive satellite advertising. Following 'I Am Not Salvador,' another comedy released during Nowruz, '50 Kilos of Cherry,' was the second highest-grossing film of the recent holidays, with reported sales of 3 billion and 200 million tomans. Other successful Nowruz releases included 'Bodyguard' with 2 billion and 100 million tomans and 'Eternal and One Day' with 1 billion and 800 million tomans in sales. Abolhasan Davoodi, a writer and director as well as the former head of the Cinema Guild Council, believes that various factors, including social conditions, influenced the success of the Nowruz films: 'The reality is that several factors came together, and all of these contributed to this year's significant growth. Previously, if the screening time started from Nowruz, this year that timing was shifted, and each film was screened immediately after the previous one according to its contract. The second reason was that last year's Nowruz coincided with the Fatimid days of mourning, meaning we had mourning holidays until the sixth or seventh of the holiday, and only after that did sales start to grow.' Mr. Davoodi added that 'after the elections in Esfand, a more hopeful atmosphere emerged in society, especially in Tehran, which particularly influenced the youth.' Iranian films achieved high sales during this Nowruz despite the official Iranian television airing various programs and series during the holidays, as Abolhasan Davoodi noted that the poor quality of these programs played a role in attracting cinema audiences: 'Television may have harmed itself and helped cinema by not producing good programs, effectively driving viewers away from the television, and this year we saw that particularly in the area of series production, there was no significant movement in television, and therefore viewers had no interest in sitting at home watching television, naturally dedicating that space to cinema.' Another notable event during the Nowruz screenings was the intense competition among films for television ad spots. While the trailer for 'Bodyguard' was frequently aired on various Iranian state television channels due to its content and production team, other films like 'I Am Not Salvador' and '50 Kilos of Cherry' aired their trailers on the satellite channel Gem. This occurrence, according to Abolhasan Davoodi, happened because these films were screened abroad and ultimately benefited from it: 'Films that managed to have simultaneous screenings abroad were able to utilize satellite advertising, which significantly impacted their sales. This event demonstrated that such advertising has a direct effect on the sales and promotion of films.' Low-grossing Nowruz films included 'Rage and Hysteria' by Hooman Sidi, which earned 350 million tomans, and 'Where Are My Shoes?' by Kiumars Pourahmad, which earned 300 million tomans.