Pezshkian: The government will help the country's arts as much as it can

According to Ashura News, quoted by Mehr News Agency, Masoud Pezshkian visited the home of Professor Ali Nasirian, a veteran of the cinema and theater industry, on the occasion of the International Day of the Performing Arts, and congratulated him on Nowruz and the arrival of the new solar year, and discussed the state of cinema and theater with him.

Pezshkian expressed his happiness at meeting Professor Nasirian and said that he is very interested in the performing arts, but our programs and problems are so many that I do not find much time to go to the theater and cinema.

Professor Nasirian told the President that "the duty of theater is to address social problems and issues," and the President stated: Beyond the purely artistic perspective, I am speaking from the perspective of social sciences and management. When we raise criticism and problems but do not show a way out, it causes chaos.

Pezshkian stated that “the 14th government will help the country’s arts as much as it can,” and regarding the lack of spaces necessary for artistic groups to practice and perform, he said: “We will definitely try to provide the necessary facilities for this sector through interaction so that students can use cultural centers and other capacities that exist in the government and municipalities.”

Professor Ali Nasirian presented a history of performing arts in Iran in this meeting and criticized some negative views of the arts and theater, saying: “They accuse us of blackening things, but the reality is that the task of theater is to showcase problems and weaknesses. Of course, cinema and theater cannot provide solutions. It is up to the audience to provide solutions by touching the problem that the show has shown with the tools of art and involving emotions, and finding solutions to the problems. In fact, theater has four pillars: A writer, director, actor, and spectator who learns from theater and seeks solutions when he touches problems through plays while engaging his emotions.

This veteran of the acting art “described art as a need in society” and stated: People’s needs are not just bread and water, they also need spiritual nourishment. Bad news from war and problems has made people’s spirits thirsty, and theater and cinema can soothe people’s spirits; art and culture are our identity and a window for people to breathe.

Stating that “Iranian society is thirsty for artistic events,” Professor Nasirian added: “I participated in an artistic event in Khuzestan that was supposed to be held for one night, but due to the public’s reception, it was held for three consecutive nights. The high public reception of some modern theaters shows that people are thirsty for luxurious and content-rich theaters and artistic events.

This professor of performing arts and cinema described the performance of cinema and theater in Iran well and stated: Iranian theater and cinema have worked well overall before and after the revolution, and today our cinema is prominent in the world. I have worked with some young directors in these years and I see what brilliant talents there are in Iranian cinema.

Professor Nasirian asked the government and the president to help create a competitive event for playwriting and noted: We have literature and poetry in our culture and civilization, and to some extent novels have also been produced, but we have few plays, and if this competition is launched, it will be very useful so that brilliant talents can find the opportunity to express themselves. We have a lot of talents in the country and we must give them a chance to express themselves.

Referring to the rich history and content of Persian literature, this veteran of the performing arts emphasized the necessity of writing plays based on Iranian literary works and stated: Some foreign artists have written plays based on the logic of Al-Tayr or the Shahnameh, but the problem is that they have written these plays from their own perspective, and we must write plays about the rich literary works of our past from the perspective of Iranian history and culture, because when an Iranian transforms these contents into a play, he can present its meaning more realistically and accurately.

In response to the Minister of Guidance's question about how the film "Cow" was made as the first Iranian feature film, Professor Nasirian stated, "I have only worked as a performer all my life, and I only worked as a teacher for one year due to financial problems," and recalled: We had a group that had performed it live on television several times before the film "Cow," and those same actors became the main actors in the film "Cow." One night, Gholamhossein Saedi came to our performance venue with a young man and said that this young man wanted to make the film "Cow". He was Dariush Mehrjui, who was a talented and elite person. He was the author of the film "Cow" and I learned to act in front of the camera from him.

At the end of the meeting with the President, the veteran actor of our country's cinema and theater said: I had a great time in your presence. You are a knot-breaker and I hope that the knots of the country will be untied by you.

The actor also expressed his appreciation for the selection of Seyyed Abbas Salehi as the Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance and said: The minister you have chosen for the field of culture is a very educated person.

During this meeting, Professor Ali Nasirian also sang two verses of poetry for the doctors and also presented a plate decorated with an artistic work to the President on behalf of the theater community.

The President also presented Professor Nasirian with an exquisite calligraphy painting and a carpet painting.