DUSHANBE, October 25, Asia-Plus – The budget for holding the Second Tajikistan International Film Festival, Didor, is some US$50,000, the festival director general Safar Haqdodov remarked at a news conference in Dushanbe on October 23.
According to him, filmmakers from Mongolia and Egypt have also applied for participation in the festival but for the limited budget their applications have been refused.
The youngest participant of the festival is an 8-year-old Javonmard Poiz from Afghanistan, who is, according to the festival art director Sadullo Rahimov, rising stat of Afghan cinema and beginning scriptwriter.
According to Haqdodov, three short-length movies to be shown during the festival — “The Morning” by Denis Beketov, “Loving Musavvar” by Alovuddin Abdulloyev and “The Angel of Our Home” by Bakhtiyor Qahhorov – have been shot due to grant provided by the festival president and internationally known Iranian filmmaker Mahsen Makhmalbaf. “At the conclusion of the first Didori Dushanbe festival Makhmalbaf provided five grants of US$2,000 each for shooting short-length movies,” Haqdodov said.
The festival art director Sadullo Rahimov noted that the main feature of this year’s festival is coverage of problems facing Afghanistan.
“If the festival is successful, the next festival may possibly be held in Kabul,” Haqdodov said.
