New: On Sunday the 20th of April, the Iranian Alliance of Motion Picture Guilds (Khaneh Cinema) announced that: “Once again, The Iranian Documentary Filmmakers Association is selected as the most distinguished association among the 29 unions in 2008.”

IRDFA was selected as the most distinguished Association among the 29 unions in the Iranian Alliance of Motion Picture Guilds in 2007.

HISTORY

For the better recognition of production potential and in order to create independent organizations, the Establishing Board of the Iranian Documentary Filmmakers’ Association was born inside the House of Cinema.

In late 1996, despite the presence of production potential (directors and private sector offices), the fate of documentary making was entirely in the hands of governmental organizations.

Governmental organizations such as the TV not only did not allocate any role for Iran’s private documentary makers but, on the whole, there was no relationship between the documentary films and the society. On the other hand, the House of Cinema’s authorities, which at the time were supporting 26 trade unions of story-telling cinema, did not believe the reality of the existence of documentary makers as a trade union in the private sector.

Therefore, the Establishing Board prioritized limited meetings with documentary makers, studying and consulting in order to achieve one unionized article of association. While there was resistance against the presence of documentary makers in the House of Cinema, and so Establishing Board proposed that if the House of Cinema includes Iran’s cinematic trade unions, ‘Documentary’ and ‘Animation’ makers should also have a place.

This presumption that Iranian Cinema consists of three branches of ‘Fiction Cinema’, ‘Documentary Cinema’ and ‘Animation Cinema’, was finally accepted and cleared the path for accepting the Documentary Filmmakers Association in the House of Cinema’s trade unions.

Finally a year later, on the 25th of January 1997, the Establishing Board, whose members include Mohammad Tahaminejad, Ebrahim Mokhtari, Pirooz Kalantari, succeeded in holding the first general assembly of documentary makers, which ratified the draft of Articles of Association.

After holding the first general assembly, the Establishing Board resigned and the Board of Directors was elected in order to follow up the documentary makers’ claims and demands.

Goals:

The main goals of the IRDFA include:

Expansion and development of Iranian documentary cinema’s “Art/ Industry”

Compilation of cultural and economic policies of Iranian documentary cinema and partnership with other legal organs in this field

Defending the general rights of documentary makers of Iranian cinema (ex. author’s right, etc.)

Creating job and profession security; protecting members’ unionized rights and making efforts to increase their professional performance level

Developing links with other trade unions and Iran’s cinema production centers to create jobs and protect members’ moral, material and professional rights

Evaluating fields of cooperation and establishing links between Iran and the world’s artistic-cultural centers in order to make production possible.

Distribution and screening of Iranian documentary films, providing facilities for social security

Establishing a databank based on Association requirements

Establishing councils for resolving disputes within the trade union’s contractual framework (in case both or either party refers).

Role and Performance:

The Association of Iranian Documentary Filmmakers has allocated part of its efforts to regulate the behavior of public organs towards documentary filmmakers, investment and the screening documentary films.

Since the government had theoretically supported the trade unions, the board of directors could negotiate with the country’s cinematic authorities and even persuade the Cinematic Deputy Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance to create an appropriate atmosphere for investment in and screening of independent documentary films from governmental organizations and television. However, with the change in governmental management, this policy was not implemented.

The Association’s efforts for the positive participation of government in documentary cinema resulted in the publication of a policy booklet and guidelines on documentary making methods by the government (the Cinematic deputy of Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance) for the first time. Although they did not fulfill the promises that had been announced, it remained a document based on current developments in policy making and the Association still emphasizes the need to implement it.

Boards of Directors have not had that much success in developing face-to-face and effective relations with TV managers. Of course, in this period, Channel 4 was inaugurated by television which, on the surface, places an emphasis on documentary filmmaking.

In order to survive, the Iranian documentary cinema was forced to recognize new markets to support this genre of cinema. Participation in Fajr Film Festival market was a prelude to the above.

Our Association supported the establishment of the Documentary Film Producers Society and has proclaimed the motto “Towards Trade Union” since 2001. This is despite being neglected or even objected to by some members of both societies; however, this lack of trust is gradually disappearing. There is hope for their cooperation to create jobs and to establish video film distribution networks and trade offices.