Cultural pathology of Fajr Film Festival from the perspective of the Civilizational Cinema: A case study of the 40th period

Iranian cinema films, especially the works presented at the Fajr Film Festival, are mainly pioneers "in the position of discovery and screening" of society's problems and dilemmas, and less often act as the leading art "in the position of providing the solutions". In Iran, little attention has been paid to the strategic issue of civilizational cinema; the cinema that can broaden and deepen the future horizon and direction of cinema in three dimensions: the motivation of cinema artists, the content of films, and the attention to the neglected capacities of the audience. This article uses semantic research method and deductive thematic analysis to analyze the essential components of civilizational cinema and also deviates from the criteria in Fajr Festival films (by purposeful sampling among the films of the 40th period). For this purpose, the theoretical approach of "reasonable life" has been used to show examples of cultural harms. The findings show that the Fajr Film Festival, which is held in the name of the Islamic Revolution, is far from a civilizational cinema. Some explicit deviations from the rules of jurisprudence can be identified both in the policy-making of the festival and in the process of production, selection and display of works. Some political and insightful factors have been introduced as the most important obstacles to the continuation of civilizational cinema. Also, the article seeks to show the mission of the festival's artists towards their transnational and exterritorial duty in the Islamic world.