Owj Accepts to Stream “Exodus” Online over Coronavirus Pandemic
TEHRAN.(Iranart) – The Owj Arts and Media Organization has given up the public screenings of its latest production “Exodus” due to the shutdown of the movie theaters during the COVID-19 pandemic in Iran, accepting to stream the controversial movie online.
“Due to the present situation, it seems that the coronavirus crisis and its mental and social repercussions will be continuing for some time,” “Exodus” media advisor Mohammad Zoqi said on Sunday.
“So, we decided to try a new movement by using the video on demand (VOD) system to satisfy people’s demands before the public screenings at movie theaters,” he added.
VOD is a video media distribution system that allows users to access video entertainment without a traditional video entertainment device and without the constraints of a typical static broadcasting schedule.
“We have plans to advertise the movie and we have entered into negotiations with Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting to air the commercials for the movie,” Zoqi said.
“By online screenings and then the screenings at theaters and on TV, the movie will have more audiences, moreover, we will see a better return on our investment and this film will help improve people’s mood,” he added.
“The Owj organization and director Ebrahim Hatamikia have also always tried to make films for the people,” Zoqi noted.
However, Ali Sartipi, the distributor of “Exodus”, said on Monday that the Owj has agreed to stream the film online and it differs from the screening through VOD.
Sartipi said that the producer and director of the film have taken risks and added, “I hope this will be just the beginning of a new path for the future.”
“Exodus”, which is about a nowhere-land peasant protest against the local authority that symbolically resembles President Hassan Rouhani’s government, had its Iranian premiere during the 38th Fajr Film Festival in Tehran in February.
Produced at Owj, an institution that produces revolutionary works in art and cinema, the film tells the story of a group of cotton farmers who leave their farms to protest the local official’s unfulfilled promises at the president’s office in the capital.
The film failed to receive the acclaims of the critics who judged the film as falling below expectations.
Comments by the critics and journalists provoked the anger of Hatamikia during a press conference organized after the premiere of the film.
“I’m not concerned about the storms of criticism, some people may like or dislike my film, but I’m annoyed by coarseness,” Hatamikia lamented.
Source:Tehran Times