National and international university scholars and A-listers of the movie industry will discuss various topics during 15 academic sessions and panel discussions.

This includes a session discussing 40 years of Iranian cinema after the victory of 1979 Islamic Revolution. Other programs include workshops on screenwriting, producing, directing, cinematography, editing and set design.

An international conference will also be held to discuss state policies and plans designed to boost and promote national movie industries across the globe.

Here is a shortlist of international speakers:

John Hill, Professor of the School of Media Studies in Royal Holloway, University of London. His PhD is from the University of York. He is co-editor of Film Policy in a Globalised Cultural Economy (Routledge, 2018) (with Nobuko Kawashima).

Soyoung Kim, graduated in Cinema Studies from New York University, is Professor of Cinema Studies at Korean National University of Arts, chief editor of Trans: Journal of Visual Culture Studies, and editorial collective member for Inter-Asia Cultural Studies and Traces: A multilingual Journal of Cultural Theory and Translation.

Marijke de Valck, associate professor in media studies and program director of the master’s program Preservation and Presentation of the Moving Image. She holds a PhD from the University of Amsterdam. Her research is situated on the intersections of film/media studies, cultural studies and globalization studies focused on film festivals studies.

Tiago de Luca, Associate Professor in Film & Television Studies in University of Warwick. He holds an MA in Film Studies from UCL and a PhD in World Cinemas from the University of Leeds. His main research interests are: cinematic realism; time and duration in the cinema (especially slow cinema); and contemporary world cinema, with an emphasis on Brazilian and Latin American cinemas.

Presided over by writer and director Reza Mirkarimi, the 37th edition of Fajr International Film Festival will be held in Tehran on April 18-26.