International Conference on Literature and Cinema

A Two-Day International Conference on Literature and Cinema was held on 8-9 February, 2016 at Faculty of Foreign Languages and Literature , University of Tehran.

In the opening ceremony, Prof. Maryam Haghroosta, the Dean of the Faculty of Foreign Languages and Literature talked about the relationship between literature and cinema. Pointing out the presentation of more than 10 modern languages in the faculty, she emphasized that there is a need to further relation between the studies in the area of literature and cinema and interdisciplinary fields of studies.

Prof. Maryam Beyad , the Scientific Secretary of the Conference also presented a report on preparatory actions to hold the event and added that cinema without the backup of the literature may not survive.

Abdolmajid Eskandari, Director General, Office of International Relations also talked about the history of literature and narration and the role of cinema in dissemination of information and the achievements of Iranian cinema in the world scenes. He further added, in the literature the words are considered as living things. In the past, before the invention of cinema, the authors were giving life to these words to make an imagination and we have brilliant examples such as narrators of Shahnameh , an epic by Ferdowsi and the listeners were enjoying it and today , thanks to modern technologies, the cinema producers give life to the words through images. The interaction between cinema and literature is of great significance since each depends on the other one.

Prof. Hojatolah Ayoobi , Head of Iran's Cinema Organization as the special guest of the conference in his remarks stated: “The power of Iranian cinema has been taken from our rich literature . We have no example of the prevalence of poetry among people as much as Iranian people. Iranian people live with their poets . The backup of literature is the secret of success of our cinema,. If our cinema has a bright position in the world , it is due to the blessings of the literature.

It is worth noting that this conference was held in the presence of guests from Turkey, China, Spain, Germany , India, Malaysia , Bangladesh, Canada and Nigeria. More than 112 papers were presented in oral or poster forms in Persian and English and also some panes in Persian, French, Spanish and Russian were held in the conference.