Challenges and solutions for boosting production in Iran's cinema industry

This article was published in 1398 (2019/20) by the Social–Cultural Research Deputy in relation to Iranian cinema. Iranian cinema, despite the talent that is visible in its production record and human resources, and also despite its notable brilliance at world cinema festivals, does not have a bright outlook in economic and production terms. In recent years, with the flourishing of the country's cinema box office and the increase in Iranian films' sales in the country's cinemas, hopes for this field have increased. But the box-office boom of Iran's cinemas has occurred unevenly and has ultimately not led to an increase in the quantity and quality of production. Also, among the works of Iranian cinema, few have been able to break even, and most of them do not have a balanced level of costs and revenues.
The growth of every country's cinema industry, as a field that is important both economically and politically, is on the agenda as a strategic industry. The most important reason Iranian cinema has remained small is the absence of a cinema market in Iran. In Iranian cinema, the supply and consumption of the cinematic product follow rules outside cinema's internal rules. Film production in Iran depends on budgets outside the structure of supply and demand in cinema. Most cinematic productions in Iran are made with a government budget or with private budgets without considering the audience's need and for other reasons. Hence they are detached from their audience. Also, the production arena, without pursuing its commitment to product quality, enters the field in an ad hoc manner and with the aim of reaching the highest possible profit in the short term. Therefore a cinema market does not emerge in Iran. For this reason, the most important policy in Iranian cinema must be the establishment of a cinema market and the strengthening of its two fundamental sides, namely production and the audience.
To achieve the stated goal, three basic strategies are proposed. These strategies are: "establishing a sustainable film-production structure," "organizing the money entering Iranian cinema," and "discovering and increasing the audience for Iranian cinema." For each of these strategies, proposals have also been considered at the operational, support, and legislative levels. Taken together, these proposals steer Iranian cinema toward establishing a broad market at the level of Iran and the region, creating a sustainable production structure that increases the quantity and quality of production, and also expanding the audience for Iranian cinema for national interests.

Statistics and material examined in more detail in the report:

• Abstract
• Introduction
• Supply, demand, and economic competition in world cinema
• What is the cinema market?
• The economy, production, and cinema market in Iran
• The most important obstacles to the formation and expansion of the cinema market in Iran
• The absence of a cinema market, the producer crisis, and the forgetting of the audience
• Conclusion and recommendations
• Sources and references