Iranian films are terribly welcomed these days in the United States and many Iranian directors are widely known as global intellectuals among American citizens, the Iranian News Agency (IRNA) quoted a Muslim American critic as saying.
David Lipfert added that the Iranian cinema due to its great emphasis on human values has found its way in the United States and attracted American filmgoers from all walks of life.
"I was shocked when I saw a huge crowd line up in a long queue for an Iranian film sold out before a friend of mine and I got tickets," reiterated the excited critic adding "This is while the mega-budgeted sci-fiction Hollywood films have faced poor attendance of moviegoers."
Lipfert argued that the motion pictures with the themes of humanity are preferred by the American general public to the films enjoying state-of-the-art technology because the former deals with matters more closely related to everyday life.
“American film industry has focused on obscene scenes depicting violence and vulgar sex with the aim of attracting potential audience but it has led to prevalence of aggressive and criminal acts among the Americans,” he regretted.
The Muslim critic also criticized the Internet for propagating vulgarity and violence among the American youth as the US film industry and numerous TV channels are contributing to the same purpose.
Referring to some of the limitations with which the screening of the Iranian and all other foreign films are entangled in America, this internationally accredited film critic pointed to English subtitle as a need in America.
He recalled having seen Iranian films with their original soundtrack and no subtitle in Italy.
Lipfert encouraged the Iranian authorities to pave the way for screening more films in the US since the American filmgoers are raring to "watch invaluable cinematic works."
Pointing to the undesirable hegemony of the Jewish investors over the American cinema, he said, "it is encouraging to note there are still independent distributors who look for valuable works which they can afford with their limited monetary funds, and it is them who import top Iranian films.
Asked why he converted to Islam, Lipfert told IRNA that he studied Islam when he was in Syria and found it a religion that has met both material and spiritual needs of mankind.
"Upon my return to America, I contacted the New York Islamic Center for more information on Islam and they referred me to the congregational prayer leader in New York whose guidance led to my conversion to Islam."
In response to another question about the relation between Islam and terrorism, which is unfortunately overtly and covertly propagated in the west nowadays, Lipfert said, "all of us know very well that this is merely a political plot, while Islam, like any other monotheistic religions, has nothing to do with terrorism." – Albawaba.com
