According to the public relations’ office of the 33rd FIFF, the press conference of “Jonsouda” which is an Iranian-Thai coproduction and is one of the movies of the competition section, was held in Mellat Cinema Complex.
Somayeh Ghazizadeh, Film Critic, Faramarz Vakili, the director, Amin Jafari, the cinematographer, and Sandy Ploi, one of the cast members attended this press conference.

Vakili pointed to how the story of the film was created: “Generally speaking, this documentary was inspired by Iranian people’s numerous trips to Thailand and their marriages there. We did a lot of research and planned to make a documentary about Iranian’s adventures in Thailand.”
He talked about choosing the Thai actor of the movie : “For the pre-production, we stayed in Thailand for two or three months. At first, we chose an Iranian actress, yet we couldn’t afford our choice due to financial problems. Eventually, as we were desperately moving forward, we decided to pay the Thai Acting School a visit, and that was when we saw Sandy Ploi.”

Vakili added : “We were not looking for a star. On the other hand, we didn’t want to choose an actress who was known to the Thai audience. Miss Ploi had played in a few episodes of a series prior to being cast for our movie, yet she hadn’t got famous yet.”
Replying the question about whether or not he was interested in having coproductions with other countries in the future, Vakili mentioned: “I’d be glad to have coproductions in the future. That’s why I’ve already begun planning my next movie which is a coproduction with Poland and is centered on wildlife.”
“Jonsouda“‘s director referred to what paved the way to make this movie and said: “We had translators who have grown up in Thailand. They are familiar with Iranian and Thai cultures both.”
In the end, Vakili pointed out : ” There are a lot of differences between Iranian and Thai cinemas. Thai cinema is more in line with Hollywood and Bollywood; however, Iranian Cinema benefits from a different atmosphere.”
Sandy Ploi, one of the cast members of “Jonsouda“, who has actually had her first serious acting experience, said: “Previously, I wasn’t familiar with Iranian Cinema and I’d just heard about Fajr Festival. Being a part of this project was a new interesting experience for me.”
This Thai actress asserted: “Acting in this movie was really hard for me since I’ve played a different character which required a lot of effort. However, it was an interesting experience.”
She finally expressed her pleasure for being in Iran.

The 33rd Fajr International Film Festival is held from April 25th to May 2nd in Tehran. This is the first year for the international section of the festival to be held separately from the national section.