One day before the ceremony, a very important film of hers, “The Blue-Veiled” was screened with the restored version of the film for the first time in Malatya Film Festival. Rakhshan Banietemad and one of the jury members of this year, who is the leading actress in the film, Fatemeh Motamed attended the screening and then they answered questions of the audience by the moderating of Assoc. Prof. Dr. Sabire Soytok, an expert on Iranian cinema.

The director underlined the importance of the film’s being restored, rushing to make it to Malatya Film Festival with so much effort. She thanked her team for their elaborate work.

She mentioned her sorrow for the earthquake that happened a few days ago in Iraq and Iran.

She answered questions about herself being a brave woman director in Iran and the reactions of the community of Iran towards her films. She said to be a successful woman director worldwide was never given to the women directors as a present, it was always the results of the efforts of the woman directors themselves. The Blue-Veiled tells the story of a middle aged man, an owner of a farm who lost his wife several years ago and he falls in love with a farmer girl and they want to get married but the society judges them and they have difficulties coming together.