Alireza Davoodnejad (cinema and TV director) // Cinema is like a living creature—there are processes of birth, growth, maturity, aging and even death. It might be a documentary, semi-documentary, fiction documentary, short film or a feature movie. It can delay its demise when development and growth is possible. A good short movie makes it possible to communicate with something through the lens of a camera. This happens when lots of short movies are made in a country and people can learn from the movies and do what they understand from the simple language that short films usually employ.

Documentary movies open up new horizons to us. The next step is making semi-documentary films in a consistent manner.

That's when we have developed the capability to reproduce what goes on around us and that's when we can make short fiction films, i.e. record in mind what we see and reproduce it in the form of a short story and a short movie. These types of movie making might be considered as professional works. A person can make one documentary for all his life long and leave a rich legacy of raw material for fiction films. This means the mentioned types can be professional complementary jobs that together pave the way for a successful professional cinema.

On 100 second film which is a kind of short film and has its own festival, I have to say it is the most difficult type of movie to make, since it has to have a subject, good structure, rhythm, speed, framework, decoupage, stage direction and good light in a short fixed time.

I have never made a short film, although one I intended to make one. It was about a kid who was studying in the first year of school. He had to go to the restroom, but he was ashamed of the teacher, so he prefers to wait for the break time. Then again the toilets were so crowded… if the situation is prepared, I will make this movie.I believe we can do everything in this world. We may do it in a correct or wrong fashion. Our jobs are judged comparatively and that's why different judgements result in different conclusions. So I cannot say how to become a professional short film maker. A short film with good characters, stage direction, decoupage, framework, speed and rhythm, can impress the audience. But a short movie without these features may also impress the audience. Therefore there is not absolute recipe of success, but we are talking about regulations not exceptions. Knowledge, proficiency and talent have positive influence on the job and that's what I have learned so far.

Of course film makers should adhere to all elements of success in making a short film. Still there is a possibility that a movie lack such elements and impress the audience. Exceptions are possible, but I recommend young filmmaker to study regulations and if they want to change these regulations, they do that after experiencing the rules. Beethoven says we have to know all the musical rules so we can violate them competently.