Director of Seattle filmfest Elizabeth Shepherd congratulates children’s week in Iran

TEHERAN – Elizabeth Shepherd, director of the Seattle Children’s Film Festival in the United States, has congratulated Iran’s National Children’s Week.

The Institute for Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults (IIDCYA, also known as Kanoon) and several other Iranian Children’s Cultural Centers celebrate the week every October. This year’s festival will take place from October 8th to 14th.

In a message to Kanoon, Shepherd said, “I’m in Seattle right now, I wish everyone a happy festival and I would like to send my warmest congratulations to Kanoon’s film department.

“I want to say hello to all the children who are there today. I hope the films you see bring you so much happiness and so many beautiful colors in life.

“I have enjoyed working with Kanoon’s film department for many years … And I know that the works that were made in Iran are so beautiful.”

Shepherd also thanked the institute for sending films to the Seattle Festival so many times, saying, “You have enriched the lives of so many children here with so many beautiful films from Iran.

“I send you my warmest greetings and wish you the most beautiful festival in the world,” she said.

In a symbolic act, the Kanoon also released a letter from Iranian children to their peers around the world to celebrate National Children’s Week.

“We, the Iranian children, greet all children from all over the world,” says the letter.

“We are the ones who are the sweetness of life, as the adults say; who wish that we are always happy and that nothing spoils our dreams. However, our world becomes defaced when adults ignore us. Then our smile becomes clouded.

“We all love and we don’t want fights or wars between people and countries in the world. We love ‘peace’. We love kindness and happiness. We love giving and receiving gifts. We love to smile at each other. We love peace and friendship. We want everyone to look the same with smiling faces.

“Why do we have to be sacrificed because the adults are at war? We loathe words like anger, enmity, crying, war and struggle. We don’t even want to write these words in our notebooks. Whenever we see hungry children in the world, we hate to eat our food. We want all children around the world to be happy. We want them to have clothes, food, and fun. We want all children to go to school and have an education. We want adults to listen to our words.

“We are ready to have adults paint paintings on the subject of reconciliation and friendship. We are children and we want to tell adults that we believe that you will love us and be kind and good to one another. If you love us, throw away all your guns and listen to us.

“We really want the world to be a place where we can sing happily. We don’t want adults to do things that bring tears to our eyes and break our hearts. Adults need to remember that, like us, they have to be nice to one another if they are to build a happy world for children.

“We love those who love and spend time with children. We pray for all adults to have good God as a friend to help us in the hope of happy days in our lives and a happy childhood. “

Photo: Children’s Film Festival Seattle director Elizabeth Shepherd in an undated photo.

MMS / YAW