Producer says West thwarts world premiere of “The Kingdom of Solomon”

“Despite its numerous screenings in international festivals, the film faces sabotage in worldwide distribution by certain Western countries, particularly by the United States,” Mojtaba Faravardeh said.

“The plot of ‘The Kingdom of Solomon’ is based on Quranic verses, which is at odds with Jewish-held notions. Thus Hollywood, which is ruled by people of Jewish ethnicity, has been outraged by the film,” he added.

He said that organizers of certain Arabian festivals were under pressure from the U.S. to exclude “The Kingdom of Solomon” from their events.

Faravardeh made the remarks on Sunday during his visit to the office of iFilm, an Arabic network based in Iran that was launched in August 2010 to present Iranian films and serials to the Arab world, the Persian service of ISNA reported on Monday.

“We will begin dubbing this brilliant film for Arab viewers in the near future,” iFilm director Katayun Hosseini said during the visit.

“The dominance of Hollywood is over and iFilm will demonstrate the power of Iranian cinema in promoting religious themes through broadcast of the film at an appropriate time,” she added.

According to Faravardeh, 51 billion rials (about $4.9 million) was spent on making the film. However, it has earned about 27 billion rials (about $2.6 million) since September 29, 2010 when the film began premiering in Iranian movie theaters.

He said that they plan to make two sequels to the film, which depicts slices from the life of Prophet Solomon (AS). The production of the film has been financed by the Farabi Cinematic Foundation, which is affiliated with the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance.

In early December 2010, “The Kingdom of Solomon” won a best film award for Faravardeh at the Jewar Film Festival, which was held in Baghdad. In addition, Shahriar Bahrani received the best director award for the film at the event.

Photo: A poster of “The Kingdom of Solomon”