Documentary & Experimental Film Center - DEFC

The Documentary, Experimental and Animation Film Center (DEFC) is a Tehran-based Iranian organization that produces documentaries, animations, experimental and feature films. It was founded in 1984 as the Center for Experimental and Semi-Professional Cinema at the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance in Baharestan Square, where 16mm production gave young filmmakers a way into directing, and it has since produced more than 1,000 documentaries, films and animations. Since 2007 DEFC has organized Cinéma Vérité, the Iran International Documentary Film Festival; it also publishes the quarterly magazines Cinema Verite and Cinema Animation, holds weekly screenings and runs workshops on documentary and animation. An animation sector was officially added to the center in 2022.