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Iran plans to nominate Hushang Moradi Kermani for Hans Christian Andersen Award 2014

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TEHRAN -- The Children’s Book Council of Iran plans to nominate Hushang Moradi Kermani for the Hans Christian Andersen Award 2014.
 
“He’s got a very profound outlook on Iran. He combines memories with the truth in a way that you cannot distinguish between them,” council member Nushafarin Ansari said during a ceremony held in Tehran on Monday to commemorate Moradi Kermani.
 
“His works have been translated into 20 other languages… The council has taken into notice his works since 1990,” she added.
 
“Due to the lack of good books, we have denied our children many pleasures,” she stated.
 
Ansari called on families to get their children to become members of a library in order to experience the pleasures of reading.
 
Moradi Kermani was also nominated for the Hans Christian Andersen Award in 1992. In 1974, Iranian illustrator and graphic designer Farshid Mesqali won the award, which is considered the Nobel Prize for children’s literature.
 
Moradi Kermani, 68, is an eminent writer of books primarily for children and teenagers. However, his works also appeal to adults.
 
Several Iranian movies and TV-series have been based on his works. Kiumars Purahmad directed the TV series “The Stories of Majid” and Dariush Mehrjuii made “Mom’s Guest” -- both based on his novels of the same name.
 
His credits also include “Sweet Jam” and “Like the Full Moon”, “Cushion”, and “The Big Clay Jar”, most of which have been translated into English, German, French, Spanish, Dutch, Arabic, Armenian, Turkish and several other languages.
 
His “The Reservoir”, about several children who study in an Iranian traditional school, was published in 2011.
 
The International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY) in Switzerland presents the Hans Christian Andersen Awards biennially to a living author and illustrator whose complete works have made a lasting contribution to children’s literature.
 
The prize is named after the Danish author Hans Christian Andersen and winners receive a gold medal from the hand of the Queen of Denmark Margrethe II, who is the patron of the Andersen Awards.
 
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Ahamadinejad previously approved “Laleh” film project: official

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TEHRAN -- A member of Iran’s High Council for Cinema said on Wednesday that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has previously approved the U.S.-based Iranian filmmaker Asadollah Niknejad’s the plan to make “Laleh”, a controversial movie project about the first Iranian female race car driver, Laleh Seddiq.
 
Niknejad gained Ahamadinejad’s approval during a meeting with U.S.-based Iranians in New York, Jamal Shurjeh told the Persian service of the Mehr News Agency.
 
He said that Niknejad played the role of an artistic and stage manager for the president’s programs during his sojourn in the United States.
 
“And finally, he turned into a member of Ahamadinejad’s delegation,” Shurjeh stated.
 
Iran’s Documentary and Experimental Film Center (DEFC) announced on Monday that U.S. and Canadian companies would provide part of the budget for the production of “Laleh”.
 
DEFC Shafi Aqamohammadian said that the film will cost about 70 billion rials (over $3.5 million), 25 billion rials ($1.3 million) of which will be provided by the DEFC.
 
The companies will provide the funding for the project due to their close relationships with Niknejad, he stated.
 
Iran Cinema Organization Director Javad Shamaqdari defended the movie project against severe criticism by filmmakers and others.
 
He said that they will be making the film as a response to the propaganda spread by Western media about restrictions on the social activities of females in Iran.
 
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Iranian foundation holds contest in honor of “The Little Prince” author

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TEHRAN -- An Iranian literary foundation has organized a story-writing contest for children in commemoration of “The Little Prince” author Antoine de Saint-Exupéry.
 
The Cheragh-e Motale’eh Literary Foundation has invited children and young adults under the age of 15 to email their short stories to the website address princeprize2011@gmail.com before September 5, secretary of the contest Maryam Sistani said in a press release published on Wednesday.
 
“The Little Prince”, first published in 1943, is a novella and the most famous work of the French writer and poet Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. The novella is both the most read and most translated book in the French language, and was voted the best book of the 20th century in France.
 
Sistani also said that the subject for the stories is open, adding that the secretariat has received about 50 stories so far.
 
The top five winners will be announced on September 22. The first winner will receive a cash prize, a statuette of the Little Prince, an honorary diploma, and a series of books for children and young adults.
 
The other four winners each will receive an honorary diploma and a series of books for children and young adults.
 
Ahmad Akbarpur, Abuzar Qasemian, Marzieh Jokar and Fatemeh Forutan are the jury members of the contest.
 
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UNESCO to examine registration of Iran’s carpet washing ritual

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TEHRAN -- The UNESCO is scheduled to scrutinize the ritual of the carpet washing in Mashhad Ardehal to register it on its list of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
 
Iran’s Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts Organization (CHTHO) has sent the file on the ritual UNESCO, the director of CHTHO’s Office for Registration, Preservation and Restoration of Intangible Cultural and Natural Heritage, Atusa Momeni, told the Persian service of IRNA on Wednesday.
 
UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage will decide on the registration of the ritual on the list during its 7th meeting, which will be held in Grenada from November 25 to 30.
 
The ritual of the carpet washing symbolizes a funeral held for Imamzadeh Soltan Ali (AS), a descendant of Imam Muhammad Baqir (AS), in the region of Mashhad Ardehal in 732 CE.
 
The ritual is held annually on the second Friday of fall by the young men of the city of Fin and the village of Khaveh, located near the shrine of the imamzadeh.
 
Some heralds are sent to Fin and Khaveh a week before to call on people to attend the ceremony.
 
A large carpet, which is kept at the shrine, is wrapped in green textile and delivered to the young men whirling sticks in the air. The sticks symbolize the clubs the people of the region used as weapons centuries ago.
 
Reciting religious poems, they take the carpet to wash it in the Shazdeh Hossein Spring near the shrine. Afterwards, it is delivered back to the guardians of the shrine.
 
Thousands of people annually travel to Mashhad Ardehal to watch the ceremony.
 
Noruz, the Iranian New Year celebration, and the titles and components of the radifs in traditional Iranian music were registered on UNESCO’s List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2009.
 
The music of the Bakhshis of the Khorasan region, the Pahlevani and Zurkhaneh sports, the Iranian passion play tazieh, the traditional skills of carpet weaving in the Fars region and the traditional skills of carpet weaving in Kashan are other Iranian items that were registered on the list in November 2010.
 
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Iran celebrates registration of Kashan carpet weaving and Fin Garden on UNESCO lists

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TEHRAN -- The registration of the Fin Garden and Kashan’s traditional skills of carpet weaving on UNESCO lists was celebrated in a ceremony in the town of Kashan, Isfahan Province on Wednesday.
 
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, UNESCO Tehran Cluster Office’s Advisor for Communication and Information Arya Gunawan Usis and a number of cultural officials attended the ceremony at the Fin Garden, Persian news agencies reported on Wednesday. 
 
Fin Garden is one of the nine gardens registered on UNESCO’s World Heritage List in June 2011.
 
The Persian garden profile also includes the gardens of Pasargad and Eram in Fars Province, Pahlevanpur and Dowlatabad in Yazd Province, Fin and Chehel Sotun in Isfahan Province, Akbarieh in South Khorasan Province, Abbasabad in Mazandaran Province, and Shahzadeh Mahan (also known as Shazdeh) in Kerman Province.
 
The traditional skills of carpet weaving in Kashan, was registered on UNESCO List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity during the Fifth Session of the Intergovernmental Committee in Nairobi in 2010.
 
The ceremony began with a brief speech delivered by Ahmadinejad.
 
“When the monuments of a nation are registered on the World Heritage List, the world’s scholars, artists, and art lovers pay due attention to that nation,” he said.
 
Usis presented UNESCO registration certificates for the garden and the traditional skills of carpet weaving in Kashan to the president.
 
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Persian calligraphic paintings on display at Dubai’s XVA Gallery

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TEHRAN – Dubai’s XVA Gallery is currently playing host to an exhibit of calligraphic paintings by Iranian artist Fereidun Omidi.
 
Entitled “Demolition”, the show runs until September 10. 
 
“Omidi layers oils to create a dancing scene of characters and colors,” organizer said on the gallery’s website.

Tehran exhibit to explore evolution of Quran calligraphy

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TEHRAN – The evolution of Quranic calligraphy will be shown in an exhibition scheduled to open at the Malek National Museum and Library in Tehran on Sunday.
 
Forty copies of the sura of Al-Fatiha, which have been selected from rare Quran manuscripts kept at the museum, will be showcased in an exhibit entitled “Forty Mirrors”, the museum announced in a press release on Thursday.  
 
The show, which will run for a month, has been organized to celebrate the holy month of Ramadan.
 
In addition, the event will commemorate the 40th anniversary of the death of Hossein Aqa Malek (1873-1973), the owner of the Malek National Museum. The museum was once Malek’s private mansion. He handed it over to the government to convert it into a museum.
 
The art of bookbinding will be shown in an exhibition of 15 copies of rare Quran manuscripts on the sidelines of the show, which has been arranged with the help of the Iranian Academy of Arts.
 
The Malek Museum, which is located in the vicinity of Bagh-e Melli, is affiliated with the Astan-e Qods Museum of Mashhad.
 
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Iranian cineastes and poets condemn Myanmar’s massacre of Muslims

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TEHRAN – Several Iranian cineastes and a group of poets have condemned the recent massacre of thousands of Myanmar Muslims by the country’s Buddhists. 
 
Millions of Muslims who are considered a minority in Myanmar have faced many problems over the past two years as the government of Myanmar refuses to recognize them. 
 
Reza Mirkarimi, Parviz Sheikhtadi, Habibollah Bahmani, Ensieh Shah-Hosseini and Jamal Shurjeh are the filmmakers who have expressed their dismay over the recent crimes in their brief talks with Persian news agencies.  
 
The news and photos of the crimes committed against Myanmar’s Muslims break the heart of every human being, while the international media refuses to depict their suffering, Mirkarimi said on Thursday.
 
He asked every individual to relate the sounds of their pains and suffering to others and pray for them during the holy month of Ramadan.
 
Bahmani proposed to make movies on this issue, while Shah-Hosseini asked the artists to show their reactions against the crime.
 
Shurjeh also said that the silence of the West against such a crime indicates that the massacre is to their benefit.
 
Moreover, a group of poets has signed a petition in support of the Muslims in Myanmar and called on international bodies to put an end to this massacre.
 
According to unofficial reports, more than 20,000 Muslims have been killed, tortured, and displaced by the extremist Buddhists in Burma’s Rakhine province, the worst sectarian killing in this part of the world over the years, the Pakistan Observer has reported on July 13. 
 
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Hassan Kasaii’s swansong unveiled

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TEHRAN -- The last album by Hassan Kasaii was unveiled during a commemoration ceremony held for the recently deceased ney (reed flute) virtuoso at Tehran’s Vahdat Hall on Wednesday.
 
The album, entitled “Naay-e Jaan” (“The Reed of Spirit”), contains eight compositions by the master, and has been released by Barbad Music, Persian news agencies reported on Friday.
 
Kasaii died of prostate cancer at the age of 84 in Isfahan this year on June 14.
 
Family members as well as setar and tar virtuosos Hossein Alizadeh and Mohammadreza Lotfi, poet Hushang Ebtehaj, Kasaii’s student Hassan Nahid and scholar Hossein Elahi Qomshei were in attendance at the ceremony.
 
“Kasaii was in love with literature and used to sing good poems I had not heard before. He used to say I sing in my mind first and then begin to play the ney,” Qomshei said in a short speech.
 
He asked cultural officials to register the house of Kasaii in Isfahan on the National Cultural Heritage List. 
 
“It is home to love and hope. The sound of Kasaii’s ney can still be heard in that house,” he said.
 
The ceremony continued with a duet by Kasaii’s son, Khalil and tombak player Mahmud Rafiian.
 
Afterwards, Alizadeh addressed the audience and said that Kasaii’s works used to be part of Iranian people’s life. He lamented Iranian radio stations’ disregard for these works.
 
An exhibition of Kasaii’s photos collected by Forugh Bahman also opened on the sidelines of the ceremony.
 
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U.S. director Scott J.T. Frank to make doc on tragedy of Iran Air Flight 655

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TEHRAN -- The U.S. documentarian and telefilm producer Scott J.T. Frank plans to make a documentary about the downing of an Iranian airliner by a U.S. warship in the Persian Gulf in 1988.
 
He announced his plan on the sidelines of an international conference on art, language and technology in the northeastern Iranian city of Mashhad on Thursday, the Persian service of ILNA reported.
 
Iran Air Flight 655 was destroyed by the U.S. Navy’s guided missile cruiser USS Vincennes between Bandar Abbas and Dubai on Sunday July 3, 1988, killing all 290 passengers and crew members, including 66 children.
 
The U.S. government has refused to apologize for the incident, claiming that the crew had mistaken the Iranian Airbus A300 for an attacking F-14 Tomcat fighter.
 
Frank called the U.S. government refusal to apologize embarrassing and said that he will make the documentary to show that Iran was a victim of terrorism in this incident.
 
He compared the incident with the 9/11 attacks and said that the Western media did not give due coverage to the event, but his documentary would reflect the reality. 
 
The screenplay for the film is being written and shooting will begin in four or five months. The documentary will be ready to screen in a year, Frank said. 
  
Iranian filmmaker Nader Talebzadeh will be the producer of the documentary, which will be made under the auspices of the Iran Cinema Organization.
 
Frank said that he is not a Muslim, but is interested in Islam. 
 
Frank had accompanied Sean Stone, the son of U.S. filmmaker Oliver Stone, in a visit to Iran in February 2011, during which he converted to Islam.
 
He was also on the panel of the 1st Tehran International Video Film Festival, which was held in June 2012.
 
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MPs raise objection to “Laleh” film project

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TEHRAN -- Members of the Majlis Cultural Committee have threatened to impeach the minister of culture and Islamic guidance over the ministry’s plan for making “Laleh”, a film about the first Iranian female race car driver Laleh Seddiq.
 
If the Culture Ministry refuses to cancel its plan to make the film, members of the committee may vote to impeach the minister, Ali Motahhari told the Persian service of the Fars News Agency on Tuesday.
 
Culture Minister Mohammad Hosseini and Iran Cinema Organization Director Javad Shamaqdari attended a meeting with the committee to give explanations for the film project last week.
 
Motahhari said that the explanations have not convinced the members.
 
“Laleh” is scheduled to be directed by U.S.-based Iranian filmmaker Asadollah Niknejad, whose background in providing services to some Hollywood productions has provoked objections to the film project in Iran.
 
“Hosseini and Shamaqdari said that the film will help the place of Iranian women to be raised in the world and also said that Niknejad’s background is not that bad,” Motahhari said.
 
“However, we rejected all their explanations,” he added.
 
“Investigation of the project has been completed in the committee and we insist on cancellation of the plan for making the film,” another member of the committee Ahmad Saleki Kashani told the Persian service of the Mehr News Agency on Wednesday.
 
“We will resist this and will unfold things occurring behind the scenes, if the Culture Ministry refuses to cancel the plan for making the film,” he threatened.
 
“Laleh” has been estimated to cost about 70 billion rials (over $3.5 million), which will be provided by the Culture Ministry and U.S. and Canadian companies.
 
The companies will join the project due to their close relationships with Niknejad.
 
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Iron Age graves discovered in northern Iran

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TEHRAN -- Fifteen graves dating back to the Iron Age have recently been discovered near the town of Rudsar in the northern Iranian province of Gilan.
 
A team of archaeologists discovered the graves during an emergency excavation at the Siahsu ancient site, which faces the likelihood of being submerged by the Sifidab River, team director Shahram Ramin told the Persian service of ISNA on Tuesday.
 
The site was identified during a study project last year and the Iranian Center for Archaeological Research (ICAR) organized the emergency excavation, which was carried out from May 26 until July 10.
 
A number of bronze weapons, grey pottery works and some other artifacts have been unearthed from the graves.
 
The archaeologists surmise that the graves dated back to about 3000 years ago.
 
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Iranian movie to compete in Montreal filmfest

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TEHRAN -- The Iranian film “Hatred” directed by Amir Dormishian will compete at the Montreal World Film Festival, which will be held from August 23 to September 3.
 
The film, which was shot in Turkey, is about the life of an Iranian couple, Jaleh and Hamed, after their immigration.
 
Baran Kowsari, Babak Hamidian and Mehran Ahmadi are the main members of the cast for the movie. 
 
The festival aims to encourage cultural diversity and understanding among nations, to foster the cinema of all continents by stimulating the development of quality cinema and to promote filmmakers and innovative works.
 
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“The World’s Religions” hits Iranian bookstores

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TEHRAN – A Persian translation of “The World’s Religions” by General Editor Christopher Partridge is now available at Iran’s bookstores.
 
Released by Qoqnus Publications in Iran, the original book was compiled with the collaboration of 80 world experts, translator Abdolali Barati said here on Wednesday.
 
Several chapters of the book have been dedicated to the major world religions including Christianity, Islam, Buddhism and Hinduism, he said.
 
In addition, other chapters review the religions of ancient times in Europe, Africa and the Far East, Barati said.
 
The last chapter discusses changes in the world of today such as the appearance of new spiritual religions and rituals.
 
Barati regards “The World’s Religions” as an encyclopedia on world religions and a good resource for those who are seeking to understand the diversity of world religions. 
 
Partridge is a Senior Lecturer in Theology and Contemporary Religion at Chester College. He has published research in the areas of both contemporary Christian theology and also western alternative spiritualities.
 
“Introduction to World Religions” and “A Study Companion to Introduction to World Religions” are other books by Partridge.
 
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Iranian couple to hold art shows in several countries

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TEHRAN -- An Iranian couple will be holding joint art exhibitions in Georgia and Iraqi Kurdistan in October.
 
A collection of paintings and calligraphic-paintings by Azizollah Golkarzadeh and illuminations and tash’ir (a form of simple illumination decorated with tiny disordered patterns) by his wife Puran Maleki will go on display at the exhibits. 
 
The exhibitions have been organized with the help of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Golkarzadeh told the Persian service of IRNA on Friday.
 
The couple is also working on another collection, which will be showcased in an exhibition in Sweden in January. The Islamic Culture and Relations Organization (ICRO) will sponsor the exhibit. 
 
In addition, he said that they have plans to hold two other exhibits inside the country in Hamedan and Kurdestan provinces in winter.
 
The couple has previously held several exhibits in Finland, the United States and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
 
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Iranian couple to hold art shows in several countries

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TEHRAN -- An Iranian couple will be holding joint art exhibitions in Georgia and Iraqi Kurdistan in October.
 
A collection of paintings and calligraphic-paintings by Azizollah Golkarzadeh and illuminations and tash’ir (a form of simple illumination decorated with tiny disordered patterns) by his wife Puran Maleki will go on display at the exhibits. 
 
The exhibitions have been organized with the help of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Golkarzadeh told the Persian service of IRNA on Friday.
 
The couple is also working on another collection, which will be showcased in an exhibition in Sweden in January. The Islamic Culture and Relations Organization (ICRO) will sponsor the exhibit. 
 
In addition, he said that they have plans to hold two other exhibits inside the country in Hamedan and Kurdestan provinces in winter.
 
The couple has previously held several exhibits in Finland, the United States and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
 
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Book City to review “Nationalism and Modernism in Iran and Turkey”

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TEHRAN -- “Nationalism and Modernism in Iran and Turkey”, which has recently been published in Iran is scheduled to be reviewed during a meeting at Tehran Book City on Sunday.
 
Written by Nader Entekhabi, the book is composed of five articles and a comprehensive comparative study on nationalism and modernism in Iran and Turkey during the nineteenth century and the first half of the twentieth century, the Book City announced in a press release on Thursday.
 
The articles have previously been published in the Persian periodical Negah-e No and the Persian monthly Jahan-e Ketab from 1992 until 2007.
 
The idea for the book came from Entekhabi’s doctoral thesis on the impact of the West and Islam on Iran and the Ottoman Empire. He wrote the thesis about 25 years ago when he was studying at the Université Paris X Nanterre.
 
In the chapters related to the development of nationalism and modernism in Iran, the book scrutinizes how Reza Khan seized power in Iran after the coup of 1921. He overthrew the Qajar king Ahmad Shah and founded the Pahlavi dynasty.
 
The role of Persian magazines including Farangestan, Kaveh, Iranshahr, Ayandeh and several others that were being published by some Iranians in other countries, has also been studied in these chapters. 
 
The book also sheds light on the role of Mustafa Kemal, the Turkish reformer who was the founder and first president (1923–38) of the Republic of Turkey, in the development of nationalism and modernism in Turkey.
 
Entekhabi and scholar Mehdi Firuzan will attend the meeting, which will begin at 4:30 p.m. at Book City.
 
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France’s top honor granted to Iranian actress Leila Hatami

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TEHRAN -- France has honored the celebrated Iranian actress Leila Hatami with an Ordre des Arts et des Lettres medal.
 
She recently received the medal from French Ambassador Bruno Foucher in Tehran, the Embassy of France announced on Tuesday.
 
France’s Ministry of Culture and Communication awards the Order of Arts and Letters, established in 1957, to recognize eminent artists, writers and scholars for their efforts in promoting the awareness and enrichment of France’s cultural heritage throughout the world.
 
In early July, Hatami won the Best Actress Award for her role in “The Last Step” at the 47th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival in the Czech Republic.
 
She played one of the leading roles in “A Separation”, which won the foreign-language film Oscar this year.
 
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Fajr audience favorite “Snow on the Pines” to hit Iranian theaters in fall

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TEHRAN -- The social drama “Snow on the Pines” will hit Iranian silver screens in autumn this year.
 
The movie, which won a Crystal Simorgh for the Audience Favorite Film at the 30th Fajr International Film Festival, is actor Peyman Moadi’s directorial debut.
 
“We have been ready to screen the film since the beginning of this year (March 21, 2012), but we preferred not to be in a hurry for the public screening and wait for the proper time,” producer Jamal Sadatian said here on Friday.
 
Autumn is a good season for screening the movie and will attract larger audiences into the theaters, he added.
 
Moadi began his cinematic activity with writing several screenplays such as “Wedding Dinner”, “Swan Song” and “Café Setareh”. He is also the leading actor in “A Separation”, the Oscar-winning Iranian film directed by Asghar Farhadi.
 
“I wrote the screenplay five years ago and did exactly the same story with the slightest of changes. The movie reviews the married lives of the couples of today,” Moadi had said earlier said.
 
Mahnaz Afshar, Saber Abar, Vishka Asayesh and Hossein Pakdel star in this movie.
 
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Iranian writer compiling biography of Ahmadreza Ahmadi

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TEHRAN -- An Iranian writer is compiling a biography of the renowned Persian poet and children’s author Ahmadreza Ahmadi.
 
Rasul Rakhsha interviewed Ahmadi and other literati to write the biography, which will be published in a three-volume book.
 
“A Private Ceremony” and “Shattered Whites”, two volumes of the book, have recently been completed.
 
The biography is part of the book series “Biographies of Iran’s Culture and Literature Luminaries”, which was launched by Shahram Eqbalzadeh.
 
Ahmadi, 72, was nominated for the Hans Christian Andersen Award in 2010.
 
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