“The Queen” leads nominations at Iran Cinema Celebration

August 13, 2014, 9:00 am

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TEHRAN -- The acclaimed Iranian anti-war drama “The Queen” won 11 nominations at the 16th Iran Cinema Celebration while “Modest Reception” is in the running in seven categories.

 

“The Queen”, starring Mostafa Zamani and Milad Keymaram, was shortlisted in categories including best film, best director for Mohammad-Ali Basheh-Ahangar, best actor for Keymaram, best visual effects and best cinematographer.

 

The story of “The Queen” is set in the southwestern Iranian city of Abadan during the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war. An Iranian soldier hides in the Abadan Oil Refinery to reconnoiter the Iraqi forces.

 

The film won the best director award at the Iranian Film Critics and Screenwriters Guild Celebration for Bashe-Ahangar in January 2013.

 

It also received 14 nominations in various categories at the 30th Fajr International Film Festival in Tehran in February 2012. However it did not win any awards.

 

Certain people criticized the film and consider it “anti-war” due to the fact that the film challenges Iran’s official outlook on the Iran-Iraq war.

 

Actor/director Mani Haqiqi’s acclaimed drama “Modest Reception” is about a well-situated couple, Leila and Kaveh, who drive through the mountains distributing plastic bags full of money to every poor and unfortunate person they meet.

 

This film received nomination in categories including best film, best director, best actor for Haqiqi and best cinematographer.

 

Winners are scheduled to be announced during the celebration, which will be held with a two-year hiatus in Tehran on September 11.

 

The Iranian House Cinema (IHC) is the organizer of the celebration, which is held every year to commemorate Iran’s National Day of Cinema.

 

The celebration was not held in 2012 and 2013 due to closure of the IHC by the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance under former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

 

MMS/YAW

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Meeting of foreign students of Persian language held in Tehran

August 15, 2014, 9:29 am

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TEHRAN -- A meeting of foreign students who are learning the Persian language at Iran’s Imam Khomeini Higher Education Complex was held in Tehran on Thursday.

 

The meeting was organized by the Islamic Culture and Relations Organization (ICRO) at the complex, the ICRO announced in press release on Friday.

 

Over 150 students from 32 countries attended the meeting. 

 

Academy of Persian Language and Literature Director Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel and ICRO Director Abuzar Ebrahimi deliver short speeches at the meeting.

 

“Learning the Persian language by other nations makes them closer to our nation,” Haddad-Adel said.

 

“Today, the world needs peace more than ever and this need is more important than the need for science, technology, wealth and economy,” he added.

 

“The potentials of the Persian language should be used to disseminate the Islamic Iranian culture,” Ebrahimi said.

 

Some Persian language teachers also delivered lectures during the meeting.

 

MMS/YAW

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Six Iranian short films to compete in UNICA festival

August 15, 2014, 9:29 am

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TEHRAN -- Six short films produced by the Iranian Young Cinema Society (IYCS) will be competing in a festival that UNICA (Union Internationale du Cinéma) will hold in Piestany, Slovakia from August 23 to 30.

 

“Mutual Memories” by Shima Naseri, “Wars” by Saeid Madadi Mahani, “Cut” Reza Jamali, “My Life” by Mehdi Rahimzadeh and Amir-Reza Jalalian, “Ding” by Mohammadreza Rafiei, and “Down, Under the Window” by Mahmud Aqazadeh are the Iranian entries to the 76th UNICA festival, IYCS announced in a press release on Friday.

 

The UNICA festival is an international event, which welcomes non-commercial films, and promotes international understanding and collaboration, in particular in the field of art, culture, education and science, in accordance with the principles of UNESCO.

 

Guido Haesen (Luxembourg), Romy Van Krieken (The Netherlands), Josep Rota (Spain), and Vjekoslav Zivkovic (Croatia) are among the jury members who will select the best films for gold, silver and bronze medals. 

 

Delegates from UNICA members will also meet to discuss matters of importance and vote on changes to UNICA’s regulations in a general assembly to be held in Slovakia on August 29.

 

RM/YAW

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Restored version of “The Night It Rained” screened at IAF

August 15, 2014, 9:33 am

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TEHRAN -- A restored version of the documentary “The Night It Rained” (1967–1974) by veteran filmmaker Kamran Shirdel was screened at the Cinemathique of the Iranian Artists Forum (IAF) on Thursday evening.

 

Filmmakers Varuj Karimi-Masihi and Homayun Asadian, author Mahmud Dowlatabadi, and artist Aidin Aghdashlu were among those who watched the restored version, the Persian service of ISNA reported on Friday.

 

Shirdel made the documentary based on the actual events that happened in 1967 in a village near Gorgan in the southeastern Caspian Sea region where a teenager named Ismaeil saved a freight train on a rainy night after he noticed the flood had washed out a section of railroad track.

 

Shirdel, 75, expressed his thanks to Iran’s National Film Archive for the restoration of the film and said, “Darisuh Mehrjuii (director of ‘The Cow’) and I should be happy since our films were preserved (after the restoration)”.

 

There are still many films kept in the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance that need to be restored, he added.

 

“Watching this film revives a special memory in me. I enjoyed the satire hidden in the film when I watched it for the first time. This film is still startling for me after all these years, for the kindness and compassion it bestows upon the viewers. I hereby kiss Shirdel for the deep compassion flowing through this film,” Aghdashlu said.

 

Film critic Khosrow Dehqan called Shirdel a unique phenomenon in the cinema of Iran. 

 

“I respect Iran’s commercial cinema, but I believe the documentary cinema is much more important,” he said, adding that he hoped there would be a good situation in which other Shirdel’s productions would be screened.

 

Film critic Hushang Golmakani said that he watched the movie in 1974 and was still surprised after he saw the film after all these years.

 

Since the mid-1960s, Shirdel has made bold documentary films that address everyday issues of his native Iran, influencing an entire generation of contemporary Iranian filmmakers. 

 

He was originally hired as a filmmaker for the Ministry of Culture and Art under Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi in the 1960s, but over the decades his films have at times been banned, censored and confiscated.

 

Shirdel was handed the Silver Cypress of the forum after the film screening.

 

RM/YAW

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Critics’ best film award goes to “The Paternal House”

August 15, 2014, 9:29 am

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TEHRAN -- The controversial drama “The Paternal House” has won the award for best film at the 8th Iranian Film Critics and Screenwriters Guild Celebration.

 

“Thank the critics who saw that the film has the merit of receiving this award,” director Kianush Ayyari said in his acceptance speech during the award presentation ceremony at Tehran’s Eyvan-e Shams Hall on Wednesday evening.

 

The Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance has refused to authorize the film due some allegedly violence scenes.

 

The officials have asked Ayyari to make some modifications to the film to obtain the ministry approval for screening.

 

“I hope bans are lifted from all films,” he stated.

 

The film tells the story of a father and his young son, Mohtasham, who kill his young daughter for an unspecified dishonor.

 

Ayyari also received the best director award for the film.

 

The special jury award went to the director Shahram Mokri for his acclaimed film “Fish and Cat”, which is about a group of university students who face various problems during their trip to northern Iran.

 

Emerging talent Navid Mohammadzadeh won the best actor award for his role in “I’m not Angry” directed by Reza Dormishian.

 

He received his award from director Rakhshan Bani-Etemad and joked, “I’m not angry at all and I’m very okay!”

 

“I am happy that I am receiving this prize from Rakhshan Bani-Etemad and I ask her now to give me a role in one of her upcoming films. I would be so proud that I would play the role for free,” he added.

 

Best actress award went to Merila Zarei for her portrayal of the mother of a soldier who went missing in action in “Track 143” directed by Narges Abyar.

 

Babak Hamidian won the best supporting actor award for portrayal of Asghar Vesali, a commander of Iranian forces during the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war, in “Che”, and best supporting actress award was presented to Taraneh Alidusti for her role in “The Wedlock”.

 

The following is a list of other winners:

 

Best screenwriter: Mostafa Kiaii for “Bulletproof”

 

Best cinematographer: Hosein Jafarian for “Che”

 

Best composer: Karen Homayunfar for “Everything for Sale”

 

Best editor: Hayedeh Safiyari for “I’m not Angry”

 

Best set designer: Abbas Belondi for “Che” 

 

Best makeup artist: Mohsen Darsanj for “Everything for Sale”

 

MMS/YAW

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Exhibition section to embellish Tehran Puppet Theater Festival

August 16, 2014, 9:48 am

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TEHRAN – The organizers of the 15th Tehran International Puppet Theater Festival – Mobarak plan to stage an exhibition of puppets on the sidelines of the event, which will be held in Tehran in September.

 

The puppets will be selected from among the shows, which were performed during the 14 editions of the festival, secretary of the exhibit Marzieh Mahbub announced in a press release on Saturday.

 

Puppet makers are asked to submit maximum three puppets along with photos, brochures and posters to the secretariat of the festival before September 1.

 

The exhibit aims to select a collection of photos of Iranian puppets. A celebration has also been arranged for the popular puppets from all these years.

 

The 15th Tehran International Puppet Theater Festival -- Mobarak will be held from September 13 to 20.

 

RM/YAW

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Tehran Jasmine filmfest announces intl. lineup

August 16, 2014, 8:53 am

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TEHRAN – The 2nd Tehran Jasmine International Film Festival announced the international lineup on Saturday.

 

Seven foreign films and three Iranian movies will compete in this section.

 

Among the foreign films are “Sarajevo” directed by Andreas Prochaska from Austria, “The Last Will and Testament of Rosalind Leigh” by Rodrigo Gudino from Canada and “Back in Crime” by Germinal Alvarez from France.

 

The Iranian movies are “Three Fish” directed by Hamidreza Qorbani, “Green like Emerald” by Ruhollah Hejazi and “Angle” by Hassan Akhundpur.

 

A jury composed of Australian film producer Greg Hedrick, Tunisian film producer Najib Ayed, French filmmaker Daniel Lejour along with Iranian actor Homayun Ershadi and Iranian director Puran Derakhshandeh will judge the films in the international section.

 

The 2nd Tehran Jasmine International Film Festival will be held in Tehran and Amol from August 23 to 28.

 

SB/YAW

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Scripts of top U.S. animations to appear in Persian

August 16, 2014, 8:53 am

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TEHRAN – Sureh-Mehr, a major Iranian publisher which is affiliated with the Art Bureau, plans to publish the scripts of ten top U.S. animations in Persian in the near future.

 

Each script will be released in an individual book, the Art Bureau’s Animation Department Director Seyyed Mahmud Safavi told the Persian service of MNA on Saturday.

 

“Up” written by Bob Peterson and Pete Docter; “Toy Story” by Joss Whedon, Andrew Stanton, Joel Cohen and 

Alec Sokolow; and “Shrek” written by Ted Elliott, Terry Rossio, Joe Stillman and Roger S.H. Schulman are among the translated titles.

 

The other scripts are “Antz” written by Todd Alcott, Chris Weitz, and Paul Weitz; “Fantastic Mr. Fox” by Wes Anderson and Noah Baumbach; and “Kung Fu Panda” by Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger.

 

“Megamind” by Alan J. Schoolcraft, Brent Simons, “Coraline” by Henry Selick; “Wall.E” by Andrew Stanton and Jim Reardon; and “The Lion King” by Irene Mecchi, Jonathan Roberts and Linda Woolverton have also been translated into Persian.

 

The scripts have been translated into Persian by Khadijeh Zarchini, Faezeh Asna-Ashari, Donya Bidar, Sahar Sarkhosh, Narges Esmaeilzadeh and Nariman Afshar.

 

The Art Bureau is affiliated with the Islamic Ideology Dissemination Organization.

 

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Rough sketches by veteran Iranian architects on display at Tehran gallery

August 16, 2014, 9:50 am

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TEHRAN – A collection of rough sketches by a number of veteran Iranian architects is currently on display in an exhibition at Tehran’s Rouge Gallery.

 

Entitled “Handmade”, works by architects who were once students of the celebrated Iranian architect, sculptor and painter Hushang Seyhun (1920-2014) are being shown, curator Faryar Javaherian told the Persian service of Honaronline, a Persian news website on Saturday.

 

The works belong to Ali-Akbar Saremi, Hossein Sheikheddin, Iraj Kalantari, Fereidun Badr, Hossein Amanat, Nader Ardalan, Faramarz Sharifi, Bahram Farivar Sadri and several others, she added.

 

It was Seyhun who taught his students to communicate with their surroundings through architecture and the result was the primary sketches of architecture, said Saremi who was attending the opening ceremony.

 

Seyhun was noted especially for his innovative and creative architectural designs. The mausoleum of Avicenna in Hamadan, the mausoleum of Nader Shah in Mashhad and the tomb of poet Omar Khayyam in Neyshabur were designed by Seyhun.

 

Prominent filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami was among the visitors who attended the opening ceremony of the exhibit.

 

The exhibit will be running until September 1 at the gallery located at No. 7, second alley, off Hassan Seif St., in the Shahrak-e Gharb District.

 

RM/YAW

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Iranian Artists Forum establishes philharmonic orchestra

August 16, 2014, 9:50 am

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TEHRAN -- The Iranian Artists Forum (IAF) has recently established a philharmonic orchestra, which will be led Nader Mashayekhi, the former conductor of the Tehran Symphony Orchestra.

 

“Preliminary rehearsals have begun and some other musicians are joining the orchestra under the supervision of Mr. Mashayekhi,” IAF Deputy Director for Artistic and Educational Affairs Hamidreza Ardalan told the Persian service of MNA on Saturday.

 

No date has been set for the orchestra’s debut concert as yet, he said.

 

“Quality is our first priority, therefore we appointed Mashayekhi as conductor of the orchestra,” Ardalan stated.

 

Mashayekhi, who used to live in Vienna, was invited to conduct the Tehran Symphony Orchestra in 2005.  

 

However, he was dismissed from the orchestra in 2007 following his complaints over low salaries and delays in payment of wages of the orchestra‘s musicians.

 

Mashayekhi, 55, conducted over 10 concerts in Iran since taking the helm at the Tehran Symphony Orchestra.

 

MMS/YAW

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Culture Ministry launches Art Credit Card

August 17, 2014, 8:23 am

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TEHRAN – The Art Credit Fund of Iran’s Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance has recently launched a credit card to provide some social services for artists in various fields.

 

Entitled the Art Credit Card, it was unveiled during a ceremony at Tehran’s Vahdat Hall on Saturday.

 

The Art Credit Fund launched the Art Credit Card to support the artists by providing some social services and giving loans, Art Credit Fund Managing Director Gholamreza Khalili-Arjomandi had earlier explained.

 

The ceremony was attended by the Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance Ali Jannati, Deputy Culture Minster for Artistic Affairs Ali Moradkhani, and a large number of artists. 

 

Giant of traditional Iranian music Mohammadreza Shajarian, who rarely appears at public ceremonies, was seen along with veteran actor Alireza Mashayekhi, prominent calligrapher Gholamhossein Amirkhani and tar virtuoso Hushang Zarif, Persian media reported on Sunday.

 

Speaking at the ceremony, Jannati regarded the artists the social capital of a country, and said, “Everywhere in the world, there are efforts to support and reinforce their social capital.

 

“If we have money and natural sources, but do not have social capital, we cannot develop,” he added.

 

He expressed regrets that the social and political capital is being ignored, “We do not see the respect they deserve and we must make our best efforts to make the best use of these important figures.”

 

He continued that many artists still have problems in managing their families. “Some of these artists still need support for their medical treatments.”

 

He next gave the good news of the collaboration of the culture ministry with different economic organizations such as Iranian Oil Ministry, Tehran Municipality, and Iran’s Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture (ICCIMA), to give better support to the artists.

 

“Why shouldn’t our concerts and films be staged and screened in the best halls across Europe?” Jananti asked, addressing those who disagree with screening Iranian productions across the Arab and European countries.

 

He also pointed to the fact that Persian calligraphy, miniature and visual arts have found their real status in the world and asked, “Why should we lose such credit?”

 

Talking about the dramatic arts, Jananti mentioned that there are no limits on the price of the plays. “We need not interfere in pricing tickets, so that the artists earn the value of their efforts.”

 

He also talked about the Art Credits Fund and said that the funds need to turn into an independent organization.

 

The ceremony continued with several numbers of the artists including Mashayekhi who were called on stage to unveil the first art credit card, which was issued to him.

 

A postage stamp to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the establishment of the Art Credits Fund was unveiled next.

 

The ceremony was brought to an end with a traditional music performance by the Black and White ensemble.

 

RM/YAW

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Art news in brief

August 17, 2014, 8:26 am

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Iranian photojournalists to hang works at IAF 

 

TEHRAN – A collection of works by 68 Iranian photojournalists will be showcased in an exhibition which opens today at the Zemestan Gallery of the Iranian Artists Forum.

 

The collection entitled “End of the Earth” focuses on nature in deserts.

 

The exhibition will run until August 20.

 

 

Toronto festival to screen Iranian films

 

TEHRAN -- Iranian films “The Hour” directed by Teimur Qaderi and “1-0” by Saman Hosseinpur will be screened at the 8th Toronto Urban Film Festival, which will be held in Canada from September 5 to 15.

 

The festival, which is dedicated to one-minute short films, is North America’s largest subway film festival. 

 

The festival reaches over one million daily commuters on subway platform screens across the Toronto transit system.

 

 

Theater troupe to stage benefit performance

 

TEHRAN -- A theater troupe, which will be directed by Bahador Azari, plans to stage a reading performance to raise funds for A Home for the Future, a charity organization, which supports vulnerable mothers and young adults.

 

The troupe will perform American playwright Neil Simon’s “Rumors” at the Niavaran Cultural Center on August 23.

 

 

Tehran to host Gilaki concerts 

 

TEHRAN – The Gil and Amard ensemble will give performances of Gilaki folk music, which is performed in the northern Iranian province of Gilan, in Tehran.

 

The concerts will be performed at Tehran’s Vahdat Hall on August 19 and 20.

 

SB/YAW

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“Ropes and Hopes” depicts actor’s battle with cancer

August 17, 2014, 8:25 am

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TEHRAN – “Ropes and Hopes”, an exhibition of photos by the young Iranian stage actor Majid Bahrami, who was diagnosed with a type of blood cancer in 2011, opened Sunday at the Iranian Artists Forum (IAF).

 

“The series reflects my daily life over the past few years,” Bahrami said in a press release published by the forum on Sunday.

 

“The idea of the photos sparked in my mind when I was dealing with the difficult days of treatment. One day I asked my doctor, ‘What’s up doc?’ And he desperately replied, ‘You are between the earth and the sky; I don’t know what has kept you (alive) so far’.”

 

“But I knew what it was. My life was hanging between the earth and the sky with a rope, and that was the rope of hope, an invisible rope… like hope, like the rope in my photos… like the hope in my photos,” Bahrami has said about his exhibit.

 

Bahrami was acting in the play “Wonder of Creatures” by Reza Servati when he found out about his disease (T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia) and was dispatched to Germany to receive treatment and returned home in good health.

 

However, the disease returned several months ago and he is still receiving further treatment.

Bahrami has acted in several plays. He has also played in the film “Farewell Baghdad”, Iran’s submission to the Academy Awards in 2010.

 

The exhibit will be running until August 21 in the forum located on Musavi St., off Taleqani Ave.

 

RM/YAW

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Iran’s national library on tourists’ itinerary

August 17, 2014, 8:23 am

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TEHRAN -- The National Library and Archives of Iran (NLAI) has been added to the list of places tourists can visit on their journeys to Iran.

 

The decision to add the NLAI to tourists’ itineraries is based on an agreement signed between the Iranian Tour Operators Association (ITOA) of the Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts Organization (CHTHO) and the NLAI on Saturday. 

 

“Cultural tourism is one of the popular fields in the tourism industry, and due to numerous cultural centers in Iran, the country could be turned into a major destination for cultural tours,” NLAI’s International Department Director Mohammad Soltanifar said after signing the agreement.

 

“Tourists will surely derive great satisfaction from visiting the library,” he added.

 

CHTHO Deputy Director Morteza Rahmani described the agreement as a starting point for other organizations, which are interested in showing their cultural abilities to tourists.

 

“By adding the library to tourists’ itineraries, I am sure that we will play a major part in introducing our country’s cultural abilities,” chairman of the board of directors of the ITOA, Ebrahim Purfaraj, stated.   

 

MMS/YAW

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“City of Mice 2” to take Iranians on stroll down memory lane

August 18, 2014, 8:45 am

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TEHRAN -- “The City of Mice 2” will premiere tomorrow at Iranian theaters to entertain children, and to evoke adults’ sense of nostalgia for the good old days of the 1980s.  

 

“The City of Mice 2” is a sequel to the 1984 big-screen hit “The City of Mice”, which was produced with the puppet characters from the popular children’s TV series “The School of Mice” (1981-1984).

 

The film, which is expected to breathe life into Iranian children’s cinema, was screened for journalists on Monday morning at the Kurosh Commercial and Cultural Complex, which has recently been established in western Tehran.

 

Some officials, including Iran Cinema Organization Director Hojjatollah Ayyubi and Farabi Cinema Foundation Director Mohammadreza Jafari-Jelveh, also attended the screening of the big-budget movie, which was directed by Marzieh Borumand.  

 

“The City of Mice 2” immerses the audience in the adventures of little mice who decide to take care of a defenseless kitty, an act which leads to turmoil in the city.

 

The movie is scheduled to be screened in some countries with Arabic and English subtitles in the near future, co-producer Alireza Sartipi told the Tehran Times.

 

Sartipi and Manijeh Hekmat produced the film under the auspices of the Farabi Cinema Foundation.
 

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Achievements of Tehran Vocal Ensemble at World Choir Games celebrated

August 18, 2014, 8:48 am

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TEHRAN – The Music Office of the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance celebrated the achievements of the Tehran Vocal Ensemble at the 8th World Choir Games during a ceremony at Tehran’s Vahdat Hall on Sunday evening.

 

The a cappella group received the gold medals in the sections of Mixed Chamber Choirs and Folklore, and the silver medal of the Popular Choral Music section at the festival, which was held in Riga, Latvia from July 9 to 19.

 

“Tonight, we have come together to honor an ensemble, which has achieved the greatest successes of our music history in the international arena,” Music Office Director Piruz Arjmand, who also accompanied the ensemble at the festival, said at the ceremony.

 

“The ensemble also showed that Iranian artists have the merit of taking the best places at international events,” he added.

 

The ceremony went on with performances by the Tehran Vocal Ensemble, and afterward Milad Omranlu, the conductor of the group, addressed the audience.

 

“The successes would never have been achieved without the collaboration of each member of the ensemble,” he said.

 

“I thank the members, who are the best since the establishment of the group,” he noted.

 

A number of prominent musicians, including Mohammadreza Shajarian and Nader Mashayekhi, attended the ceremony.

 

“In the stormy and heavy sea of music in Iran that the waves have taken me under water, I touched the sands, finding a pearl, which was the Tehran Vocal Ensemble,” said Mashayekhi, the former conductor of the Tehran Symphony Orchestra.

 

He praised Omranlu for establishing the ensemble.

 

Living legend of Iranian traditional music Shajarian said, “As a vocalist, I know how hard it is to perform a song without music. It is also hard to harmonize the members of an ensemble when there are no instruments in a performance. However, you were able to tune your voice with the quiet voice of the conductor for the performances.”

 

“Congratulations to you who are talented and were able to do a performance, which our music culture has never experienced before,” he added.

 

The ceremony ended with presenting some awards to Omranlu and the members of his group.

 

MMS/YAW

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Alhoda to send books to Moscow, Frankfurt book fairs

August 19, 2014, 8:01 am

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TEHRAN -- Iran’s Alhoda International Publishing Institution plans to send over 100 titles of its latest publications to the 27th Moscow International Book Fair and the 66th Frankfurt Book Fair.

 

The Iran Cultural Fairs Institute will represent the books published in Iran in two book fairs, Alhoda official Ramineh Rezazadeh told the Persian service of MNA.

 

“All the books were published over the past three years and Alhoda along with 22 other publishers will provide the books for the book fairs,” she added.

 

The 27th Moscow International Book Fair will be held from September 3 to 7 in Russia.

 

Over 100 countries will display their cultural products from October 9 to 13 at the Frankfurt Book Fair, which is considered to be the most important book fair in the world for international deals and trading.

 

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Pinocchio to go on stage in Tehran

August 19, 2014, 8:01 am

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TEHRAN – The Iranian director Mohammadreza Maleki will stage “Pinocchio” from August 24 at Tehran’s Honar Hall.

 

“We have extracted some adventures from Pinocchio for staging in the form of a play,” Maleki told the Persian service of ISNA on Tuesday.

 

Pinocchio is a fictional character and the protagonist of the children’s novel “The Adventures of Pinocchio”: (1883), by the Italian writer Carlo Collodi. 

 

Azadeh Dastmalchi dramatized some parts of the novel for the play.

 

Maryam Ashuri, Ali Baruti, Milad Ramezani, Mohammad-Ali Hosseinalipur and Morvarid Mehr will star in the play.

 

Created by a woodcarver named Geppetto who lived in a small Italian village, Pinocchio was a wooden puppet, but dreamed of becoming a real boy. 

 

All the characters in the Pinocchio story will appear on stage as well as another character named Abji, who will represent the conscience of Pinocchio, he concluded.

 

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Iran invited to art expos in Brussels

August 19, 2014, 8:01 am

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TEHRAN – Belgian Center for Fine Arts (Bozar) Artistic Director Paul Dujardin met with Islamic Culture and Relations Organization (ICRO) Deputy Director for International Affairs Hojjatoleslam Mohammad-Javad Abolqasemi on Monday to invite Iran to future expos to be held in Brussels.

 

Belgian ambassador to Iran François Del Marmol also accompanied Dujardin in the meeting, ICRO announced in a press release on Tuesday.

 

Dujardin said that Brussels will be playing host to several upcoming exhibits in which different countries will be attending.

 

He also invited Iran to take part in these exhibits.

 

He gave some details about the Bozar center and said that the center can act as a bridge between ICRO and Belgium as well as other European countries.

 

The active participation of Iran will help expand bilateral relations, he said.

 

He added that they aim to recognize active Iranian artists in other countries and also get to know better Iran’s culture from the past.

 

Hoj. Abolqasemi gave some details about different departments of ICRO and said that ICRO has representatives in over 70 countries.

 

He added that Iran and Belgium signed a cultural agreement many years ago and both countries can continue their cultural collaborations based on the agreement.

 

RM/YAW

END 

 

Poet Simin Behbahani dies at 87

August 19, 2014, 8:05 am

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TEHRAN -- Iranian poet Simin Behbahani, who is mostly known for the new rhymes she innovated in modern Persian ghazal (ode), died from heart failure at Tehran’s Pars Hospital on Tuesday morning. She was 87.

 

Behbahani, who was suffering from a heart problem over the past few years, fell into a coma on August 7.

 

“Despite all physicians’ efforts, my mother died at 1 a.m.,” her son Ali Behbahani told the Persian service of ISNA.

 

“Mother was a bit better on Monday and we thought that she had become aware of what was happening around her, but the hospital informed us that she died in the early hours of Tuesday,” he added.

 

Behbahani’s death came as a shock to literati and her fans, who sent condolence letters and messages that were published in Persian media. 

 

“Simin was the womanly gem of Iranian poetry,” critic, poet, and painter Javad Mojabi said in a statement published by ISNA.

 

“Her poetry was life itself. She breathed life into poetry, love, the people of her homeland, and her times,” he added.

 

“We mourn for her, but she never liked mourning,” Mojabi noted.

 

“I offer my condolences over the death of this great poet to her family, friends and fans, and particularly to Iranian women,” author Mahmud Dowlatabadi said in a message.

 

“She was always a poet who thought of the country ahead of her own wishes. I hope her memory lives on,” he added.

 

“The lady of the modern Persian ghazal left this world to become eternal beside the luminaries of Persian literature in history,” said Ali Dehbashi, the managing director of the Persian literary monthly Bokhara.

 

He compared Behbahani with three other woman poets: Parvin Etesami, Forugh Farrokhzad and Simin Daneshvar, who influenced Persian poetry over the past century. 

 

Simin Khalili, who later took her spouse family name Behbahani, was born into a cultured family. Her father, Abbas Khalili, was a writer and poet, and her mother, Fakhr Ozma Arghun, was a poet and a teacher of French literature.

 

In 1946, Simin married Hassan Behbahani and at the same time began to study law at the University of Tehran. However, she never took a position involving law. Instead, she worked as teacher of Persian literature for years.

 

Her first marriage broke up in 1970. Shortly thereafter, she married her classmate Manuchehr Kushiar, who died of a heart attack in 1983.

 

She created over twenty collections of poems. Her first collection “The Broken Setar” was published in 1951, and her last, “The Collection of Simin Behbahani’s Poems”, came in 2012.

 

A selection of her poems was translated into English by Iranian translator Ismail Salami in a book entitled “Maybe It’s the Messiah” in 2002.

 

Behbahani began composing poems in her youth using quatrain ghazals in their classical style. Under the influences of some modern works, she shifted to some unusual and innovative styles.

 

Literati and critics believe that the new rhymes she and other poets, such as Hushang Ebtehaj (Sayeh), created saved the Persian ghazal from oblivion.    

 

Her funeral is scheduled to be held on Friday. In her last will and testament, Behbahani asked to be buried in the Imamzadeh Taher Cemetery in Karaj.

 

MMS/YAW

END