Persian translation of “Great Gatsby” hits Iranian bookstores

December 9, 2013, 10:20 am

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TEHRAN – A Persian translation of “The Great Gatsby” a 1925 novel written by American author F. Scott Fitzgerald has been published in Tehran.

 

Translated by Mehdi Afshar, the book has been published by Majid Publications.

 

The story follows a cast of characters living in the fictional town of West Egg on prosperous Long Island in the summer of 1922.

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“Pinter the Playwright” appears in Persian

December 9, 2013, 10:20 am

≫ Next: Persian version of Neil Simon’s “Laughter” to come out soon

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TEHRAN – “Pinter the Playwright” (Plays and Playwrights) written by Martin Esslin has recently been published in Persian.

 

The book has been translated by Farshid Ebrahimian and Lili Omrani and has been published by Qatreh Publications.

 

Pinter (1930-2008) is a Nobel Prize-winning English playwright, screenwriter, director and actor, known to be one of the most influential modern British dramatists.

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Persian version of Neil Simon’s “Laughter” to come out soon

December 9, 2013, 10:22 am

≫ Next: Qoqnus publishes Persian transition of “Driving with Plato”

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TEHRAN – “Laughter on the 23rd Floor”, a play by American playwright and screenwriter Neil Simon has been translated into Persian.

 

Behruz Bakhtiari in collaboration with Mina Rezapoor has translated the book and will be published by Afraz Publications soon.

 

Simon has written over thirty plays and nearly the same number of movie screenplays, most adapted from his plays.

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Qoqnus publishes Persian transition of “Driving with Plato”

December 9, 2013, 10:22 am

≫ Next: Kambiz Derambakhsh’s Clowns sells like hot cakes

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TEHRAN – Qoqnus, a major Tehran-based publishing company, has recently published a Persian translation of Robert Rowland Smith’s “Driving with Plato”.

 

The book was translated into Persian by Hoda Zamani.

 

Drawing on philosophy, art, literature and psychology, “Driving with Plato” explores the real meaning of the hoops we all have to jump through.

 

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Kambiz Derambakhsh’s Clowns sells like hot cakes

December 9, 2013, 10:23 am

≫ Next: Iranian children honored at Hong Kong painting competition

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TEHRAN – All works from the Clowns series by cartoonist Kambiz Derambakhsh, currently on display in an exhibition entitled “Pantomime on Paper” at Tehran’s Seyhun Gallery, have been sold out, the gallery owner announced on Monday.

 

“The entire collection of his 47 works drawn with pastels was sold out two days before the exhibit closed on Wednesday,” Nader Seyhun told the Persian service of ISNA.

 

The celebrated Iranian cartoonist Derambakhsh has displayed the new works he has added to his Clowns series in an exhibition, which opened in the Seyhun Gallery on November 30.

 

Deputy Culture Minister for Artistic Affairs Ali Moradkhani also visited the exhibit a few days ago and purchased two of the works with the central theme of music, Seyhun added.

 

“What was interesting in his exhibit was that people of different ages showed interest in his works, that is, all the visitors from the youth to adults or even children enjoy seeing and acquiring his works,” he said.

 

 “I have been working on Clowns for 30 years. The major theme of the works is clowns, the soft and colorful clowns who try to convey messages of happiness to the visitors. They are the messengers of smiles and happiness in the society,” Derambakhsh has said before his exhibit.

 

The exhibit will be running until December 11 at the gallery, which can be found at Fourth Alley, off Vozara St.

 

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Iranian children honored at Hong Kong painting competition

December 9, 2013, 10:23 am

≫ Next: Cinéma Vérité to screen doc on Nelson Mandela

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TEHRAN – Iranian children have been honored at the 2nd International Children’s Painting Competition in Hong Kong.

 

Mitra Deylami won a medal from the competition, organizers announced last week. 

 

Sahar Maleklu, Rana Musapur, Ashkan Abbasi, Parsa Jamshidpur, Atefeh Ahmadi, Anita Sarvari and Donya Nasirkhani received honorable mentions.

 

The children’s artworks, which were on the theme of “My Country’s Culture”, will go on display on the website of the competition in March 2014.

 

The festival aims to gather talented young artists from different countries to express their artistic      impressions of the varied scenery of Hong Kong.

 

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Cinéma Vérité to screen doc on Nelson Mandela

December 9, 2013, 10:19 am

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TEHRAN – The 7th edition of Cinéma Vérité, the Iranian international festival for documentary films, will screen “Plot of Peace”, a documentary on the recently deceased former president of South Africa, Nelson Mandela.

 

Directed by Mandy Jacobson and Carlos Agullo, the documentary is a co-production of South Africa, Congo, USA, Mozambique, France, Cuba and Angola.

 

The documentary reveals a well-kept secret behind the world-wide icon: Nelson Mandela’s release was a ‘Plot for Peace’. For the first time, heads of state, generals, diplomats, master spies and anti-apartheid fighters reveal how Africa's front line states helped end apartheid. 

 

Their improbable key to Mandela’s prison cell was a mysterious French businessman, dubbed “Monsieur Jacques” in classified correspondence. His trade secret was trust.

 

The movie, which is among the films in the international competition lineup, will go on screen at the Palestine Cinema on December 15.

 

The Cinéma Vérité festival, which opens in Tehran today, will also host forty foreign cineastes during the event.

 

Russian film producer Pavel Pechenkin, British cineaste Teresa O’Brien, Danish film scholar Ragazzi, Rossella and Indian film scholar Amrit Gangar have been invited to attend the event, which will run until December 17.

 

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Actress Behnush Bakhtiari making doc on suicide by Iranian women

December 10, 2013, 9:08 am

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TEHRAN – Behnush Bakhtiari, a star of minor Iranian comedy films and TV series, is currently making her directorial debut with a documentary on Iranian women who try to commit suicide.

 

Entitled “Grapes’ Season”, the documentary studies suicide in Iran and contains interviews with women who have survived suicide attempts, director assistant Ali Fat’h Layeqzadeh told the Persian service of MNA on Tuesday.

 

The documentary tries to seek the reasons behind their suicides.

 

Due to her Lor origin, Bakhtiari has mainly focused on regions in Lorestan Province in the southwest of Iran, where women attempt suicide mostly through burning themselves.

 

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Ukrainian orchestra to perform for Masud Kimiaii’s “Metropol”

December 10, 2013, 9:08 am

≫ Next: “The Star-Spangled Girl” to go on stage at Niavaran

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TEHRAN – Theme music for Iranian director Masud Kimiaii’s latest drama “Metropol” will be performed by the National Philharmonic of Ukraine next week.

 

Composer Behzad Abdi, Kimiaii and his actor son Pulad left Tehran for Kiev on Tuesday to be in the Ukrainian capital when the music is performed and recorded, Persian news agencies reported.

 

This is the first time Kimiaii is working with Abdi, he has previously worked with prominent composers including Babak Bayat, Giti Pashaii and Karan Homayunfar.

 

Kimiaii is very concerned about the music used in his films and usually closely supervises the team of musicians who do the music for them.

 

Mahnaz Afshar, Mohammadreza Forutan, Pulad Kimiaii, Shaqayeq Farahani and Sahar Dowlatshahi are among the major members of the cast.

 

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“The Star-Spangled Girl” to go on stage at Niavaran

December 10, 2013, 9:09 am

≫ Next: “Last Winter” to compete in two more intl. events

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TEHRAN – “The Star-Spangled Girl” written by American playwright Neil Simon will be performed at Tehran’s Niavaran Cultural Center on January 2, 2014.

 

Bahram Tashakkor, Behnam Tashakkor and Yekta Nasser will star in the play, which will be directed by Bahram Tashakkor.

 

“The Star-Spangled Girl” is a love story mixed with politics. Andy and Norman are radicals who barely make a living working on their magazine, “Fallout”, which is dedicated to fighting “the system” in America. 

 

Sophie, a former Olympic swimmer, is an all-American, Southern girl who moves into the apartment next door. It is love at first sight for Norman, but his feelings are not reciprocated. 

 

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“Last Winter” to compete in two more intl. events

December 10, 2013, 9:10 am

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TEHRAN -- Iranian director Salem Salavati’s “Last Winter” will go on screen at two more international festivals in 2014.

 

The movie, which was screened in various international festivals previously, will be shown at the 24th Tromso International Film Festival, which will be held from January 13 to 19 in Tromso city, Norway.   

 

In addition, it will compete in the 6th Jaipur International Film Festival that will take place in the northwestern Indian city from February 1 to 5. 

 

“Last Winter” is about a former mayor who still feels responsible for the depopulated village he once served. Many of his neighbors have left since they dammed the valley, and he takes care of their property. 

 

His cheerful wife Baji, on the other hand, spends her time embroidering, although her eyes aren’t so good, and sometimes she reads a letter from their son Barzan, sent while he was serving in the military years before.

 

The movie received the FIPRESCI Award at the 10th Golden Apricot International Film Festival in Yerevan, Armenia this year in July.

 

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Doc satirizing relationships between Chavez, Ahmadinejad and Bush screened in Tehran

December 10, 2013, 9:06 am

≫ Next: Iranian artist making ceramic tableau portrait of Nelson Mandela

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TEHRAN -- “The Alphabet of Politics”, a controversial documentary satirizing relationships between former Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez, former Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and former U.S. president George Bush, was screened during the first day of the Cinéma Vérité festival on Tuesday.

 

Iranian filmmaker Mohammadreza Akbari directed the documentary in 2008, but the Iranian cultural officials refused to authorize the release of the film.

 

“This film is about Ahmadinejad, Chavez and Bush through the language of satire,” Akbari told the Persian service of ILNA on Monday.

 

“This film was banned for five years, but the Iran Cinema Organization allowed the documentary to have a screening only at the Cinéma Vérité festival,” he added.

 

However, “The Alphabet of Politics” was allowed to premiere at the Avini Documentary Film Festival in 2009 and won the Audience Favorite Film Award.

 

“Today, fortunately, a new arena has opened for screening such films in Iran under the new administration,” Akbari stated.

 

The 7th edition of Cinéma Vérité, which is Iran’s most important international festival for documentary films, opened on Tuesday and will continue until December 17.

 

The festival is held annually by the Experimental and Documentary Film Center, which is affiliated with the Iran Cinema Organization. 

 

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Iranian artist making ceramic tableau portrait of Nelson Mandela

December 11, 2013, 8:38 am

≫ Next: Iranian short film “More than Two Hours” to compete in Sundance festival

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TEHRAN – An Iranian artist is currently working on a ceramic tableau

portrait of former South African president Nelson Mandela.

 

The 50x80-centimeter artwork entitled “The White Africa” will be sent to Johannesburg to be placed on Mandela’s tomb, artist Reza Nuri told the Persian service of ISNA on Wednesday. 

 

The artwork will be completed within the next 10 days and will be presented to South African Ambassador R.G. Whitehead in Tehran, he added.

 

“The gold-inlaid portrait of Mandela is highlighted on a background, which has been divided in several sections. Each section depicts part of the life of the African people,” he added.

 

Nuri also said that the South African ambassador was informed about the tableau in a letter sent to the embassy.

 

Nuri, who previously made a tableau about the dark history of Africa, said that this is a new image of the history of Africa reflecting a happy atmosphere.

 

All the expenses have been covered by Nuri and his wife. 

 

Nelson Mandela died on December 5, 2013 at the age of 95 after months of struggling with an illness.  

 

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Iranian short film “More than Two Hours” to compete in Sundance festival

December 11, 2013, 9:01 am

≫ Next: Calligraphy artworks by Iranian artists on display at Malaysian museum

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TEHRAN – The Iranian short film “More than Two Hours” by filmmaker Ali Asgari will be screened in the competition section of the Sundance Film Festival, which will run from January 16 to 26 in Park City, Utah, the United States.

 

The 2014 Short Film program is comprised of 66 short films selected from over 8000 submissions, organizers have announced on the festival website.

 

“More than Two Hours” by screenwriters Asgari and Farnush Samadi narrates the story of a boy and a girl wandering in the city at 3:00 a.m., looking for a hospital to treat the girl, but it’s much harder to find one than they thought.

 

American short films including “The Bravest, the Boldest” by Moon Molson, “Dawn” by Rose McGowan and “Dig” by Toby Halbrooks, as well as “Mystery” by Chema Garcia Ibarra from Spain and “Wakening” by Tony Elliott from Canada are some of the short films competing in the festival.

 

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Calligraphy artworks by Iranian artists on display at Malaysian museum

December 11, 2013, 8:47 am

≫ Next: Iranian Artists Forum to hold poster exhibition on Mandela

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TEHRAN – Calligraphy artworks by artists from Iran and seven other countries are on display in an exhibition at the Malaysia Islamic Arts Museum in Kuala Lumpur.

 

Entitled “Nun wa Al Qalam Contemporary Muslim Calligraphy”, the exhibition will run until May 10, 2014.

 

Ozra Aqiqi-Bakhshayeshi, Nasrollah Afjeii, Golnaz Fathi, Fereidun Yaqubi and Maryam Qanbarian are among Iranian artists whose works are on display at the showcase.

 

“Calligraphy unified the Arts of Islam from around the world, and contributed to the splendor of its cultural heritage. 

 

“The exhibition presents the enigmatic and mystical artworks of 36 artists from 8 different countries, where every artwork stands to become a dialogue of ideas, reflecting a changing world,” the musuem’s website described the showcase.

 

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Iranian Artists Forum to hold poster exhibition on Mandela

December 11, 2013, 9:02 am

≫ Next: House of Cinema to establish art center for East Azarbaijan quake victims

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TEHRAN – The Iranian Artists Forum (IAF) plans to organize an international poster exhibition on the liberation struggle icon Nelson Mandela.

 

In a press release published on Wednesday, the IAF called upon artists from around the world to participate in this exhibition entitled “Nelson Mandela: The Bird of Freedom”.

 

Mandela, South Africa’s first black president, passed away peacefully in the company of his family on Thursday after a long battle with a lung infection.

 

Since his death, South Africa has been gripped by an outpouring of emotion unrivalled since Mandela’s release in 1990 after 27 years in apartheid prisons, and his victory in the first all-race elections four years later.

 

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House of Cinema to establish art center for East Azarbaijan quake victims

December 11, 2013, 8:47 am

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TEHRAN -- The Iranian House of Cinema (IHC) plans to establish an art house in Heris, one of the towns that was almost destroyed by an earthquake in East Azarbaijan Province in August 2012.

 

The architectural design for the Heris Art House was unveiled during a ceremony at the IHC on Tuesday evening.

 

Actor Parviz Parastuii, directors Kamal Tabrizi and Reza Mirkarimi visited the quake-stricken regions and afterwards they organized fundraising events to establish the art house for the devastated area.

 

All the fundraisers were held under the auspices of the IHC, which was disbanded by the former minister of culture and Islamic guidance, who claimed that the guild of Iranian cineastes intervened in political issues.

 

However, the IHC was reopened by the new director of the Iran Cinema Organization after President Hassan Rouhani came to power.

 

“We began this charity work while we are under attack by the former officials who called the Iranian House of Cinema the house of corruption and politics,” Parastuii said during the ceremony.

 

“I feel happy that the design is being unveiled among a number of charitable groups,” he added.

 

The Heris Art House will be constructed in an area of 2000 square meters, architect Faramarz Parsi said.

 

The art house will contain a cinema, a gallery, a theater and an educational space.

 

“We intend to prepare an area, which will change into a haunt for cultural dialogues,” Parsi stated.

 

Two large quakes hit the towns of Ahar, Haris and Varzaqan in the northwestern Iranian province of East Azarbaijan on August 11, 2012.

 

At least 12 villages were totally leveled by the quakes, which killed over 300 people. 425 other villages also sustained damage ranging from 50 to 80 percent.

  

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Actress Behnush Bakhtiari making doc on suicide by Iranian women

December 10, 2013, 9:08 am

≫ Next: Ukrainian orchestra to perform for Masud Kimiaii’s “Metropol”

≪ Previous: House of Cinema to establish art center for East Azarbaijan quake victims

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TEHRAN – Behnush Bakhtiari, a star of minor Iranian comedy films and TV series, is currently making her directorial debut with a documentary on Iranian women who try to commit suicide.

 

Entitled “Grapes’ Season”, the documentary studies suicide in Iran and contains interviews with women who have survived suicide attempts, director assistant Ali Fat’h Layeqzadeh told the Persian service of MNA on Tuesday.

 

The documentary tries to seek the reasons behind their suicides.

 

Due to her Lor origin, Bakhtiari has mainly focused on regions in Lorestan Province in the southwest of Iran, where women attempt suicide mostly through burning themselves.

 

RM/YAW

END

Ukrainian orchestra to perform for Masud Kimiaii’s “Metropol”

December 10, 2013, 9:08 am

≫ Next: “The Star-Spangled Girl” to go on stage at Niavaran

≪ Previous: Actress Behnush Bakhtiari making doc on suicide by Iranian women

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TEHRAN – Theme music for Iranian director Masud Kimiaii’s latest drama “Metropol” will be performed by the National Philharmonic of Ukraine next week.

 

Composer Behzad Abdi, Kimiaii and his actor son Pulad left Tehran for Kiev on Tuesday to be in the Ukrainian capital when the music is performed and recorded, Persian news agencies reported.

 

This is the first time Kimiaii is working with Abdi, he has previously worked with prominent composers including Babak Bayat, Giti Pashaii and Karan Homayunfar.

 

Kimiaii is very concerned about the music used in his films and usually closely supervises the team of musicians who do the music for them.

 

Mahnaz Afshar, Mohammadreza Forutan, Pulad Kimiaii, Shaqayeq Farahani and Sahar Dowlatshahi are among the major members of the cast.

 

RM/YAW

END

“The Star-Spangled Girl” to go on stage at Niavaran

December 10, 2013, 9:09 am

≫ Next: “Last Winter” to compete in two more intl. events

≪ Previous: Ukrainian orchestra to perform for Masud Kimiaii’s “Metropol”

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TEHRAN – “The Star-Spangled Girl” written by American playwright Neil Simon will be performed at Tehran’s Niavaran Cultural Center on January 2, 2014.

 

Bahram Tashakkor, Behnam Tashakkor and Yekta Nasser will star in the play, which will be directed by Bahram Tashakkor.

 

“The Star-Spangled Girl” is a love story mixed with politics. Andy and Norman are radicals who barely make a living working on their magazine, “Fallout”, which is dedicated to fighting “the system” in America. 

 

Sophie, a former Olympic swimmer, is an all-American, Southern girl who moves into the apartment next door. It is love at first sight for Norman, but his feelings are not reciprocated. 

 

SB/YAW

END