Theater troupe to hold fundraiser for actor Mostafa Abdollahi’s cancer treatment

January 5, 2014, 8:44 am

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TEHRAN – The Sepanta Theater Troupe plans to stage a reading performance to raise funds to cover part of the cost of treatment for theater artist Mostafa Abdollahi, who is suffering from blood cancer.

 

Behzad Seddiqi will direct Armenian dramatist Karine Khodikyan’s “Do You Order a Grandchild?” at the Ebn-e Sina Cultural Center on January 9 and 10.

 

Maedeh Tahmasbi, Leili Rashidi and Ezzatollah Mehravaran will be members of the cast for the play.

 

The play is about the life of a middle-aged woman who lives alone. Her grandchild comes to visit her years later and the stay consequently causes changes in her life.

 

Abdollahi has been suffering from cancer over the past twelve years. He was admitted to hospitals several times in the past year to receive treatments.

 

SB/YAW

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Iran’s National Museum of the Press closed five months after inauguration

January 5, 2014, 8:41 am

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TEHRAN -- The office of the deputy culture minister for press affairs shut down Iran’s National Museum of the Press five months after its opening, the Persian service of ISNA reported on Saturday.

 

The decision to close the museum was made due to “a lack of security, improper location, and a lack of important items” for the building, the office announced.

 

The museum opened in a building in downtown Tehran adjacent to a religious site called the Tomb of Aqa during a ceremony attended by former culture minister Mohammad Hosseini on July 24, 2013. 

 

The establishment of the museum cost over 11 billion rials (over $370,000). The former officials of the office also had agreed to pay a monthly rent of 100 million rials (over $3300) to the owner of the museum building. However, the museum never opened to the public after the official opening ceremony.    

 

According to the new team at the office of the deputy culture minister for press affairs, the former officials of the office had borrowed the items, such as historical documents and printing machines, from the newspapers Ettelaat and Kayhan for the inauguration ceremony. 

 

Ettelaat got their items back one day after the ceremony.

 

In addition, all the newspapers and magazines that had been put on display at the museum were copies of the genuine editions, which had been reprinted for the opening ceremony. Consequently, none of the exhibited items had any historical significance.

 

The office plans to reopen the museum in collaboration with the Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts Organization in an appropriate location. 

 

MMS/YAW/HG

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Cartoons of Iranian musicians on display at Tehran gallery

January 5, 2014, 8:46 am

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TEHRAN – A collection of cartoons centering on Iranian musicians is currently on display in an exhibition at Tehran’s Naqsh-e Jahan Gallery.

 

Entitled “Face to Face”, the collection has been created by Saeid Chavari.

 

“This exhibit contains 10 new works along with a selection of cartoons I had exhibited several years ago in the Iranian House of Cartoon,” Chavari told the Persian service of ISNA on Sunday.

 

Portraits of Mohammadreza Shajarian, Abolhasan Saba, Faramarz Payvar, Gholamhossein Banan, Homayun Khorram, Shahram Nazeri and many more are among the works on display, he added.

 

“I was highly interested in music so I decided to link the art of painting and cartoon with music,” he said.

 

Chavari, who also plays tanbur himself, said that he has plans to work on portraits of masters of arts in his next project.

 

The exhibit, which opened on Friday, will be running until January 8 at the gallery which can be found at 9 Ayatollah Mahmudi St. in the Niavaran neighborhood.

 

RM/YAW

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More films added to national lineup of Fajr festival

January 6, 2014, 8:06 am

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TEHRAN -- The organizers of the 32nd Fajr International Film Festival have added more movies to the national competition section of the event.

 

“The Problem Story” by directed by Kamal Tabrizi, “Today” by Seyyed Reza Mirkarimi, “The Stranger” by Bahram Tavakkoli, “The Last Fifty Steps” by Kiumars Purahmad, “Metropol” by Masud Kimiaii are among the additional films.

 

Other new entries include “Azar, Shahdokht, Parviz and Others” by Behruz Afkhami, “Snow” by Mehdi Rahmani, “A Meteor from Light” by Mohammadreza Eslamlu, “I am not Angry” by Reza Dormishian and “Kalashnikov” by Saeid Soheili.

 

A lineup of nine films including “Stories” by Rakhshan Bani-Etemad, “He Who Said No” by Ahmadreza Darvish, “Che” by Ebrahim Hatamikia have previously been announced for this section.

 

The organizers have also added films to the “New View” section, which is dedicated to the first-film directors.

 

The films include “Military Service Completion Card” by Hamid Zargarnejad, “Five-Star” by Mahshid Afsharzadeh, “Once Upon a Time Love and Hatred” by Davud Bidel, “Tomorrow” by Iman Afsharian and Mehdi Pakdel, “Lamp 100” by Saeid Aqakhani, “Unwanted” by Borzu Niknejad, “Lovers Die Standing Up” by Shahram Maslakhi, “Lady” by Tina Pakravan and “Angels Come with Each other” by Hamed Mohammadi.

 

A lineup of six films including “Sending a Message of Condolence” by Ebrahim Ebrahimian, “Unripe Pomegranates” by Majidreza Mostafavi and “Melbourne” by Nima Javidi were previously announced for this section.

 

The 32nd Fajr International Film Festival will be held in Tehran in February 2014.

 

SB/YAW

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Sahar airing doc on Rumi for Bosnian viewers

January 6, 2014, 8:08 am

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TEHRAN -- The Bosnian TV section of Iran’s Sahar Universal Network began airing a documentary on the Persian mystic and poet Molana Jalal ad-Din Rumi (1207-1273) on Sunday.

 

The documentary entitled “Urs” was made by Mohammad Talebani originally with an English voiceover, which was then translated for the Bosnian viewers of Sahar by Adel Haji Mohammadovic.

 

The documentary, which is composed of four 20-minute episodes, was shot in different cities of Iran and the Turkish city of Konya that is home to the mausoleum of Rumi.

 

The title of the documentary refers to the Urs of Rumi, an annual weeklong commemoration ceremony leading up to December 17, which is the anniversary of Rumi’s death.

 

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Iranian artists holding workshops in Bashkortostan

January 6, 2014, 8:10 am

≫ Next: Jamshid Mashayekhi collaborating on doc “From Iran to Argentina”

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TEHRAN – Iranian calligrapher Ali Ganji and illuminator Maryam Emami are holding a series of workshops, which opened on Sunday in Ufa, the capital city of Bashkortostan, an autonomous republic in the Russian Federation.

 

The 10-day workshop program has been organized by the Embassy of Iran in Moscow in collaboration with Ihlas, an Islamic center for artistic and cultural activities, the Persian service of ISNA reported on Monday.

 

Moreover, a collection of Quranic calligraphic paintings by Ganji will be put on display in an exhibition entitled “A Window to the Sky” at the National Museum of Bashkortostan in Ufa on January 14.

 

The founder of the center, Muhammad Galimov, expressed hope that the program would help deepen relations between the people of Bashkortostan and Iran.

 

The exhibit will run for a week and then travel to other cities across Russia.

 

RM/YAW

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Jamshid Mashayekhi collaborating on doc “From Iran to Argentina”

January 6, 2014, 8:10 am

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TEHRAN -- The veteran Iranian actor Jamshid Mashayekhi is currently collaborating with Ali Fat’h-Layeqzadeh in “From Iran to Argentina”, a documentary the latter is making about Iranians’ pacifism.

 

“I know Ali Fat’h-Layeqzadeh and his documentaries. I proposed to him to make the documentary and he enthusiastically accepted the idea,” Mashayekhi told the Persian service of MNA on Monday.

 

“Fat’h-Layeqzadeh, who grew up in a nomad family, has good relations with different nomads in the western region of the country. I suggested to him to film nomad mothers in different regions and ask for their message of peace to showcase the kindness and beauty of the Persian culture,” he said.

 

He added that people from different walks of life will utter their opinions on peace and friendship in this documentary.

 

“The nomad women will also be asked to speak in front of the camera and each will symbolically present a handmade gift to the Argentinean football superstar Lionel Messi,” he said.

 

Messi was the subject of thousands of insulting messages after the 2014 World Cup draw grouped Iran with Argentina on December 6.

 

According to Persian media released last month, Mashayekhi is due to travel to Spain or Argentina on a special assignment by Esteghlal, a major football club in Tehran, to visit Lionel Messi over the abusive Facebook comments from Iranians following the World Cup draw.

 

RM/YAW

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Let authors write about the dark side of the war: writer

January 6, 2014, 8:11 am

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TEHRAN -- The children’s book writer Ebrahim Hassanbeigi has said that Iranian authors were given the opportunity to write enough about ‘positive’ aspects of the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war, now others should be allowed to write about the dark side of the event.

 

“Most authors who want to write about the bitterness of the war are not against the war. They know about the supreme sacrifices made during the event. They should been given the opportunity to express their views about the bitterness of the war,” Hassanbeigi told the Persian service ISNA on Sunday.

 

“Hard work and self-sacrifice dominated the war.  The literary works published in 1980s and 1990s illustrated the issues and most of the works had positive view on the war… but there may be authors who think that this dimension of the war has been explored sufficiently over these years and now the other side the coin should be considered,” he added.

 

He said that he would not like to work on ‘the other side of the coin’ and added, “However, if there are people who would like to write in this field, they should have the freedom to do so.”

 

He has recently published “The War and Its Novels”, which is a collection of novels written by various Iranian authors about the war that is known as the Sacred Defense in Iran.

 

“The reality of the war should be expressed. Part of the war was the supreme sacrifices and other part was fear of the bombardments,” he added.

 

He said that the literary works about the war have been on a single dimension until now and added that there is no reason whatsoever to fear the diverging views that could be expressed about the war in forthcoming books.

 

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Self-exiled Iranian pop star’s album re-released

January 7, 2014, 8:19 am

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TEHRAN -- Iran Gaam, a major Iranian recording studio, has recently re-released self-exiled Iranian pop star Shadmehr Aqili’s album “Rural”, the Persian service of ISNA reported on Tuesday.

 

The album was first released in 1999, when Shadmehr was still in Iran.

 

He had made many modifications to the songs in “Rural” to obtain the approval of the then officials of the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance for the release of the album.

 

Aqili immigrated to Canada few years later and then moved to Los Angeles, where he collaborated with a number of Iranian musicians who had also left Iran after the victory of the Islamic Revolution in 1979.

 

There is no prohibition on the re-release of the album, Iran Gaam Director Sadreddin Hosseinkhani told the Persian service of MNA. 

 

“He was in Iran when the album was released for the first time and that time there was no ban on his activity,” he added.

 

“In the license that was issued by the Culture Ministry for the album, there is no clause to limit the release of the collection to a specific number of times. Also, the company has permission to publish the work whenever it wants unless it receives a warning from the organizations relating to the issue,” he stated.    

 

MMS/YAW

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12 classical Iranian ensembles to compete in Fajr Intl. Music Festival

January 7, 2014, 8:19 am

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TEHRAN -- Twelve classical Iranian ensembles will be competing in the 29th edition of the Fajr International Music Festival, organizers announced on Tuesday.

 

Three ensembles from Tehran and nine from other cities have been selected by the jury to participate in the competition section of the festival.

 

The bands “Gardanieh” conducted by Amir Zaker, “Mahan” by Jalal Amirpursaied, and “Shamsa” by Nima Teyrani are from Tehran.

 

“Fakhteh” conducted by Khashayar Parsa, “Sereshk” by Yahya Alavi, “Baran-e Shiraz” by Amir-Hossein Dadvar, “Radif” by Mohammad-Javad Sanei, “Nasim” by Nasim Ahmadian and “Delara” by Mohsen Kimiaii are among the bands coming from other cities.

 

The festival will be running from February 13 to 20 in Tehran.

 

RM/YAW

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Italy’s culture minister to visit Tehran in late January

January 7, 2014, 8:20 am

≫ Next: Iranian film to compete in Dhaka festival

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TEHRAN -- The Italian Minister of Culture Massimo Bray will visit Tehran late January, announced the Italian ambassador to Tehran Luca Giansanti on Tuesday.

 

This visit is in line with the new climate of interaction between Iran and the EU, Giansanti told the Persian service of IRNA.

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Iranian film to compete in Dhaka festival

January 7, 2014, 8:21 am

≫ Next: Another translation of “Madame Bovary” appears in Persian

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TEHRAN – The Iranian movie “The Sealed Secret” will compete in the 13th Dhaka International Film Festival, which will be held in Dhaka, Bangladesh from January 10 to 18.

 

Directed by Hadi Moqaddamdust, the film is the story of a lonely and weary woman whose mood is lifted by the help of her friend but the woman is not courageous enough to introduce her friend to others.

 

Leila Hatami, Arash Majidi and Khatereh Asadi starred in the drama.

SB/YAW

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Another translation of “Madame Bovary” appears in Persian

January 7, 2014, 8:22 am

≫ Next: Another Persian version of Umberto Eco’s “Confessions” hits bookstore

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TEHRAN – Another Persian translation of French writer Gustave Flaubert’s “Madame Bovary” has been published in Tehran.

 

Flaubert’s debut novel “Madame Bovary” was rendered into Persian by Bahareh Rabbani and the Qasedak-e Saba Company published it.

 

Persian readers previously welcomed the novel, which had been translated by Mehdi Sahabi.

SB/YAW

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Another Persian version of Umberto Eco’s “Confessions” hits bookstore

January 7, 2014, 8:22 am

≫ Next: Niki Karimi on Indian filmfest jury

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TEHRAN – The Iranian company Rozaneh has recently published another Persian translation of Umberto Eco’s “Confessions of a Young Novelist”.

 

The book, which is a short collection of essays/lectures by Eco, was translated into Persian by Reza Alizadeh.

 

Mojtaba Veisi has previously translated the book and Morvarid Publications released it.

 

SB/YAW

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Niki Karimi on Indian filmfest jury

January 7, 2014, 8:23 am

≫ Next: Persian art highlights Kuwait international exhibition of Islamic Art

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TEHRAN – The Iranian actress-cum-director Niki Karimi will has been selected as a member of the jury for the 12th Pune International Film Festival.

 

Seven additional cineastes from other countries will accompany her in the jury of the festival, which will be held in Pune, India from January 9 to 16.

 

Senior Curator Emeritus of Film at the Museum of Modern Art in New York Laurence Kardish, Canadian actress Alexandra Stewart and Spanish filmmaker Javier Angulo are also among members of the jury.

 

The other members are Indian film critic Dileep Padgaonkar, award-winning Mexican director and producer Eduardo Rossoff, Indian director Anjum Rajabali and German film producer Klaus Maeck.

 

Karimi rose to fame by acting in Behruz Afkhami’s hit “Bride” in 1990. She appeared in films by Dariush Mehrjuii, Masud Kimiaii and several other prominent Iranian filmmakers.

 

“To Have or Not to Have”, a documentary on a number of infertile Iranian couples trying to have children, was her directorial debut in 2001. 

 

She then made features “One Night” and “A Few Days Later”, both of which were female-centered dramas.

 

Karimi’s latest film “Final Whistle” was welcomed at its Iranian premiere in August.

 

She was also one of the jury members for the Izmir International Short Film Festival in 2006 and was selected for the jury of the 48th Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival in Turkey 2011. 

 

She was president of the jury for the 3rd Reykjavik International Film Festival in Iceland in 2006.

 

SB/YAW

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Persian art highlights Kuwait international exhibition of Islamic Art

January 7, 2014, 8:30 am

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TEHRAN – A variety of splendid Persian art by Iranian artists is on display at the 6th International Forum of Islamic Art now underway in Kuwait.

 

Organized by the Kuwaiti Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs, the exhibit opened on December 29 in the Grand Mosque in Kuwait, the Islamic Culture and Relations Organization (ICRO) reported in a press release on Tuesday.

 

Sixty artists from 28 countries including Iran, Turkey, Iraq, Algeria, Morocco, Malaysia, India and Tajikistan are displaying their collections of artworks in painting, calligraphy, illumination and handicrafts.

 

 

Persian calligraphy works by Amir Falsafi, Sedaqat Jabbari, Ozra Bakhshayeshi and Elaheh Khatami, and illuminations by Mohammad Nabati and Fereydun Joqani are on show in the exhibit.

 

Mitra Razavi is also showcasing her works of Persian carpets and klims in the exhibit.

 

Many institutions and intellectual figures from Kuwait and other Arab countries as well as international specialists in the Islamic arts are attending in the exhibit, which will be running until January 9.

 

RM/YAW

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Polish director Wlodzimierz Staniewski invited to Fajr theater festival

January 8, 2014, 7:39 am

≫ Next: Saba institute displays paintings by Jafar Petgar

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TEHRAN – The celebrated Polish director Wlodzimierz Staniewski has been invited by Iran’s Av Theater Troupe to the 32nd Fajr International Theater Festival. 

 

Staniewski is scheduled to direct Poland’s Gardzienice Theater Troupe in “Pythian Oratorium” at Tehran’s Vahdat Hall. 

 

Staniewski, who is also the director of Gardzienice - Centre for Theatre Practices in Poland, will also hold workshops during the festival.

 

Staniewski, 64, has successfully presented his performances around the world including the Theatre of the Nations Festival (Baltimore), Seoul Olympic Art Festival, and Theater der Welt Festival (Berlin).

 

As a director and writer he has run master-classes and given lectures in such prestigious theatres and drama schools as the Royal Shakespeare Company (UK), Meyerhold Centre (Moscow), Theatre Conservatoire (Paris), National Theatre Studio, Barbican Centre (London), Magdalen College (Oxford), Waseda University (Tokyo), Getty Center, NYU, Yale, Stanford University (USA) and Warsaw University (Poland).

 

SB/YAW

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Saba institute displays paintings by Jafar Petgar

January 8, 2014, 7:43 am

≫ Next: Tehran museum to exhibit photos by Kamran Adl

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TEHRAN -- An exhibition of paintings by Iranian painter and carpet designer Jafar Petgar (1920-2004) was inaugurated here on Tuesday at the Saba Art and Cultural Institute in conjunction with an unveiling ceremony for a book on his artworks.

 

Saba director Masud Naseri, daughter of Petgar Heleh, and a number of artists attended the opening ceremony, Saba institute reported in a press release on Wednesday. 

 

Speaking at the opening ceremony, Heleh said that her father did not like having his works reviewed, so the critics of his time paid no particular attention to his works. However, he wanted them to be preserved in his country. “I painted these works for the people of my country,” he always said. He had a mystical attitude toward art.

 

“My father and his brother Ali Asghar established the first painting educational center on Naderi St., when they moved from Tabriz to Tehran,” she added

 

Mohammad-Mehdi Rahimian, the photographer and compiler of the book next talked about the book. “When I was asked to compile the book I warmly received the idea since I believe compiling and publishing books on visual arts help preserve our contemporary cultural heritage,” he said.

 

The 300-page book with Persian and English subtitles with an introduction written by Petgar family members will soon be released.

 

Saba institute has plans to continue its honoring ceremonies for veterans, Naseri said next, adding, “Petgar was a great artist and connected miniature with painting, a bridge between traditional and contemporary worlds.”

 

A number of paintings by Petgar are currently preserved at Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art.

 

The exhibit will be running until January 23 at the institute located on Mozaffar St., off Taleqani Ave., near Felestin Square. 

 

RM/YAW

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Tehran museum to exhibit photos by Kamran Adl

January 8, 2014, 7:41 am

≫ Next: President accepts Iranian art and cultural guilds’ call for meeting

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TEHRAN – The Iran Photo Museum, which is also known as Axkhaneh Shahr, will highlight sixty years of photography by Kamran Adl in an exhibition that opens today.

 

A collection of 12 photos in black and white dating back to 1943-2013 will be shown at the exhibit, Adl told the Persian service of ISNA on Wednesday.

 

One of the photos was taken in Paris and the rest were taken in Iran, he said.

 

“These works are among the first photos taken by hand held cameras. Before that, most photos were taken by cameras set on tripods or stands.

 

“As of this January, I have been taking photos for 60 years. I began photography when I was 12 and left for Paris to study photography. I returned home in 1968 and began to work in the country,” he said.

 

“60 years ago when my eyes first became familiar with the lens of a camera, I made a pact with the art of photography, which still stands today,” writes Adl in a note for his exhibit.

 

The exhibition will run until February 1 at the Axkhaneh Shahr, which is located on Bahar Shiraz St. near Haft-e Tir Square.

 

RM/YAW

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President accepts Iranian art and cultural guilds’ call for meeting

January 8, 2014, 7:44 am

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TEHRAN -- President Hassan Rouhani has accepted an invitation from six Iranian guilds in the fields of art and culture to meet with members of the associations.

 

The meeting was scheduled for Wednesday evening, the presidential office announced on Wednesady. 

 

The guilds meeting was planned to discuss “the challenges, needs and future strategies for art and culture in order to institutionalize plans for art and culture in Iran,” the guilds wrote in a letter published by a number of Persian news agencies on Tuesday.      

 

The request was made in a letter signed by the managers of the Iranian House of Cinema, the Iranian Artists Forum, the Iranian Theater Forum, the Music House, the Iranian Poets’ Society and the Iranian Calligraphers’ Society.  

 

MMS/YAW

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