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Iranian organization commemorates Afghan poet Mohammad-Kazem Kazemi

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TEHRAN – The Mashhad-based Afghan poet Mohammad-Kazem Kazemi was paid tribute during a ceremony held by the Oj Artistic and Media Organization in Tehran on Tuesday.
 
Afghan ambassador to Tehran Nassir Ahmad-Noor, Deputy Culture Minister for Cultural Affairs Seyyed Abbas Salehi, Afghan poet Ghanbar-Ali Tabesh, Iranian poet and satirist Esmaeil Amini and several other cultural figures attended the ceremony.
 
Kazemi, who attended with his wife and little daughter at the ceremony, said that he came to the event with his family to show a positive image of Afghans in Iranian media.
 
“There is rarely a positive view about the Afghan nation in Iran and I hope that Iranians show respect to not only the Afghan cultural figures and elites but also other people from the neighboring country,” Kazemii mentioned during the event.
 
“I was introduced to Kazemi during 1990s and we have so many common friends. He is an innovative poet, who reflects hope in his poetry,” Salehi said during the event.
 
Mohammad-Kazem Kazemi, 36, is a notable contemporary Afghan poet, author, literary critic and a book editor by profession. He has authored many books on Persian literature and Afghan poetry. His poetry collection “Window” has been published for the fourth time in Iran and is considered to be the most famous poetry anthology. 
 
 
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5 killed by blast in Iranian war film project

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TEHRAN -- Five people were killed and two other were seriously injured by a blast on Wednesday as a veteran special effects supervisor was preparing an explosion scene for the controversial filmmaker Masud Dehnamaki’s war drama “The Ascendants”.  
 
The explosion took place in the Sacred Defense City, which has been established for war film projects in an area between the cities Tehran and Qom.
 
The special effects supervisor Mohammad-Javad Sharifi, Sacred Defense City director Ali-Akbar Ranjbar, and production assistant Reza Faraji were among the victims, a number of Persian news agencies announced.
 
“Iranian security officials do not allow the import of special explosive substances for film projects and consequently, Iranian special effects coordinators have to use military explosives for explosion scenes in film projects,” Abbas Shoqi, a member of the board of directors of the Special Effects Coordinators’ Society in the Iranian House of Cinema, told the Persian service of ISNA.
 
“We have repeatedly raised objections to the ban on the import of specialized explosive substances for film projects. However, our words have fallen on deaf ears,” he added.
 
 
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French companies to hold workshops on “Bongsan Talchulm” at Fajr festival

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TEHRAN – Two French international theater companies will hold workshops on the Korean mask dance drama “Bongsan Talchulm” during the 32nd Fajr International Theater Fstival. 
 
Made the World over Theater along with Cultures & Performances Company will hold a workshop on “Bongsan Talchulm” from January 16 to 20. 
 
“Bongsan Talchum” combines dialogue, dance, mime and music. It is unique, however, in the use of quotations from the classical poetry. Interspersed with prose dialogue, the poetry is chanted to drum rhythms.
 
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Mohammad Rahmanian to stage “Ballad of Aurash” at Fajr festival

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TEHRAN – The acclaimed Iranian director Mohammad Rahmanian will stage “The Ballad of Aurash” at the 32nd Fajr International Theater Festival, which will be held in Tehran from January 14 to February 1.
 
The play will be performed by the Vanac Theater Group, which is composed of Vancouver-based Iranian actors and actresses. The troupe performed the play at Vancouver’s Kay Meek Center in mid-July 2013.
 
Rahmanian’s wife Mahtab Nassirpur will play the main role and Aria Arianejad, Sonia Mahbub, Nazanin Mihan, Sona Sanaju, Anita Zanganeh and Ramin Bayat are also among the members of the cast.
 
The full name of the play, which was written by the acclaimed director and playwright Bahram Beizaii, is “Ballad of Aurash as Performed by the Inmates of the Half-ruined Asylum of Freedom with a Look to the Drama ‘Marat-Sade’”.
 
Beizaii wrote the play based on a Persian myth and German dramatist Peter Weiss’s “Marat-Sade”, which is set in 1808 in a Paris asylum after the French Revolution, and is a depiction of class struggle and human suffering.
 
Legend has it that Arash or Aurash shot an arrow from the peak of Mount Damavand (Iran’s highest mountain) to mark the border of Iran and Turan after the long-lasting war between the two countries. He had pulled his bow with all his strength, collapsed to the ground on Mount Damavand and passed away.
 
In Bahram Beizaei’s perception of the myth of Aurash, he is not a hero but only a horseman forced by Turanian king Afrasiab to be the archer. In Iran’s army everyone accuses him of being a traitor. Everyone has ostracized him and he finds himself isolated. He sees himself as the sole individual to do this task.
 
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Art news in brief

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Memoirs of Najaf Daryabandari published 
TEHRAN – The memoirs and opinions of the prominent Iranian author and translator Najaf Daryabandari have recently been published in a book by Negah Publications.
 
The book is entitled “Daily Notes, Thirty Days with Najaf Daryabandari”, and has been compiled by Mehdi Mozaffari Savoji. It contains Daryabandari’s opinions about social, cultural and political issues along with his personal memoirs.

 
Shel Silverstein’s “Everything on It” appears in Persian 
 
TEHRAN – A Persian translation of the book “Everything on It” by American poet and writer Shel Silverstein (1930 –1999) has recently been published in Tehran by Ofoq Publications. 
Translated by Razi Hirmandi and Mehrnush Parsa, “Everything on It” contains an amazing collection of never-before-published poems and drawings from the creator of “Where the Sidewalk Ends”.








 
Alizadeh, Omumi to commemorate veteran musicians in U.S. concert
TEHRAN -- Tar and setar virtuoso Hossein Alizadeh and ney player Hossein Omumi will give a concert to commemorate master of tar Jalil Shahnaz (1921-2013) and ney (reed flute) virtuoso Hassan Kasaii (1928-2012) at the University of Maryland, College Park on February 2.
 
Percussionist Pejman Haddadi will also accompany the two masters in this event, which has been organized by the Roshan Institute for Persian Studies at the University of Maryland, a center for the learning, understanding and appreciation of Persian culture in the United States.
 
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Works by Iranian modern art pioneers on display at Tehran exhibit

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TEHRAN -- An exhibition displaying works by a number of Iranian modern art pioneers opened at Tehran’s Shokuh Gallery on Friday.
 
Paintings by the Qajar era artists Mohammad Ghaffari, who was known as Kamalomolk, and Mohammad Mirza Abolhassan Khan Ghaffari Kashani, who was known as Saniolmolk, are among the 41 works showcased at the exhibit.
 
The collection also contains works by painters Ali Rokhsaz, Jabbar Beik, Jafar Ruhbakhsh, Abdi Asbaqi, Abbas Katuzain, Mahmud Javadipur, Hossein Hamedani, Ali-Akbar Sanati and a number of other artists.
 
“Although it is difficult to collect works by artists who are not among us anymore, I want to familiarize art fans and young artists with the roots of contemporary Iranian painting,” curator Behnush Forutan said during the opening ceremony of the exhibit.
 
“Three works by Kamalomolk and outstanding paintings by his pupils have been selected for the exhibition. It also showcases works by succeeding generations, which represented traces of artistic development in the country,” she added.
 
Forutan said that the exhibition could be more comprehensive if the gallery did not face space limitations.
 
A number of artists and art critics also attended the opening ceremony of the exhibition.
 
“Kamalomolk, Saniolmolk, and many of the artists, whose works are on display at this exhibition, are irreplaceable in Iranian art,” painter and critic Vahideddin Moini said.
 
“Works by these artists should be kept at museums. The museums should allocate funds to purchase such artworks from private collectors in order to preserve them for future generations,” he added.
 
The exhibition runs until January 23 at the gallery located at 19 Amir Nuri Alley, Salimi St., off Andarzgu Blvd., in the Farmanieh neighborhood.
 
 
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Iranian doc to compete in U.S. Big Sky festival

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TEHRAN – The Iranian documentary “Trucker and the Fox” will compete at the 11th Annual Big Sky Documentary Film Festival, which will be held in the U.S. city of Missoula, Montana from February 15 to 23.
 
Directed by Arash Lahuti, “Trucker and the Fox” chronicles the life of Mahmud Kiani Falavarjani, a documentarian who does not have any academic education and is a trucker.

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Iranian readers to enjoy George Orwell’s “The Road to Wigan Pier”

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TEHRAN – A Persian translation of the English novelist George Orwell’s “The Road to Wigan Pier” has appeared in Iran.
 
Reza Fatemi translated the book, which was published by the Sokhan company. 
 
The first half of this work documents his sociological investigations of the bleak living conditions among the working class in Lancashire and Yorkshire in the industrial north of England before World War II. 
 
The second half is a long essay on his middle-class upbringing, and the development of his political conscience, questioning British attitudes towards socialism. 
 
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Iranian filmmakers on Dhaka festival juries

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TEHRAN – Iranian filmmakers Rasul Sadr-e Ameli and Zohreh Zamani are among members of juries for various sections of the 13th Dhaka International Film Festival, which is currently underway in the Bangladeshi capital.
 
Sadr-e Ameli has been selected for the jury of the Competition Australasian Film Section, which is being directed the Bangladeshi film critic Mofidul Hoque.
 
The German filmmaker Henrik Peschel, South Korean actor Kim Ji-Seok and Bangladeshi producer Amitabh Reza Chowdhury are the other members of the jury.
 
Zamani is presiding over the jury of the Short and Independent Films Section. The jury of this section is composed of Dutch filmmaker Clementine Ederveen, Bangladeshi producer Esha Yousuf, Norwegian filmmaker Gyda V. Myklebust and Australian actress Robyn Hughan.
 
The Iranian movie “The Sealed Secret” directed by Hadi Moqaddamdust is competing in the festival, which runs until January 18.
 
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.
 
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Serbian cities to host Iranian film weeks in February

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TEHRAN – Novi Sad, the second largest city in Serbia, as well as the capital Belgrade, will be hosting Iranian film weeks in February.
 
Organized by Iran’s Cultural Office in Belgrade in collaboration with the Municipality of Novi Sad, the major hall of Novi Sad Municipality will be hosting the event running for one week during the Ten-Day Dawn celebrations (February 1-11) marking the anniversary of the victory of the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
 
Moreover, a selection of Iranian films will go on screen at the Museum of Yugoslav Film Archive in Belgrade opening on February 4 for one week.
 
Iran’s Cultural Attaché in Belgrade Mahmud Shaluii in a meeting with the Assistant Mayor of Novi Sad Vanja Vucenovic expressed hope for strengthening bilateral relations to help develop cultural programs, the Persian service of ILNA reported on Sunday.
 
“The beauty and rich content of Iranian films will provide a better ground to attract more audiences and help them become more familiar with Persian culture,” Shaluii said.
 
Vanja Vucenovic also expressed hope for expanded cultural relations in music, visual arts and dramatic arts.
 
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Isfahan photo exhibit explores Latin American cultural attractions

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TEHRAN -- An exhibition of photos featuring landscapes, people, traditions and historical sites of Latin American countries is underway at the Isfahan Art Bureau.
 
Over 30 photos by photographers from Mexico, Bolivia, Venezuela, Cuba, Ecuador and Spain have been put on display at the exhibit entitled “Latin American Countries’ Common Cultural Heritage through Photos”, the Isfahan Art Bureau reported in a press release on Sunday.
 
The exhibit, which opened on January 6 at the Naqsh-Khaneh Gallery of the bureau, was officially inaugurated on Saturday and attended by ambassadors of Mexico, Venezuela and Ecuador.
 
Speaking at the opening ceremony, Mexican charge d’affaires in Iran Martin Torres said that art can help facilitate a fruitful discussion.
 
The art and cultural atmosphere of Isfahan can look brighter with those from Mexico and Latin American countries, he added.
The photos on display reflect the local cultures and beliefs of the countries, he added.
 
Ernesto Torres from Mexico, Pablo Barrios from Venezuela, Enzo De Luca from Bolivia, Julio Larramendi from Cuba and Cristobal Corral Vega from Ecuador are among the photographers whose photos are on display.
 
The Majlis Library, Museum and Documentation Center in Tehran hosted the same exhibit in November.
 
The exhibit will be running until January 15 at the gallery located on Amadgah St., in the Sureh Cultural Complex.
 
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“Past” brings Bérénice Bejo best actress award at Palm Springs festival

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TEHRAN -- French star Bérénice Bejo has won the best actress award at the 25th Palm Springs International Film Festival for her role in the Iranian family drama “The Past”.
 
She received the FIPRESCI Prize for Best Actress of the Year in a Foreign Language Film during the closing ceremony of the event on Saturday.
 
“Bérénice Bejo’s portrait of a woman in profound transition, struggling to close the door on one relationship, trying to keep the other open, offers a symphony of emotions: regret, longing, love, hurt, need,” festival juror Steven Rea said at the ceremony.
 
“Her character may waver, but Bejo’s performance stays straight and true,” he added.
 
The French-language film was directed by the Oscar winning Iranian filmmaker Asghar Farhadi.
 
FIPRESCI Prize for the Best Actor of the Year in a Foreign Language Film was presented to Mads Mikkelsen for his role in “The Hunt” directed by Danish filmmaker Thomas Vinterberg.
 
“The Broken Circle Breakdown”, by Belgian director Felix van Groeningen, won FIPRESCI Prize for Best Foreign Language Film of the Year.
 
The festival, which is held annually in the U.S. city in southern California, screens foreign-language submissions for the Academy Awards.
 
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“Mephisto” appears in Iranian bookstores

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TEHRAN – A Persian translation of the Mephistopheles/Dr. Faustus theme novel “Mephisto” by the German novelist Klaus Mann has recently been published in Tehran.
 
Farzaneh Shojaei-Azad translated the book and the Morvarid company published it.
 
The main character of the novel Hendrik Höfgen abandons his conscience and continues to act and ingratiate himself with the Nazi Party to maintain and improve his job and social position.
 
“Mephisto” is the sixth novel by Klaus Mann, which was published in 1936 while he was in exile in Amsterdam. It was published for the first time in Germany in the East Berlin Aufbau-Verlag in 1956.
 
This novel, the Tchaikovsky novel Symphonie Pathétique and the emigrant novel Der Vulkan are Klaus Mann's three most important novels. 
 
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Swedish film editor Sylvia Ingemarsson invited to Fajr festival

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TEHRAN – Swedish film editor Sylvia Ingemarsson has been invited to the 32nd Fajr International Film Festival, Iran’s most important event in the film industry, which will be held in Tehran in February.
 
Ingemarsson will be the guest of honor at the festival. She will also hold workshops, organizers have announced in a press release on Tuesday.
 
The workshops will be held on the sidelines of the festival in collaboration with the Film Editors Guild of the Iranian House of Cinema.
 
The exact time and place will be announced in the near future on the festival’s website.
 
Sylvia Ingemarsson is famous for her collaboration on more than a dozen of Ingmar Bergman’s projects including TV dramas, documentaries and some of his greatest masterpieces such as “Fanny and Alexander”.
 
“Saraband” (2003), “Faithless” (2000), “After the Rehearsal” (1984), “Autumn Sonata” (1978) and “The Blessed Ones” (1986) are some of the films she has worked on as an editor.
 
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Mehrava’s Sound of Joy to echo in Berlin

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TEHRAN -- The Berlin-based Iranian ensemble Mehrava is scheduled to perform a concert entitled “Sound of Joy” in Berlin on January 30.
 
The concert will be held at the Werkstatt der Kulturen (Workshop of Cultures), a major institution that spotlights acculturation. It is a venue for a diversity of art and cultural events, which are held by immigrants.
 
The Mehrava Ensemble was established in 1999 by Reza Borum, the composer and santur player of the band, in Shahindasht, a town located in 19 kilometers north of the central Iranian city of Isfahan.
 
The traditional Iranian music band closed down in 2005 when Borum left his hometown to study music in Berlin.
 
However, Mehrava resumed performances in Berlin as singer Aref Rafat and percussionist Javad Salkhordeh joined the band.
 
“We aim to familiarize people from other countries with traditional Iranian music,” Borum said in a press release on Tuesday.
 
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“Kami’s Party” wins Jury Award at Festival of Iranian Films in Prague

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TEHRAN -- Ali Ahmadzadeh’s début film “Kami’s Party” won the Jury Award of the 3rd Festival of Iranian Films in Prague on Monday.
 
The Jury Award is one of the two prizes presented during the closing ceremony of the festival. It is given to the director of best film of the festival.
 
The Audience Award of the festival was presented to “Here without Me” directed by Bahram Tavakkoli.
 
“Kami’s Party” is about the events that unfold after a young girl named Negin takes up residence in a villa on the beach of the Caspian Sea with her friends Omid and Nazanin.
 
The film had its world premiere at the Black Nights Film Festival in Tallinn, Estonia, in November 2013.
 
A screen adaptation of Tennessee Williams’s “A Glass Menagerie”, “Here without Me”, is about Yalda, a kind, pretty and gentle girl who is embarrassed about her limp.
 
The festival was held at the Svetozor and Oko cinemas in Prague from January 8 to 12.
 
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What’s in art galleries

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Painting
 
* An exhibition of paintings by Flora Feizbakhsh will be held at the Etemad Gallery from January 24 until February 4.
 
Feizbakhsh’s latest collection “The Fourth Creation”, which provides a different understanding of plant life, will be put on display at the exhibit.
 
The gallery can be found at 4 Bukan St. off Sadeqi Qomi St., near Yasser Square in the Niavaran neighborhood. 
 
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Sharjah Islamic Arts Festival hosts Iranian artist’s workshops

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TEHRAN – Iranian illuminator Mohammad Nabati has held two workshops at the ongoing Islamic Arts Festival in Sharjah.
 
The first workshop centering on painting and illumination was held in the Sharjah Art Museum on the opening day January 6, and the second was held in the Sharjah Calligraphy and Ornamentation Center on January 12 and was warmly received by the participants, organizers have announced on the festival website.
 
The 16th edition of the festival opened on January 6 with over 40 exhibits and several workshops and seminars.
 
A collection of classical calligraphic artworks, a selection of prayer beads made from different kinds of stones, and artifacts created by Turkish artists have been put on display during the month-long event.
 
Artists from Uzbekistan have also exhibited their handicrafts decorated with calligraphy and Islamic ornaments. 
 
Also included in the festival is an exhibition by the Union of Arab Photographers, entitled “Islam between the East and the West”.
 
Moreover, several Iranian artists living in other countries have participated in the festival.
 
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Foreign artists holding workshops at Fajr Intl. Theater Festival

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TEHRAN – Foreign theater artists and scholars are holding workshops and seminars on the sidelines of the international section of the 32nd Fajr International Theater Festival.
 
The Swiss director Stefan Kaegi will hold workshops under the title of “Transplanted Experts and the Audience on the Remote Control” on January 19 and 20.
 
The Indian playwright and stage director Satish Vasant Alekar will hold seminars during the event on contemporary and regional theater of India from January 19 to 21.
 
The Norwegian actress Juni Dahr is scheduled to hold a workshop on acting and directing.
 
Dahr and her compatriot Helge Ronning will also hold a seminar on the impact of Henrik Ibsen’s theater on contemporary drama.
 
The celebrated Polish director Wlodzimierz Staniewski also will have a workshop on “Music of the Body” during the event.
 
Two French international theater companies, “Made the World over Theater” along with “Cultures & Performances Company”, will hold workshops on the Korean mask dance drama “Bongsan Talchulm” from January 16 to 20. 
 
Iran’s 32nd Fajr International Theater Festival runs until February 1.
 
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Nine female-fronted bands to perform at Fajr festival

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TEHRAN – Nine female-fronted Iranian ensembles are scheduled to give performances at the 29th Fajr International Music Festival in February.
 
Only women will be allowed to attend the concerts, which will be performed by these bands that mostly are led by singers.
 
Bahareh Ilchi’s Setareh-ye Qotbi, Parvin Soltani’s Dadmehr and Sheyda Jahedian’s Kereshmeh are among the entries.
 
The other bands are Avaz-e Melal led by Shahla Milani and Nasrin Nasehi, Ava-ye Mehrabani led by Soheila Purgerami, Parishad led by Parichehr Khalvati, Khonya led by Pari Maleki, Mehrnava led by Nazli Bakhshayesh and Zhivar led by Zhivar Sheikholeslami.
 
All the bands will perform at Tehran’s Niavaran Cultural Center during the festival, which will be held from February 12 to 20.
 
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