THERAN – The third edition of Iran’s National Photo Festival on the theme of “Iran’s Beautiful Nature” opened at the Iranian Academy of Arts (IAA) on Saturday.
Organized by the Iranian Young Cinema Society (IYCS), the selected photographers were honored at the opening ceremony, which was attended by Iran Cinema Organization (ICO) Director Hojjatollah Ayyubi, IYCS Director Habib Ilbeigi and a number of scholars and photographers, IAA announced in a press release on Sunday.
Speaking at the ceremony, Ayyubi expressed his interest in visual arts including painting, photography and graphic design saying, “When I was appointed to helm the cinema organization, I felt depressed to be far from my interests, but now I am happy I am here among you. Our youth are making progress in graphic design and photography along with the world and this makes me happy.
“I would like our photographers to highlight the traditions, daily life and costumes of Iranians in addition to the beauties of nature at the next festival.
“I hope the good relations between society and photographers help introduce photography as an art to the world,” he added.
The ceremony continued paying tribute to the honorees in different sections.
In the people and nature section Arvin Rusta received the honorary diploma of the youth and the special award of this section went to Vahid Varasteh.
Ali Hashemi, Farshid Alizadeh, Matin Nuri, Asghar Besharati and Ramezanali Emami were also honored in this section.
The honorary diplomas of the nature section went to Arvin Azima, Azam Sabbagh, Ebrahim Bakhtiari, Hossein Nikzad, Abbas Rastegar and Ali Akbari.
The ceremony was brought to an end honoring the first managing director of the society, Farzad Hashemi, with the lifetime achievement award.
Moreover, an exhibition of selected photos will be on display at the Saba Art and Cultural Institute, an affiliate of IAA located on Mozaffar St., off Taleqani Ave., near Felestin Square.
RM/YAW
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