How Iran’s ‘filmfarsi’ remains the biggest secret in cinema history
Guardian - For many Iranians, the oft-forgotten films are a souvenir of a lost past, painting a picture of life…
Culture
At Tehran Symphony, Music Lovers Seek Escape From Reality
VOA - Aficionados of Western classical music have carved out a niche for themselves in Iran, where cultural expression remains…
Iranian James Bonds: New TV Series Tries To Improve Image Of Feared Intelligence Services
RFL/RE - For the past four weeks, Iranians have been glued to their state-controlled televisions watching a team of highly…
Happy Tirgan: The Festival of Rain
PayvandNews - Tirgan also known as Jashn-e Tirgan (The feast of Tiregan) is an ancient Iranian festival coinciding with the mid…
Remember the dead candle: Mirza Jahangir Khan Sur-e Esrafil
Radiozamaneh - It was a Wednesday and the beginning of the summer of 1908. A 34-year-old journalist was dragged in…
Interview With Filmmaker Abdolreza Kahani: “We are Born Into Censorship”
CHRI - In Iran, the Ministry of Guidance and Islamic Culture imposes a strict process of review and approval for…
Can fiction help an anti-death penalty campaign in Iran?
Al-Monitor - "The prisoners were all ears while Janyar recounted them an anecdote from [Dostoevsky's] ‘The Idiot.’ One inmate ……
Iran’s concert tax infuriates artists, music fans
Al-Monitor - A new tax in Iran that imposes a 10% levy on concert revenues has raised the ire of…
Iranian Poet Once Praised By Supreme Leader Lands In IRGC Custody
RFL/RE - In the summer of 2010, poet Hossein Jannati was basking in the adulation of the supreme leader. Ayatollah…
Interview With Nazanin Boniadi: “Silence is Not an Option”
CHRI - As a girl visiting her birth country of Iran, British actress Nazanin Boniadi got a taste of the severely…