Culture

PayvandNews – Anniversaries are important; they celebrate legacies and signify presence and continuity. This year, 2020, marks the 1000th anniversary of Ferdowsi’s death. This renowned Persian poet died at age 81 in 1020, more than five centuries before Shakespeare was born. Ferdowsi has not only endured for a thousand years but has also defined the very identity and language of his …

RFL/RE – U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper has strongly indicated that the U.S. military will not fire on Iranian cultural sites, targets that President Donald Trump had threatened to strike.“We will follow the laws of armed conflict,” Esper said during a briefing at the Pentagon. When asked if that ruled out targeting cultural sites, Esper said pointedly, “That’s the laws …

PayvandNews – Veteran Iranian theater, cinema and television actress, Shahla Riahi, who was also the county’s first female director, has passed away at the age of 92. Shahla Riahi: 1927-2019 Riahi’s son confirmed to IRNA news agency that his mother had died on Tuesday night.Born in Tehran on February 7, 1927, Shahla Riahi, whose real name was Ghodratzaman Vafadoost, began her …

PayvandNews – A new Yalda Night is approaching the hearts of Iranians no matter which part of the globe they live. On that graceful night the winter chill is vanquished and the warmth of love embraces the entire family. The last evening of autumn and the beginning of winter is a ceremonious, auspicious time for Iranians and lovers of Iranian traditions everywhere …

Al-Monitor – “Without this Quran manuscript, darkness would prevail and bitterness would replace blessing,” said Tawfiq, who has spent his entire life in Negel, a Sunni Muslim village of some 4,000 residents in Iran’s Kurdistan province. Sitting at a high altitude overlooking a deep valley less than 60 miles from the Iraqi border, Negel connects the provincial capital of Sanandaj to the border …

Radiofarda – An award-winning Iranian novelist, Roqiyeh (Roghieh) Kabiri has declined a prize to protest deadly suppression of protesters in Iran in November that left hundreds dead. In an open letter to the Iranian Youth Cinema Society, (IYCS) and the Foundation of Iranian Literature and Story, Ms. Kabiri has noted, “Following the events that made many people of my country …

Radiofarda – A rap song by dissident Iranian rapper Hichkas (Nobody) released on the Internet on December 10 in commemoration of November protests in Iran has become so popular that lines from its lyrics are now widely quoted by social media users. Soroush Lashkari a pioneer in Iranian rap is known as Hichkas. File photo In three days more than …

Interview with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour: Iranian Art in the Shadow of a Crackdown CHRI – Violent state repression of protests in Iran is not unique, yet the lethal means government forces used to repress recent protests that broke out across dozens of cities reached new heights this year, resulting in at least 208 deaths between November 15, 2019, and December 2, according …

Al-Monitor – Located in Iran’s Kurdistan province, 10 kilometers (6 miles) from the Iraqi border, Hawraman is an ancient village with an unfathomable uniqueness. Houses have been built on rugged mountains, where a family’s rooftop serves as the upper neighbor’s yard, making the entire village resemble a gigantic stairway from afar. Sitting right across from the village is a massive garden that has …

PayvandNews – Iranian actress Behdokht Valian was named best actress for her role in director Farhad Delaram’s drama “Tattoo” at the 37th Sulmona International Film Festival in Italy, the organizers announced on Saturday.  The film is about a young girl who wants to renew her driver’s license but she is sent to the traffic police center for her tattoos. Behdokht …