Culture

PayvandNews – Acclaimed traditional singer Hossein Khajeh-Amiri, better known as Iraj, will hold his first ever concert in Shiraz, Fars Province, on January 21. Iraj will be accompanied by Nima Nour Mohamadi as conductor of musicians, in the performance at the amphitheater of the cultural complex of Shiraz University. Iraj (Hossein Khajeh-Amiri) The 85-year-old singer resumed live performances in 2016 …

PayvandNews – Dozens of sports films are competing in the 11th Tehran International FICTS Festival that opened at Felestin Cinema on Monday. A lineup of feature-length, short and documentary films from around the world will go on screen during the 4-day event. “One Day One Child” by Sinan Sertel from Turkey, “Ola Bola” by Chiu Keng Guan from Malaysia, “Requited” by Nerissa …

PayvandNews – The 8th edition of Tehran Auction contemporary art sale broke a new record on Friday, January 12, signalling a flourishing market for contemporary Iranian art. The winter sale built on the success of its spring – 14.952 billion tomans to be exact, or over $3 million. Parsian Hotel was host to the 8th edition of Tehran Auction where …

 Reuters-Iran has banned the teaching of English in primary schools, a senior education official said, after Islamic leaders warned that early learning of the language opened the way to a Western “cultural invasion”.

CHRI – Award-winning director Mohammad Rasoulof has revealed that he has been banned from making films in Iran and is not allowed to leave the country. “As soon as I arrived at Tehran’s international airport [on September 11, 2017], two individuals came to me at the passport checkpoint and took me to a room where they confiscated my passport and …

RFL/RE – Iran has taken its cultural censorship efforts to new levels by pressuring a filmmaker to cancel the screening of one of his films in Canada. The film, Delighted, by Abdolreza Kahani, was due to be screened last month at an independent theater in Toronto. But Kahani decided to cancel the screening after receiving a warning from Iran’s Culture …

CHRI – After finally receiving approval to screen his movie “I’m Not Angry” in Iran, director Reza Dormishian’s film was suddenly removed from theaters before its scheduled national premiere on December 20, 2017. On December 18, Gholamreza Faraji, the spokesman for the Iranian Screeners’ Guild, which works closely with the Culture and Islamic Guidance Ministry, said the film’s opening had …

PayvandNews – Children chasing each other; mothers setting out dried nuts, pomegranates and watermelons amongst other fine foodstuffs; and fathers watching a ball game amid all! Does this sound familiar? Well, this is a glimpse of the Yalda celebration in honor of the longest night of the year! Read related article by Ghanoon daily On that graceful night the winter chill is vanquished and …

CHRI – Iranian director Abdolreza Kahani cancelled a screening of one of his films in Canada after Iran’s Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance threatened to ban his next film if he refused to comply, the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) has learned. The film, “Delighted” (2016), which was banned in Iran for its depiction of three carefree …

theartnewspaper – The 93-year-old doyenne of Iranian art, Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian, has donated more than 50 of her works to a new museum dedicated to her oeuvre in Tehran. The Monir Museum, which opens tomorrow (15 December) in a 19th-century former palace and gardens, is the first institution in Iran devoted to a single female artist. “I can leave this …