Culture

PayvandNews – Director Parviz Shahbazi’s “Malaria” has been crowned best at the 10th Annual Iranian Film Festival in San Francisco.  The film also brought Shahbazi the awards for best director and best screenwriter. www.IranianFilmFestival.org “Malaria” tells the story of a young woman who elopes with her boyfriend to spend her time in the company of a band of street musicians in …

PayvandNews – Veteran Iranian vocalist Nader Golchin died at 81 after a long battle with lung cancer at Tehran’s Gandhi Hospital on Friday. He was hospitalized for about one month at the medical center, his daughter Nazanin told the Persian service of ISNA. Born in the northern Iranian city of Rasht, Golchin collaborated with many distinguished musicians in the traditional Iranian …

RFL/RE – Iranian authorities have asked award-winning filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof to report to the prosecutor’s office after confiscating his passport upon arrival in Tehran. Rasoulof’s passport was taken away at Tehran’s airport on September 15 as he returned from the United States, where he had screened his latest film, A Man Of Integrity (Lerd), at the Telluride film festival. Rasoulof, 45, …

PayvandNews – An international congress with the theme of “women, the architects of peace” was held here on Sunday on the occasion of the World Peace Day, which is annually marked on September 21.  The congress was held with the cooperation of the Institute for Protection of Women’s Rights (IPWR), The UNESCO Chair for Human Rights, Peace and Democracy (UNESCO CHRPD) of …

PayvandNews – Three Italian scholars have published their latest research on Iranian architecture in a book titled “Through Iran: Cities, Architecture, Landscapes” (Attraverso l’Iran. Citta, architetture, paesaggi). Cover of the book “Attraverso l’Iran. Citta, architetture, paesaggi“ Manfredi Edizioni in the Italian city Imola is the publisher of the book, which carries materials that Alessandra De Cesaris, Giorgio Di Giorgio and …

CHRI – An imprisoned Iranian music producer has been sentenced to an additional year in prison on new charges brought by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) has learned. Yousef Emadi was supposed to be released on parole in 2017 after serving one year for producing underground music without a license. His co-defendants, Mehdi …

PayvandNews – The 12th Mariwan International Street Theater Festival has come to an end, with carnivals of Iranian and international artists marking the closing ceremony of the artistic event in the downtown of the Iranian Kurdish city. The four-day festival wrapped up on Tuesday in the northwestern city of Mariwan which is considered as Iran’s capital of street theater. This year, …

PayvandNews – The number of international tourist arrivals to Iran stood at 4.9 million in 2016, falling 5.6 percent from a year earlier and showing the first decline since 2013, according to the latest UNWTO Tourism Highlights report released on August 15. Tourist arrivals in the country jumped from 2.938 million in 2010 to 4.967 million in 2014 and 5.237 million …

PayvandNews – The only short film festival celebrating Iranian cinema and culture returns for ninth year with red carpet awards ceremony September 30 in new venue Press Release by Farhang Foundation www.farhangfilmfest.org Event: 9th Annual Farhang Foundation Short Film Festival Date: September 30, 6 p.m. Location: UCLA’s Schoenberg Hall, 445 Charles E Young Dr., Los Angeles, CA 90095 Tickets: $45, available online via Ticketmaster.com and in person at the //www.google.com/maps/place/UCLA+Central+Ticket+Office/@34.070159,-118.4456222,15z/data=!4m2!3m1!1s0x0:0xde1611dee0c9918e?sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwju64jfiY3WAhVIRyYKHb1tAugQ_BIIeTAN” href=”https://www.google.com/maps/place/UCLA+Central+Ticket+Office/@34.070159,-118.4456222,15z/data=!4m2!3m1!1s0x0:0xde1611dee0c9918e?sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwju64jfiY3WAhVIRyYKHb1tAugQ_BIIeTAN” …

Al-monitor  — Iran’s capital city hosted the world’s largest and most prestigious handmade carpet exhibition Aug. 23-29. Hamid Kargar, the head of Iran National Carpet Center, told Al-Monitor, “About 730 companies from across Iran and dozens of carpet traders from across the globe participated in the 26th Iran Handmade Carpet Exhibition.” He added, “Among them were more than 90 international businessmen, including 14 Americans …