The film ’Mainline’ directed by Rakhshan Bani-Etemad and Mohsen Abdolvahhab and five Iranian short and documentary films are participating in the ongoing New York’s Cinema East Festival, which will continue until November 15.
According to www.sourehcinema.com, the festival, which features films from the Middle East and North Africa, is sponsored by the Arte East Institute.
According to the organizers of the event, some 12 feature films, 22 documentaries and 12 short films from 15 countries will be screened at the festival.
The films ’Gumboil’ (Bahman Shahrvan), ’Lipstick’ (Peyamn Maadi), ’Prisoner 57187’ (Vahid Zarezadeh), ’Tehran Does Not Have Pomegranate’ (Masoud Bakhshi) and ’Horizon’s Passenger’ (Hamid Bahrami) along with ’Mainline’ are representing the Iranian film industry in the festival.
Meanwhile, the short film ’The Day I Became My Mother’ jointly produced by Iran and Turkey will also be featured in the festival, which is held biennially.

Kazem Motamed-Nejad

Noted Iranian professor of communication sciences, Kazem Motamed-Nejad, who is considered father of Iranian communications, will deliver a lecture on Monday at IRNA’s educational workshop titled ’Seven Lessons, Seven Professors’ at the 14th Press and News Agencies Festival currently underway in Tehran.
According to IRNA, his lecture will focus on ’Media, Globalization and Cultural Diversity’.
The educational workshop organized by the news agency is the first such initiative by a media in the ongoing festival, which will end on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, managing director of the specialized English-language monthly ’Viva’, Kourosh Saeedi said that despite the advancement of information dissemination in the world and numerous experts in the country, the number of magazines in English and other foreign languages is low.
He further said that in addition to Viva, three other English magazines namely ’Ladder’, ’Teenager’ and ’Unique’ are published in the country.
Describing publication of magazines in other languages as important in promoting the presence of Iranian press in the international scene, he called on officials to facilitate the publication of specialized magazines in the country.
Viva was first published in 12,000 copies four years ago.

A sample of artwork by Shahram Amiri

Through proper understanding of traditional and modern arts, one can blend them properly to update traditional arts, observed an instructor of indigenous handicraft Marquetry (Moarraq) and inlaid artworks.
Shahram Amiri told Iran Daily that he has always aimed for innovation and has designed all his works.
Some artists, he said, are quite apprehensive about innovation and vehemently oppose it. Of course any claim or pretence is not innovation; rather it should conform to the basics of art and have an appealing composition.
Commenting on his success in the field, Amiri stated that he has so far managed to win top awards in 30 domestic and foreign art events.
He said that he has taken part in 18 Iranian solo and group exhibits as well as 12 foreign events. “I always try to use traditional arts and techniques with a modern perspective and present a new work,“ he said.
Describing the present era as the age of blending and collage, he said that all techniques have been experienced in recent centuries.
Stating that Iran along with countries such as Egypt and China are the cradle of art in the world, Amiri further stated that most of the arts in the present era are rooted in the culture and civilization of the different regions and modern art is no exception.
Criticizing those who imitate the works of others, he said, “Of course it does not matter if novices imitate some designs but this practice is not beneficial for connoisseurs.
In his/her works, artists should depict social maladies, he contended.
Amiri is currently writing a book on the history of traditional arts, especially wooden arts. In recent years he has turned to music and poetry and has released a music album called ’Owl of Love’ and will present his second album titled ’Anxiety Lane’ in the near future.

Selected films at the 37th Roshd Film Festival, which ended on Friday, were announced in a ceremony in the Institute for Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults (IIDCYA).
According to www.sourehcinema.com, Golshifteh Farahani won the panel of jury award for the best actress for her role in the film ’M for Mother’, directed by Rasoul Mollaqolipour.
’Locksmith’ directed by Gholamreza Ramazani received the award for the best film while Sirous Hassanpour was presented the award for best directorship for his film ’Kobra’s Decision’.
Panel of jury award also went to the film ’Manly Moustache’ by Javad Ardakani.
’Eternal Children’ directed by Pouran Derakhshandeh was selected as the top film in the health section of the festival.
’Nature Technology’ by Steve Nickels from Australia and the Italian production ’Substitute’ by Andra Dublin won the first prize at the educational and scientific and short narrative films sections respectively.
The film ’Celestial Sphere’ directed by Negar Jafar-Beig Irvani was selected as the best in the special section for students while the special award at the animations section went to ’Little Heart’ by Pejman Alipour.
’Long Way’ directed by Romina Mohaqqeq ranked first in the documentary scientific-educational section while ’God Same for All’ by Amin Beigi came second in the narrative section.
’For a Coconut’, a film from Belgium, was selected as the top work in the animation section.

Some 45 titles of books written by Mohammad Baqaei, a noted Iranian researcher of the works of Allama Iqbal Lahori, a renowned Pakistani poet and philosopher, were donated to Hong Kong University.
According to IRNA, 25 titles with over 7,000 pages, were about the works and thoughts of the renowned Pakistani poet and philosopher while others focused on philosophy, Persian language and literature and religions.
Speaking at a ceremony in which Iran’s Consul General Abdollah Nekonam donated the books, the university’s vice chancellor, Wang Hong Wa said that donation of the books has paved the way for the establishment of a special section on Persian books in the university’s library.
For his part, Baqaei said that undoubtedly, these works will make the students acquainted with Persian language and literature.
He spoke at length about the great Muslim intellectual in a ceremony at the same university on Friday to mark the 130th birth anniversary of Allama Iqbal.
At the same event, experts on Iqbal from Germany and Pakistan presented papers on the works and thoughts of Iqbal.
Hong Kong University is one of the leading Asian universities whose history goes back to almost a century. Currently, some 10,000 students are studying at the university.
Last year, Baqaei was conferred Pakistan’s highest cultural honor in recognition of his outstanding contribution to disseminating the works of Allama Iqbal in Iran.
Mohammad Iqbal (1877Ð1938) was a Muslim poet, philosopher and politician born in Sialkot, British India (now Pakistan), whose poetry in Urdu and Persian is considered to be among the greatest of the modern era.

Paintings by noted Iranian contemporary poet and artist Sohrab Sepehri, which have not yet been shown in public, have been published in the form of a book.
According to ISNA, the book was scheduled to be presented at this year’s Tehran International Book Fair in May but its publication was delayed by six months.
Director of Iran’s Academy of Arts Press, which is the publisher of the bilingual English-Persian book, Ali Reza Esmaeili announced that it will be distributed in the coming days.
Publication of the book was delayed because it was compiled in two languages, he added.
Sepehri’s latest unpublished works, with a critique by Jalaleddin Soltan Kashefi, includes 53 paintings which were in the possession of his family.
Sepehri was born in Kashan, Isfahan province, in 1928. He completed high school in his hometown and then came to Tehran and continued his studies in painting.
He was presented first-grade scientific badge by Fine Arts Faculty. He published his first collection of poems under the title of ’Death of Color’ in 1951. He died in Tehran of leukemia in 1980. His poetry is full of humanity and concern for human values.
He loved nature and refers to it frequently. His poetry has been translated to many languages including French, English, Spanish, Italian, Swedish and Russian.
His books include ’Hasht Ketab’ (eight books) (1976), ’Life of Dreams’ (1953), ’Downpour of Sunshine’ (1958), ’Us Nil, Us a Look’ (1977), ’East of Sorrow’ (1961), ’Water’s Footsteps’ (1965).

Noted Iranian theater director, Pari Saberi will stage the play ’Flying Shams’ at Tehran’s Vahdat Hall from November 24.
According to WWW.theater.ir, ’Flying Shams’, one of the Saberi’s most appealing works, was staged in 2002 at the same hall.
The play manifests the Saberi’s feelings and thoughts about renowned thirteenth century Iranian poet and mystic Molana Jalaleddin (Rumi).
The artist was awarded UNESCO’s Avicenna Award in Paris in 2003 for ’Flying Shams’ and ’Siavash Mourning’.
Saberi, who spent her youth in France, graduated from the French Technical and Cinematography High School of Paris and has so far directed more than 20 plays including ’Sea Gull’, ’Rostam and Sohrab’, ’Bijan and Manijeh’ and ’I, in the Garden of Mysticism’.