A planned metro station in the vicinity of Tehran’s landmark City Theater will be moved to the southeastern flank of Daneshjou Park.
A deal to this effect was signed by Tehran Urban and Suburban Railways Company (TUSRC), Theater House, Tehran Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Department and City Theater authorities.
According to Fars news agency, it was also agreed that the metro station be named after City Theater. Since the monument is a cultural structure, any damage to the site should be prevented. Construction of a metro station near City Theater drew strong objections from artists and officials.
Head of Culture and Islamic Guidance Ministry’s Office for Visual Arts Habibollah Sadeqi strongly objected to the choice of the site of the metro station expressing concern about the fate of the monument which recently underwent major repairs.
Hadi Marzban, a stage director noted that the edifice is not just stone and cement, rather it is the nerve center of Iranian theater.
Head of Tehran City Council’s Cultural and Social Commission Ahmad Masjed-Jamei had assured that the metro station will be rerouted.
Commenting on the contents of the agreement, he also said that if necessary, essential steps will also be undertaken to preserve the edifice during operations to build a metro line in the area.

Association of Distinguished Works of Fiction named ’Vav’ has selected 13 novels as the best books whose first editions were printed in 2006.
Secretary of the association, Faezeh Shakeri told MNA that the delay in announcing the list was because some of the books were released only two or three weeks ago.
The list include ’Southern Grief’ written by Mohammad Ayyoubi, ’Translator’ by Hamid Reza Shahabadi, ’Zangoul’ by Mohammad Nassiri, ’Yearly’ by Asghar Elahi, ’Your Fiery Red Color Is Mine’ by Sepideh Shamlou, ’Eden Sonnet’ by Mostafa Jamshidi, ’A Scorpion on Andimeshk Railroad’ by Hossein Mortezaeian-Abkenar, ’Angels Smell of Orange’ by Hassan Bani-Ameri.
’Purple Book’ by Morteza Arjang, ’The Dead Do not Talk’ by Rouhollah Norouzi, ’We Were Lost under the Image of Rain’ by Faryad Shiri, ’M’ by Alimorad Fadaeinia and ’Sunday at 5:00 Sharp’ by Habibollah Haddad, are among the other books in the list.

Loris Tjeknavorian

Famous Irano-Armenian composer Loris Tjeknavorian will soon perform the opera titled ’Death of Rostam’ once necessary arrangements have been made for its presentation.
Speaking to IRNA on Sunday, Tjeknavorian said that the opera was composed following the keen interest shown by the audience in his earlier opera ’Rostam and Sohrab’.
He further announced that he is currently composing other operas namely; ’Rostam and Esfandiar’ and ’Siyavash’. Tjeknovarian’s operas are based on characters from ’Shahnameh’ an epic by the renowned Iranian literary figure Abolqassem Ferdowsi.
He hoped the conditions for performing the piece will be prepared in near future.
Tjeknavorian has organized several charity programs.

A frame of Ô4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 DaysÕ

Romanian helmer Cristian Mungiu was the major victor at the 20th European Film Awards on Saturday, taking both the best picture and director prizes for his Palm d’Or winner ’4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days’.
Pic, which examines the hardships of two women during the final days of Nicolae Ceausescu’s socialist regime, beat out Fatih Akin’s ’The Edge of Heaven’; Kevin Macdonald’s ’The Last King of Scotland’; Oliver Dahan’s ’La Vie en Rose’ and Stephen Frears’ ’The Queen’, Variety reported.
While there was little surprise in Helen Mirren adding another trophy to her collection after nabbing the best actress prize, Sasson Gabai was an unexpected winner for his starring role in Eran Kolirin’s Israeli-French comedy ’The Band’s Visit’, beating contenders such as James McAvoy (’The Last King of Scotland’) and Ben Whishaw (’Perfume: The Story of a Murderer’).
Awards were handed out evenly at the low-key but often boisterous event.
Turkish-German helmer Akin won the screenplay prize for ’The Edge of Heaven’.
Although Tom Tykwer’s ’Perfume: The Story of a Murderer’ failed to pick up picture or director nominations, it did win Frank Griebe the cinematography prize and Uli Hanisch production designed kudos.
Alexandre Desplat took the composer award for ’The Queen’ score.
Cinematographer Michael Ballhaus, who was on hand to receive the European Achievement in World Cinema prize, was caught off guard by an emotional video message by long-time collaborator Martin Scorsese and moved by a lengthy standing ovation.
The European Film Awards, hosted in Berlin every other year, will take place in Copenhagen in 2008 and in Tallinn, Estonia, in 2010. The ceremony is produced by the European Film Academy and in cooperation with German pubcaster ZDF and European culture channel ARTE. The show is set to air in a total of 61 territories around the globe.

The best known novel by Russian writer Ivan Alexandrovich Goncharov, ’Oblomov’, has been translated into Persian and published by Farahang-e Moaser Publications.
Translated by Soroush Habibi, the novel focuses on a midlife crisis for the main character ’Oblomov’, an upper middle class son of a member of Russia’s 19th century merchant class, said MNA.
Oblomov is a young, generous nobleman who seems incapable of making important decisions or undertaking any significant actions. Throughout the novel, he rarely leaves his room and famously fails to leave his bed for the first 150 pages of the novel.
The book was considered a satire of Russian nobility whose social and economic function was increasingly in question in mid-nineteenth century Russia.
’Oblomovism’ has become a Russian word used to describe someone who exhibits the personality traits of sloth or inertia similar to the novel’s main character.
Goncharov (1812-91) was born in Simbirsk (now Ulyanovsk), Russia.
After graduating from Moscow University in 1834, he served for thirty years as a minor government official. The author was fluent in Latin, English, German and French.

Central Library of Astan-e Qods Razavi Foundation in Mashhad, Khorasan Razavi province has signed an agreement with Iraq’s Kashef Al-Gheta Cultural Institute to exchange microfilms of handwritten and lithographic copies as well as educational and research works.
According to a press release faxed to Iran Daily by the Public Relations Department of the Libraries, Museum’s Organization and Documents Center of Astan-e Qods Razavi Foundation, head of the foundation, Ali Mohammad Baradaran-Rafiei said at the signing ceremony that in view of the religious, scientific, cultural and geographical affinities between the two nations, such deals would help promote academic status in both states.
He pointed out that since the library has 78,000 manuscripts and certainly the Iraqi institute possesses valuable handwritten copies, the agreement is of paramount importance in enriching the collection of manuscripts maintained in the two entities.
Turning to the content of the agreement, which has been drawn up in ten articles and two notes, Baradaran-Rafiei further said that exchanging microfilms of handwritten copies and maps of the two countries are among the provisions of the deal.
Astan-e Qods Foundation is the custodian of the holy shrine in Mashhad, Khorasan Razavi province, of Imam Reza (AS), the eighth infallible Imam of the household of Holy Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).

Lyrics and songs by Bertolt Brecht, the prominent German poet and playwright, translated by Ali Abdollahi and Ali Ghazanfari were published in a book titled ’Never, Say Never’.
According to ISNA, the bilingual book was published by Golazin Publishing House.
The book mostly includes Brecht’s apolitical works.
Another translation by Abdollahi titled ’I Bird, You Tree’ will also be published shortly. The publication includes 100 poems by more than 40 contemporary German, Austrian and Swiss poets for children and young adults.

Second Iranian Art Festival will be held in September 2008 in Toronto, Canada.
Speaking to ISNA, Pouyan Tabatabaei, organizer of the event said, “Iranian Art is a festival of pictorial arts which will be held in four main sections of sculpture, painting, photography and video art.“
He added that artists Qobad Shiva and Mohsen Vaziri are to participate in the sub-section ’Pioneers of Iranian Art’.
“A section has been devoted to Iranian women artists, while another part of the event will focus on youth,“ he said.
Tabatabaei further said that the six-week festival is likely to be held in Toronto’s Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art.

Concurrent with the second International Monotheistic Religions Award, a scientific seminar themed ’Religious Illustrations’ will also be held at Imam Ali (AS) Museum of Religious Arts, IRNA reported.
Noted illustrators and religious art critics including Aydin Aghdashlou, a designer and critic; Saeed Binay-e Motlaq, a professor of art philosophy as well as several foreign researchers will deliver lectures during the two-day event, which is to begin on December 24.
The abstract of articles will be made available in the form of a book to be released concurrent with the seminar.
A comprehensive book featuring the complete versions of all the articles will be released after the event.