Selected Iranian film and TV comedians were honored in a ceremony at the recently concluded Gol Aqa Film Festival held at Iran’s Academy of Arts late Friday.
According to MNA, the event began with the playing of the national anthem and recitation of several verses from the holy Qur’an. A clip on the late satirist Kioumars Saberi-Foumani, known as ’Gol Aqa’, was also screened in the ceremony.
Firouz Karimi, head coach of Tehran Esteqlal Soccer Team was also commended for trying to forge a link between sports and satire and a selection of his satirical comments was read out.
Following the performance of three live compositions by Ilia Monfared, the ceremony commemorated Javad Alizadeh, a noted caricaturist who was absent from the event.
Later, Farhad Aeish and his wife Maedeh Tahmasebi performed a play titled ’Fault’.
Peyman Qasemkhani was also honored as the best scriptwriter in comic and satirical cinema.
A clip from veteran actor Morteza Ahmadi was screened in his honor. Ezzatollah Entezami and Poupak Saberi then took the stage to hail him.
After a short speech by deputy minister of culture and Islamic guidance, Mohammad Reza Jafari-Jelveh, two cineastes Jaleh Olov and Reza Kianian presented the prize for the best comedy actor to Farhad Aeish.
Hamid Jebelli and Iraj Tahmaseb were also honored.
Dariush Mehrjoei was also named the best director of Iranian comic cinema.
Abolfazl Jalili, Masoud Deh-Namaki, Houshang Moradi-Kermani and Rasoul Sadr Ameli were present in the three-hour ceremony. The master of ceremonies was Ali Reza Khamseh, who was also the secretary of the festival.
Khamseh hoped that the festival would be held regularly and not just limited to the current round. The event rounded off with footage of ’Gol Aqa’ who stated that laughter is a serious matter as is weeping and therefore, satire should be taken seriously.

Iran National Commission for United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) will hold a ceremony today (Monday) to honor ten stage directors whose works were chosen for the final section of AIDS National Theater Festival.
Speaking to www.theater.ir, secretary of the event, Mohammad Ali Changizpour referred to the closing ceremony of the festival on November 29 and said that the panel of the jury welcomed the statement of sympathy by the artists and called for attention to eth nic and national culture and traditions.
The jury selected Iman Shia, an actor of ’Like All Mondays’, as the best actor and Neda Farhangmehr as the best actress for her role in ’I Am Guilty’.
In the play section, Mojgan Rezaeian, writer of the play ’Taher’ was selected as the best while in the directing section, Hamid Reza Bolourchi was chosen for directing the play ’I Am Guilty’.
Meanwhile, special prize for directing was awarded to Mohammad Reza Darand and Saeed Zandi, directors of the play ’I Have No More Patience’, and Abdollah Hosseini for directing ’But I Saw You Today’.

Faculty of Arts University of New Delhi held the seminar ’A Review of Persian Literature Sources for Recognition of Indian Culture and History’ on December 3.
According to MNA, the congress was attended by several cultural and academic figures, including Seyyed Shahed Mahdi, deputy head of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR), Iran’s Cultural AttachŽ Morteza Shafiei Shakib and Mohammad Reza Mirzaei, who is in charge of Iran Culture House in Mumbai.
Speaking at the session, Shakib referred to the long-lasting cultural interaction between Iran and India and said, “Numerous manuscripts and documents, pertaining to the India’s Medieval, are among the valuable common heritage of the two countries.“
He noted that Asfi Library of Hyderabad (India) boasts over tens of millions of Persian documents as well as 25,000 manuscripts, of which 10,000 are in Persian.
At the ceremony, two Persian books ’Shah Shojaei History’ and ’Meaning Types’, published by the Research Center of the Iranian Cultural Center in India, were unveiled.
Meanwhile, Department of Persian Faculty of Arts University of New Delhi awarded honorary professorship to Seyyed Reza Mostafavi Sabzevari, an instructor of Persian literature at Tehran’s Allameh Tabatabaei University.

Noted Iranian directors were selected as members of the panel of jury at the 12th Berne International Film Festival, which will be held in Switzerland from December
20-25.
According to www.sourehcinema.com, Homayoun Parsi, an Iranian expatriate and a member of Geneva Academy of Independent Cinema and Babak Sarab, a young Iranian filmmaker, were nominated to the eight-member jury of the event.
Sarab earlier took part in the non-competition sections of the seventh and tenth editions of the festival with his films ’Dice’ and ’Low Voice’.

Kamkars Music Group conducted by Houshang Kamkar will perform programs in Germany and Australia this spring and summer.
Speaking to Fars news agency, Kamkar said that following performances at Fajr Music Festival, which will be conducted to the accompaniment of Tehran Symphony Orchestra, the band will give several concerts in Germany during March 26-27.
He further stated that the group will
perform concerts in several Australian cities in June.
These programs include new pieces as well as the pieces earlier performed in Tehran.
Commenting on the release of an album of the group’s concert performed last summer in the Interior Ministry’s Auditorium, he said that based on discussions held earlier, the album is scheduled to be released by Meshkat Company.
However, since some defects were detected with several pictures of the concert, its release has been delayed.

A seminar on Molana Jalaleddin Rumi for children and young adults opened in Artists’ House on Saturday in cooperation with Children’s Book Council and eight cultural institutes.
According to ISNA, Noushafarin Ansari, a member of the council’s board of directors, said that one of the main objectives of the gathering is to develop a link between Molana and the young generation through literature.
Describing the compilation of the history of children and young adults’ Literature as an example of efforts to develop links between the younger generation and literary figures, she pointed out that all the endeavors were aimed at creating communications between such personalities and the youth.
The publication tries to present the ancient literature in the best manner, she noted.
Secretary of the seminar, Nahid Motamedi told the same gathering that illustration of several tales by Molana, rewriting Molana’s works for children and young adults and review of Molana’s works were among the topics for discussion at the event.
The seminar will also include four panel discussions titled: ’Biography of Molana for Children and Young Adults’, ’Molana’s Works and Electronic Publication for Children and Young Adults’, ’Rewriting and Recreating Molana’s Works for Children and Young Adults’ and ’Molana and Creators of Works for Children and Young Adults.

Karlheinz Stockhausen

German composer Karlheinz Stockhausen has died at the age of 79.
Born in Modrath, near Cologne, the prolific musician wrote more than 300 works from orchestral pieces to pure electronic music during his career.
According to BBC, the composer died in Kuerten, western Germany, on Wednesday, the Stockhausen Foundation announced in a statement.
Best known for his avant-garde electronic work, Stockhausen was an experimental musician who utilized tape recorders and mathematics to create innovative, ground-breaking pieces.
But the composer rejected the idea that he was making the music of the future, writing in 1966: “What is modern today will be tradition tomorrow.“
Stockhausen’s most ambitious work was the seven-part operatic cycle Licht, each part of which is named after a day of the week. It took Stockhausen 25 years to compose.
The composer studied at the State Academy for Music in Cologne and the University of Cologne from 1947 to 1951.
In 1952 he went to Paris, where he worked under the composers Olivier Messiaen and Darius Milhaud.
Musicians such as Miles Davis, Frank Zappa and Bjork have cited him as an influence. But he was not universally popular. The composer also attracted controversy after the terrorist attacks on New York on September 11, 2001, which he reportedly described as “the greatest work of art there is in the entire cosmos“.
He apologized for the upset caused by the comments, but denied making the statement, saying he had been misquoted.

Two veteran caricaturists will be honored at the closing ceremony of the Eighth Tehran International Caricature Biennial on Thesday at Tehran Museum of Contemporary Arts (TMCA).
Bahman Abdi and Mohammad Rafi Ziaei will be presented the Art Academy’s plaque of honor in recognition of their lifelong achievements, said IRNA. Abdi, 56, holds a BA degree in management. Since 1974, he has been cooperating with several cartoon magazines, including ’Bohloul’, ’Shangoul’ and ’Fokahiyoun’.
Rafi Ziaei, 62, has been working as a cartoonist for more than 30 years. He is a member of the editorial board of the satirical magazine ’Gol Aqa’.

Iranian researcher Hosseinali Nozari will deliver a lecture themed ’A Philosophical Approach to Conceptual Sculpture’ in Cinematech Hall of Saba Cultural Artistic Institute on Tuesday.
A press release faxed to Iran Daily by the Public Relations Department of Tehran Museum of Contemporary Arts said that the event, which is part of the Fifth Tehran Sculpture Biennial, seeks to introduce contemporary sculpture.
The biennial themed ’Peace, Life and Future Prospects’, which is sponsored by the Culture and Islamic Guidance Ministry’s Artistic Department and Visual Arts Affairs, Association of Iran’s Sculptors and the Institute for the Development of Visual Arts, opened on November 21 and will continue until January 5.