Iranian nominees and winners of the first round of Asia-Pacific Cinematic Award were honored at a ceremony in Cinema House.
Speaking at the gathering, head of Cinema House, Reza Mirkarimi expressed pleasure over the success of Iranian cinema industry in the festival held last month in Australia and noted that due attention has not been paid to such achievements, reported ISNA.
He further stated that the ceremony aims to honor those who have taken efforts in the field but Cinema House could not afford to provide gifts to them. Therefore, it was compelled to present the same awards to the artists, he added.
He hoped that they will not be obliged to organize such a ceremony for themselves in the future.
Mohammad Atebbaei, an Iranian member of the Asia-Pacific Award, also presented a report on Iran’s participation in the award and said that the Asia-Pacific grouping includes 72 states and half the cinematic works in the world are produced in the area.
Iran ranked first with eight candidates and China came second with five works.
In the final section, Iran also won three prizes, which promoted it to the highest position at the event.
Hamid Farrokhnejad, who directed the ceremony, said that Iranian cinemas has so far received 1,537 awards, of which 1,367 were from the post-Revolution era averaging one award per week.
Nominees for the Australian festival including Kioumars Pourahmad and Habib Ahmadzadeh, Baran Kowsari, Mehrdad Sadiqian, Vahdi Mousaeian, Hassan Aqa-Karimi and Mehdi Homayounfar were honored in the first section of the event.
The second part of the event credited Houman Behmanesh, Rakhshan Bani-Etemad and Kioumars Pourahmad for winning the award for best photography, directing ’Mainline’ and receiving the Asia-Pacific Jury’s Great Prize respectively.

At the Indian IITM Tourism Exhibition which was held from December 7-9 in Hyderabad, Iran ranked first.
A press release faxed to Iran Daily by the Public Relations Department of Iran’s Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization said that Iran won the title from among 110 competitors from around the world.
Hyderabad tourism officials presented a plaque of honor and special statuette to Reza Khosravi, representative of the organization’s Headquarters for Publicity and Exhibitions.
The Iranian pavilion at the three-day event attracted a large number of visitors.
Earlier, Iran received golden plaque in Thailand for the best pavilion design.

Cultural, Artistic and Scientific Committee for the first exhibition and national festival titled ’Famous Women and Bread Winners’ has announced the programs for the event which will be held at the Interior Ministry’s Auditorium from December 28-January 7.
According to the News and Information Dissemination Center of the exhibit, the ten-day event will include diverse cultural and artistic programs performed by women.
On the agenda will be field plays focusing on women and social maladies, storytelling by women and holding poetry and literature nights. Screening short and feature films about women or by female directors are also on the agenda.
Also, the women will perform Maqami music inspired by local and traditional songs at the event.
The committee is planning to hold exhibitions titled ’Seven Women, Seven Views’ which will display portraits by women artists.
A contest titled ’Exhibit from Viewers’ Perspective’ will also be held.
Similar programs are to be organized in the capitals of Fars, Golestan, Kurdestan and Qazvin provinces concurrent with the event in Tehran.
The programs aim to bring out the capabilities of women in economic, social, cultural and artistic fields.
A number of pavilions will also be set up to showcase the cultural and artistic products by women bread winners including handicrafts and carpet tableau.

Prolific Iranian theater director, Amir Reza Kouhestani staged a number of performances recently in France, Syria, Lebanon and Germany.
According to ISNA, Kouhestani, accompanied by his troupe ’Shiraz Sun’, staged the play ’Recent Experience’ in the prestigious Paris Autumn Festival from November 5-29. The play was also brought to stage at Bordeaux Theater festival in France.
Another play ’Amid Clouds’ was staged from November 26 to December 1 in Besanson, France. Baran Kowsari and Hassan Ma’jouni were in the cast.
’Wise Words’, a play, written and directed by Kouhestani, was staged in Damascus, Beirut and Berlin on November 14 and 17, respectively.
The play is centered around a telephone call between a mother and daughter concerned about war on the eve of the New Year.
Kouhestani earlier directed ’Quartet’ at Tehran’s Molavi Hall.

Ahmad Shamlou

A ceremony to mark the 83rd birth anniversary of Ahmad Shamlou, a preeminent contemporary poet will be held at the tomb of the great literary figure in Emamzadeh Taher Shrine, Karaj, on Wednesday evening.
Shamlou was born in Tehran in 1925 and died in 2000 in Fardis, Karaj.
In addition to poetry, he was also engaged in compiling dictionary, translation and journalism, repored ISNA.
His six-volume ’Ketab-e Koucheh’ (The Book of the Alley) contributes immensely to understanding Iranian folklore beliefs and language.
Shamlou has translated extensively from German and French to Persian and his own works were also translated into a number of languages.
His works include ’Fresh Air’, ’Ayda in Mirror’, ’Garden of Mirror’, ’Phoenix in Rain’ and ’Abraham in Fire’.

Winners of the first edition of Soureh Press Photo Festival were announced on Monday.
According to CHN, the event was held in memory of photojournalists who died in the C-130 plane crash in 2005.
ISNA photojournalist Mehdi Qasemi ranked first, while Mohsen Haqgou and Hossein Fatemi came second and third, respectively.
Ashraf Tabatabaei was also awarded in the event.
Soureh Press Photo Festival was organized in cooperation with Tehran’s Art Bureau, Soureh Photo Agency and Iran Photographers’ House.

Bahman Qobadi

Moj Film Company plans to produce five anti-war films, the order for which was placed by Iara Lee & George Gund Company.
According to ISNA, the films will be made by five young directors by the names of Ahoura Zaman-Pira, Arsham Naqshbandi, Hamid Qavami, Babak Amini and Nahid Qobadi.
They will soon start their works under the supervision of Bahman Qobadi, a noted Iranian director.
Upon completion, the films will be screened at the festivals and aired in television stations.

Five Iranian films have been nominated for the competition section of the First Experimental Cinema Festival ’Nis Art Ferrand’ in France.
According to MNA, the films include ’C.C.U’ directed by Ashkan Omidvar, ’Passageway’ by Manouchehr Fattahi, ’Professional’ by Shahram Asadi, ’Metamorphosis’ by Babak Sarab and ’Club’ by Simin Taslimi.
Selected works will be awarded cash prizes of 5,000 and 6,000 euros in the international and youth sections, respectively. The event is slated for January 23-28.

First seminar on pictorial anthropology will be held in Tehran University’s Social Sciences Faculty from December 17-19.
A press release faxed to Iran Daily by the Public Relations Department of the Center for Development of Documentary and Experimental Cinema said that at the event, selected Iranian and foreign documentaries will be screened and reviewed. Organizing exhibition of photos and graphic designs as well as an educational workshop on digital photography is also on the agenda.
The event will be sponsored by Iran’s Anthropology Association, Tehran University’s Research Department and Social Sciences Faculty, the Center for Development of Documentary and Experimental Cinema, Culture and Islamic Guidance Ministry’s Cinematic and Audiovisual Affairs Division and Cinematech affiliated to Tehran Museum of Contemporary Arts.
The films ’Sacred Wedding’, ’Yellow Caravan’ and ’Travelogue of Omidvar Brothers’ are among the films which will be screened during the seminar.
An exhibition featuring 60 photos, exhibition of digital cameras and awarding plaques of honor to 20 documentary makers and photographers are among the peripheral sections of the event.

Iran is participating in the 26th round of Sofia International Book Fair with the latest works on Persian literature, Iranian and Islamic civilization and culture.
According to ISNA, a total of 150 publishing institutes from Iran, China, Turkey, France, Spain and Russia are taking part in the event, which was inaugurated by Bulgarian Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev in Sofia Cultural Palace on Wednesday.
An exhibition of Iranian handicrafts is also to be held during in the event.
On the sidelines of the fair, two books namely ’Prophet’s Lifestyle in Masnavi’ and ’Islam’s Report Card’ are to be unveiled.
The event is being held from December 12 to 16 in the Bulgarian capital.

Noted bassist Babak Riahipour will stage a rock concert from December 13-22 at Niavaran Cultural Complex.
The artist will feature a collection of his previous hits as well as a number of new compositions, said ISNA.
Riahipour will perform 12 pieces mainly from his 1990’s album ’Trial and Error’.
His band includes Ramin Behna on keyboard, Farzad Qeisaripour on drums and Safa Darman on electric guitar.