Digital storytelling involving children in the story will not only play an effective role in the learning process but will also leave a positive impact on the audience.
This is the finding of a dissertation by Mehdi Vares for his masters degree in educational technology at Allameh Tabatabei University. Wares also submitted his findings as a paper to the Third Article Writing Contest organized by the Institute for the Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults, said a press release faxed to Iran Daily by the institute’s Public Relations Department.
It was selected as the best from among the 15 entries.
The paper compared digital storytelling, which is one of the new concepts in the world, with the traditional form.
Describing storytelling as one of the most ancient form of literature, Vares said it still brings together children and even adults to hear old tales from their grandmothers or grandfathers.
Plato is one of the first scientists to understand the importance of storytelling for children and he devoted an important section of his masterpiece ’Republic’ to the significance of telling stories to children, the paper said.
It defines digital storytelling as the art of reproducing the stories using one of the different multimedia such as pictures, audio effects and voice of a narrator.

Some 90 music, theater and artistic programs on Islamic Revolution will be held during 10-Day Dawn celebrations to mark the 30th anniversary of the victory of the Islamic Revolution February 1-11).
Announcing this, deputy minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance for artistic affairs, Mohammad Hossein Imani-Khoshkhou said at a specialized meeting attended by the heads of 10-Day Dawn Headquarters’ Artistic Committees that anniversaries to commemorate the victory of Islamic Revolution have so far not been celebrated in the way they deserve, although they have manages to conveyed the glory of the event.
“We are trying to expose the magnificence of the Islamic Revolution in Tehran and other provinces through art,“ he said, adding that this requires a lot of funds, reported Fars news agency.
All organizations and institutes should chalk out programs for the 10-Day Dawn celebrations, he said.
Commenting on some of the programs to mark the occasion, Imani-Khoshkhou noted that 30 plays will be performed in Tehran and other cities and 30 artistic exhibitions and 30 concerts will be presented during the period.
He also called on artists to help organize programs to mark the anniversary of the victory of Islamic Revolution.
The artists unanimously agreed that the Revolution has been a step for the progress of art, he
concluded.

A frame from 'Osama' directed by Sadiq Barmak

A seminar on Afghan cinema and literature attended by literary and film critics from Afghanistan ended in Isfahan on Wednesday.
According to www.sourehcinema.com, the three-day event opened on Monday with the screening of the film ’Osama’ directed by Sadiq Barmak from Afghanistan.
Afghan cinema and contemporary Persian short stories were reviewed at the seminar.
The film ’Osama’ narrates the story of a 12-year-old Afghan girl and her mother who loses her jobs after the Taliban closes the hospital in which she works. The Taliban also forbade women from leaving their homes without being accompanied by a ’legal male companion’. With her husband and brother dead, there are no men left to support the family. She is left with no other choice but to send her daughter to work in the guise of a boy named ’Osama’.
Barmak, a graduate in filmmaking from Moscow University, has said that ’Osama’ is a real tragedy at a time when nobody had the right to decide for ’him’.
The film ’Ash and Soil’ directed by Atiq Rahimi was also screened on the second day of the event.
The film is about an old man who has lost his most of his family in a war. He wants to convey the news about the destruction of their village to his only son, who is working in a coal mine. He has the difficult task of telling his son nobody is waiting for him any longer.

DocPoints festival will screen Iranian films.

Iranian movies will be reviewed in the 7th edition of DocPoint Helsinki Documentary Film Festival with the screening of several classical films.
According to ISNA, the films ’Apple’ by Samira Makhmalbaf, ’The Ladies’ by Mahnaz Afzali and ’Zinat, One Special Day’ by Ebrahim Mokhtar will be screened in contemporary Iranian films section while the film ’The House Is Black’ (1962) by Forough Farrokhzad and ’The Night It Rained’ (1967) by Kamran Shirdel will be featured at the classical cinema section.
The artistic secretary of DocPoint Helsinki Documentary Film Festival, who visited Tehran to take part in the recently-concluded Tehran’s CinŽma VŽritŽ Film Festival, selected the film ’Tehran No Longer Has Pomegranates’ directed by Masoud Bakhshi for screening at the event.
The opening film of the festival is ’Recipes for Disaster’ by John Webster which is to make its world premiere at DocPoint. The festival will be held in Helsinki Finland, from January 23-27.
Other films selected for the event are ’Plastic Soldier’ by Rostislav Aalto, ’Big Boy’ by Mia Halme and ’Shadow of the Holy Book’ by Arto Halonen.

For the first time a students’ carpet festival will be held during the academic year 2007-08.
Announcing this, Hamid Kargar, secretary of the festival told MNA that the event provides an opportunity for students across the nation to focus on Iranian carpets from different artistic perspectives.
He added that the students have until February 9 to submit their artworks to the festival’s secretariat in numerous branches of art, including literary works, poetry, performance as well as pictorial and visual arts.
The awarding ceremony is to be held in Kashan University, Isfahan province in the spring of 2008.
First Students Carpet Festival will be held in cooperation with Science Research and Technology Ministry and Scientific Association of Persian Carpet.

Communications in the cultural sector are more profound and effective than those in the political arena since the latter fluctuates with even the slightest change in global equations, observed the head of Documents and National Library Organization.
Ali Akbar Ashari told the French Ambassador to Iran Bernard Politte that due to this reason, cultural ties should be further strengthened irrespective of political considerations, reported MNA.
Noting that many scientific and cultural accomplishments in the world were due to the joint efforts of different cultures and nations, he added that peace and wellbeing can be promoted by improving cultural communications among nations.
Describing Iran and France as the two countries with rich cultures, Ashari said that by developing ties, the two nations can serve as a bridge between the East and West.
He also called on the statesmen to help forge scientific and cultural links between the nations.
Politte, for his part, referred to great activities of Iran’s National Library and noted that the entity has modernized information dissemination at the highest level while remaining loyal to the country’s cultural roots.
He also said that Iran and Iranian studies have always been at the center of attention of French orientalists and thinkers.
Politte, who went round the museum of manuscripts, also described it as the most important treasure of Iranian culture and history.
The two sides also agreed to cooperate in several projects including holding a seminar on the diversity of languages to mark 2008 as the ’Year of Languages’ as designated by UNESCO.

The Dutch tenor, Marcel Beekman, will hold educational workshops at Tehran’s Vahdat Hall on December 25-26, as part of programs for the 23rd Fajr International Music Festival.
The festival’s secretary, Kambiz Roshanravan, also told MNA that the move seeks to familiarize Iranian musicians with orchestration of classical instruments.
He added that in view of requests by several music students, the group will also hold discussions on techniques of performing classical music instruments.
Beekman, 38, began his career at a young age as a boy soprano. In the early 1980s, he recorded several albums and became nationally known following regular appearances on both radio and television.
Beekman is a sought-after soloist in both the Baroque/Classical and the contemporary concert and opera repertoire.
He has performed with many orchestras, namely the Berlin Symphoniker, Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century and Netherlands Bach Society.

Second exhibition of handicrafts titled ’Isfahan, Color of Sky’ is underway in Madrid and will continue until January 16.
According to IRNA, the exhibit, which features carpet, Gelim, tile works, inlaid works and calico is sponsored by Persepolis Cultural Foundation, Roham Naqqash Sepahan and Isfahan’s Union of Handicrafts Exporters.
Director of the union’s sales affairs division, Mojtaba Chitsaz recalled the public enthusiasm shown in the event by the Spaniards last year and said that if Iran’s handicrafts are properly introduced in Spain, favorable conditions will be created for their export.
An expert on Latin American and African handicrafts also described Iranian craftsmanship as unique given the artistic value and subtlety of the handiworks.
Artworks on display indicate the richness of the Iranian art and culture, he said, adding that the event is scheduled to be held each year in view of its popularity among enthusiasts of Iranian art.
In order to better introduce the Iranian carpet weaving and calico works, two Iranian artists will give a practical display of traditional methods used in the two artworks.