Winners of the Fifth Isfahan Literary Award were announced in a ceremony in the city on Thursday.
According to ISNA, the books ’Snakes Are Thirsty’ written by Amir Mohammad Etemadi, ’Death Anniversary’ by Asghar Elahi and ’Cold Memories’ by Shiva Karimi were evaluated first to third respectively in the novel section by a panel of jury headed by Esmaeil Azar.
In the story section, no entry was selected as the top but ’Ants Which Ate My Father’ by Ali Qane’ and ’Imperfect Prince’ by Tala Hassan-Nejad came second and third respectively.
Meanwhile, ’The Lotus and Stone’ by Gholamhossein Dehqan, ’Death of Dandelions’ by Mojgan Ahmadipour and ’My Love Is in Other City’ by Marjan Riyahi were the best works in the short story section while in children and young adults section, ’A Good Book’ by Marjan Riyahi and ’When Will You Become a Human?’ by Taraneh Matloub and ’Great Soldierness and Small Commandership’ by Saeed Rouhafza were chosen as the top works by a panel of jury chaired by Houshang Moradi-Kermani, a noted storywriter.
In the literary criticism section which was devoted to stories from past rounds of the event, Tala Hassan-Nejad came first while Farahnaz Sheikh-Alizadeh and Keyvan Shamshir-Beigi deserved honorary mention.
However, in the special section of the event titled ’National Unity and Islamic Solidarity’, the panel of jury considered none of the entries as the best. Thus no winner was chosen for the section.

Shahram Nazeri

A ceremony to honor Shahram Nazeri, noted Iranian vocalist, was held in his hometown, Kermanshah on Friday.
According to ISNA, the event was sponsored by the city’s Music Association in recognition of his efforts and the French Cavalier Badge for Literature and Art (’Chevalier des Arts et Lettres’) awarded to him.
The event was attended by Moeini-Kermanshahi, a famous cotemporary poet and Mir Jalaleddin Kazzazi, a man of letter. Music groups from the province performed at the event.

Concurrent with the upcoming 26th Fajr International Theater Festival, Iranian theater has livened up.
Prominent Iranian theater director Bahram Beizaei is staging his latest play ’Afra’ at Vahdat Hall.
The cast of the play, which runs until February 7, include Hassan Pourshirazi, Bahram Shah-Mohammadlou, Afshin Hashemi and Mojdeh Shamsaei, reported the daily Jam-e Jam.
Beizaei featured his last play ’Passion Play on Tragedies of Maestro Navid Makan and His Wife Engineer Rokhshid Farzin’ in 2005.
Meanwhile, noted stage director Hamid Samandarian is concurrently staging ’The Visit’, written by Swiss author and dramatist Friedrich Durrenmatt, in Tehran’s City Theater. The play will remain on stage until February 4.
Samandarian, who earlier staged Durrenmatt’s ’Strindberg’s Play’ seven years ago, is presenting ’The Visit’ with a 70-member troupe.
The cast includes Gohar Kheirandish, Payam Dehkordi, Mir Taher Mazloumi and Ahmad Sa’atchian as well as some of his students.
Another director Nader Borhani-Marand has ’The Wild Duck’ on show at City Theater’s Chaharsou Hall.
The cast for the play, written by Norwegian dramatist Henrik Ibsen, include Elham Pavehnejad, Afsaneh Mahian and Farzin Mohaddes.

Noted Iranian vocalist visited the exhibits ’Forgotten Art Treasures of Iran’, ’Paintings and Photos of Mir Hossein Mousavi’s Architecture’ and ’Calligraphies of Gholamhossein Amirkhani’ in Saba Cultural Artistic Institute.
According to MNA, Shajarian’s unexpected visit lasted four hours.
Saba Institute is currently displaying more than 300 artworks including dishes, drapes, carpet and carpet tableaux of Iran’s traditional, devotional and indigenous arts from the Timourid and Safavid eras to the Qajar period.
Mousavi’s paintings in the past eight years as well as photos of monuments designed by him and calligraphies featuring quotations and supplications from Imam Ali (First Imam of Prophet Muhammad’s (PBUH) infallible household) by Amirkhani are on display in Saba Institute.
Some 18 specialized workshops on different arts including enameled works are also open to the public.

Second workshop themed ’Tea’ was organized by noted Iranian film director Abbas Kiarostami in Lahijan in the Caspian province of Gilan
on January 2.
Speaking about the objectives of the workshop, Kiarostami noted that he is seeking a new attitude towards films which are not dominated by the commercial aspects, according to ISNA.
Describing the films screened at the event as a good experience for the younger generation of filmmakers, he further said, “We need to gain experience in everything and it is experience which gives us a new outlook for learning and teaching.“
He noted, “Watching simple scenes featured in films was a marvelous experience for me.“ Portraying the privacy of a person while drinking a cup of tea is not a simple task, he pointed out.
Commenting on his views about digital cinema, he said that he is strongly against digital cinema and prefers 35- and 7-milimeter films to digital versions.
Turning to the differences between domestic and foreign workshops, Kiarostami said that Iranian youth are better than their foreign counterparts and make good progress with minimum facilities. Films by Gilan’s young documentary makers with a focus on tea industry were screened during the workshop. Jafar Panahi, Seifollah Asadia and Ahmad Mir-Ehsan accompanied Kiarostami.
Some of Kiarostami’s well known productions are: ’Passenger’, ’Experience’, ’Bread and Alley’, ’Break’, ’Chorus’, ’Clothes for Wedding’, ’Two Solutions for a Problem’ and ’Where Is the Friend’s Home’.

Ingmar Bergman

Ingmar Bergman, the Swedish film, stage and opera director who passed away in 2007, will be commemorated at the world cinema section of the 26th Fajr Film Festival slated for February 1-11.
According to the Persian daily ’Iran’, a number of his films including ’Passion’, ’Virgin Spring’, ’Seventh Seal’, ’Wild Strawberries’, ’Magic Flute’ and ’Autumn Sonata’ will be screened at the event.
In his films, Bergman portrayed important challenges such as death, and ego of life. He found bleakness and despair as well as comedy and hope while exploring human condition. He is recognized as one of the greatest and most influential filmmakers of modern cinema.
He directed 62 films, most of which he wrote, and produced over 170 plays.
Bergman was born in Uppsala, Sweden. He grew up in an atmosphere of religious imagery and discussion.
US Film Institute earlier described the deaths of Ingmar and Michelangelo Antonioni, an Italian modernist film director, as among the seven prominent events shaping the world of cinema and culture in 2007.

Third seminar on Ashiqlar, traditional Azari music ’Ashiqlar’, performed by instrumentalists known as ’Ashiqs’ in Maragheh, East Azarbaijan, ended with the naming of the winners by the jury of the city’s Culture and Islamic Guidance Department.
According to IRNA, Adel and Nader Afarideh ranked first and third in Daf (a traditional percussion instrument) section respectively. Nobody was eligible for the second prize.
In Balaban section, Bahman Amiri, Esmaeil Heidari and Qochali Karimi were selected as the first to third respectively while Farmarz Jalali came first in the song section.
Ahad Mard-e Meidan and Mohammad Jaafi jointly won the second place in the same section.
The third seminar on Ashiqlar was held in Sufi Hall in Maragheh for three days with the participation of 14 three-member groups.

A sample of Iranian gold embroidery used in the holy shrine of Imam Reza (AS).

Gold embroidery is part of the national cultural heritage and should be protected from extinction, observed a veteran artist in the field.
Speaking to IRNA, Mohammad Salimian recalled that the Iranians were producing gold embroidered fabrics at a time when the Europeans did not even know about the existence of fabrics.
He regretted that only few people in Iran are currently involved in this branch of art in Tehran, Kashan and Isfahan. Gold embroidery, he added, fell out of favor with the passage of time because of the use of raw materials such as gold and silver. He called on the government to help preserve the art for posterity.
Stating that natural silk, gold and silver are the materials used in gold embroidery, Salimian further said that Golbatoun, which is silk embroidered with gold and silver threads, is also included in this branch of art.
Undoubtedly, weaving gold embroidered fabrics was in vogue in Iran since the Achaemenid period (648-330 BC), and similar designs are seen on the hems of garments worn by regalities and aristocrats, he said.
He further said that gold embroideries from the Sassanid era (226-650 AD) attained global fame since tourists to Iran took them as souvenirs to their homelands.
Examples of Iranian gold embroideries are maintained in Lyon, London, Washington and Armitage museums signifying the glory of the ancient Iranian art, he added.