United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has designated 2008 and 2009 respectively as the ’Year of Ghazzali’ in honor of the noted Iranian philosopher and ’Year of Roudaki’ to commemorate a famous Iranian poet.
According to CHN, based on the UN cultural agency’s artistic-cultural program, all member states are urged once every two years to announce the centenary and millennium of their luminaries to the entity to enable it to register it on global heritage list and organize commemoration ceremonies.
Iranian officials introduced Abu Hamed Mohammad Ibn Mohammad Ghazzali and Abdullah Jafar Ibn Mohammad Roudaki to UNESCO for the purpose.
During the 2008-09, UNESCO will organize commemoration ceremonies for the two figures as well as Sheikh Bahaei, a noted Iranian mathematician, and Seyyed Jamaleddin Asadabadi, an Iranian revolutionary figure.
Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and Kazakhstan will also hold ceremonies to commemorate Roudaki. It added that 67 special ceremonies are on UNESCO’s agenda on these occasions.
Ghazzali was a Muslim theologian, jurist, philosopher, and mystic of Persian origin and remains one of the most celebrated scholars in the history of Sufi Islamic thought.
Roudaki was a Persian poet, and the first great literary genius of modern Persian language. He is considered a founder of classical Persian literature.

The late Seyyed Jafar Shahidi will be laid to rest at Emamzadeh Abdollah in Shahr-e Rey, southern Tehran on Wednesday.
According to ISNA, the family of the noted researcher and historian has announced that a memorial service for him will be held in Tehran’s Hosseinieh Ershad on Thursday.
Tehran University will also organize another service at the university’s mosque next week.
He has written over 15 volumes of books and some 120 articles. His works include translation of Nahj ul-Balagheh, a book of adage and maxims from Imam Ali (AS), the first Imam of the infallible household of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and ’Explanation to Masnavi’, an epic by the famed Iranian mystic and poet Molana Jalaleddin Rumi.
Shahidi succumbed to an illness and old age complications in Tehran on Sunday at the age of 89.
He was a prominent scholar of Persian language and literature. He was also the president of the International Center of Teaching Persian Language.

Jamshid Mashayekhi in hospital

Physical condition of Jamshid Mashayekhi, a noted actor who underwent an intestinal surgery in Tehran’s Atiyeh Hospital on Sunday, is satisfactory.
Announcing this, Sam Mashayekhi, a son of the artist told MNA that according to physicians his condition is no longer critical and will probably be transferred to the ward within one or two days and then discharged from the hospital.
He also thanked the people for regularly inquiring about his health.
Mashayekhi is a professional actor who has assumed roles in many films including ’Cow’, ’The Curse’, ’Bereft of Hopes’ and ’Hezardastan’.

Four Iranian films ’Unfinished Stories’, ’10 + 4’, ’Hafez’ and ’Buddha Collapsed Out of Shame’ will be screened in the 31st Goteborg International Film Festival in Sweden, which is to be held from January 25 to February 4.
According to MNA, some 450 films from 67 countries will be featured at the event. The agenda will also include 40 seminars as well as a number of concerts.
The festival will focus on Swedish cinema and all 29 films from the Scandinavian country featured in the earlier rounds, seven new films, a TV series as well s 106 short films will be screened in the peripheral section ’Svenska Bilder ’.
This year’s event will also include a section take a special look at Mexican cinema with the screening of 12 films from that country.
’10 + 4 ’ directed by Mania Akbari and ’Unfinished Stories’ by Pouria Azarbaijani will be screened three times in the world section which will also feature 39 films from other countries.
’Hafez’ by Abolfazl Jalili and ’Buddha Collapsed Out of Shame’ by Hana Makhmalbaf will be featured in favorite films and first film sections respectively. These sections will focus on 11 and 21 films respectively.

Translated version of the novel ’Celestial World’ written by Bahram Sadeqi will be published in France by Oube Publishing House.
According to ISNA, the publisher has contacted with the writer’s kin and concluded an agreement with them on copyright for the work.
Bahram Sadeqi was born in Najafabad, Isfahan province, in 1936. He took up medicine in Tehran University in 1955 and published his first story ’Tomorrow Is on the Way’ in Sokhan Magazine one year later.
He used to publish his stories in magazines such as Sadaf, Weekly Keyhan, Isfahan Miscellany and New World.
He died of heart failure in 1964 while working in a clinic in Karaj as a physician.

Gabriel Garcia Marquez---Abbas Kiarostami

Acclaimed Iranian film director Abbas Kiarostami will join Nobel Prize Laureate Gabriel Garcia Marquez and at the world’s first international forum on natural disasters and culture in Japan.
According to ISNA, the forum will be held on February 22-25 in Tokyo, Japan.
The Japan PEN Club, an international association of Japanese writers, has also invited New Orleans songwriter Susan Cowsill and modernist Chinese Photographer Liu Zheng to the event.
This event will be a gathering of artists and writers from all over the world who have written or produced works about natural disasters.
The goal of PEN is to promote the ideal that art and literature know no frontiers and should remain a common currency among nations, especially in times of political or international conflicts.

Zohreh Etezad beside one of her works

Zohreh Etezad is a physically handicapped artist who paints, designs calligraphy and weaves carpet with her feet.
Etezad, a member of International Association of Painters in Germany, has so far participated in ten national and 60 international exhibitions.
The artist was born in 1962 in Tehran. After obtaining her high school diploma, she began teaching handicapped children, reported the Persian daily ’Jam-e Jam’.
“I have taught handicapped children for 14 years. I would deal with them strictly since I wanted to nurture their talents through hard work,“ she said.
Etezad attributed her success to her family and said, “They have brought me up in such a way that I have become self-reliant.“
She added that at the beginning she hardly did her chores with only two feet. But, after practicing, she gradually got used to it.
The artist, who is now studying for masters in psychology, recently held her first solo painting exhibition at Tehran’s Banoo Cultural Center, on the occasion of the International Day of Disabled Persons.
Etezad contended that her disability provided her a strong incentive to achieve her resolve. “I wanted to prove my capabilities to myself and my society,“ she said.
She maintained that the disability brings no limitation for her and she wants to be recognized as an artist.

Ali Daei

Naqi Nemati, an award-winning director at Locarno Film Festival, plans to produce a documentary on the noted Iranian footballer and coach Ali Daei.
According to Fars news agency, Nemati said that he has had the idea for a long time but now he is seriously pursuing the initiative.
“Production of the film depends on his full approval of the project. Since he is very busy, I have not yet managed to talk to him about it,“ he said.
Commenting on the production of the film, director of the film ’Those Three’ further said that given that the documentary will encompass all aspects of his character, it will take one year to complete.
On the reasons for the decision, Nemati said he has a strong affinity to him as he is his fellow citizen.
“I saw a film about Zinedine Zidane at Cannes Film Festival and I felt it was thought provoking. Then I wondered why the Iranian cinema should not deal with famous sports figures,“ he said.
Cinema can introduce famous Iranian footballers to the world.
Nemati has so far participated in more than 40 international festivals with ’Those Three’ and won numerous awards.
He also has plans to produce the film ’Those Two’ in Sabalan Mountains, Ardebil province, whose plot will center on the relationship between an old man and a conscript.