Funeral for Seyyed Jafar Shahidi, the noted Islamic historian and president of Allameh Dehkhoda Lexicography Foundation, was held on Wednesday at Tehran University’s Literature Faculty.
At the ceremony, minister of Science, Research and Technology, Mohammad Mehdi Zahedi, read out the condolence message from President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on the death of the great literary figure, said Fars news agency.
“Shahidi was an exemplary scholar honored by all researchers, university students and luminaries,“ said Zahedi after reading the president’s message.
Commenting on the professor’s personality, Zahedi said that one of his prominent features was the love for nurturing students, since he had taught literature and Islamic history for five decades.
The minister announced that the first festival on humanities titled ’Farabi Festival’ will be held on January 26 in which Shahidi will be posthumously awarded the first prize of Persian Literature.
Meanwhile, Mohammad Mohammadian, representative of the leader of the Islamic Revolution to higher education centers, read out Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei’s condolence message at the event.
“Shahidi took keen interest in teaching students and spent most of his time in libraries,“ he said.
The late Shahidi was a biographer of the infallible household of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).
His works include the translation of Nahj ul-Balagheh, a book of adage and maxims from Imam Ali (AS), the first Imam of the infallible household on Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), ’Uprising of Imam Hussein (AS)’ which deals with the third Imam’s struggle for justice, ’Life of Hazrat-e Fatemeh (SA)’ which is about the daughter of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).
Shahidi was laid to rest at Emamzadeh Abdollah in Shahr-e Rey, southern Tehran.

Kamran Faani

Kamran Faani’s general encyclopedia is in the final stage of compilation.
According to ISNA, Fani said that the encyclopedia covers all human sciences and can be called a complete Persian publication.
The encyclopedia includes 12 to 15 volumes, which will be published together once the entire work is complete, he said.
He added this is for the first time that all the volumes of an encyclopedia are published in one phase. All the entries have been compiled and cross-references will be complete within several months.
Faani, who had undertaken translation and authorship in the field of Iran and Islam, also described the encyclopedia as updated and comprehensive.
A selection of his articles on philosophy, literature, art and bibliography will also be published by Qatreh Publishing House.
Faani has so far translated ’Sea Gull’ and ’Three Sisters’ by Anton Chekhov, ’Pushkin Speech’ by Fyodor Dostoevsky and ’Science in History’ John Bernard among others.

Shahrzad Salehi's painting received an honorary diploma from the International Child Art Foundation.

Two Iranian children were awarded diplomas of honor at the International Child Art Foundation’s (ICAF) Third Arts Olympiad in the USA.
Melika Rabiei and Shahrzad Salehi, 8 and 12 years old respectively, are both members of the Institute for Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults (IIDCYA).
Over three million artworks from 100 countries were submitted to the festival’s third edition themed ’My Favorite Sport’, said the institute’s Public Relations Office.
ICAF is a non-governmental organization established in 1999 in the US with the aim of forging trust and understanding among children throughout the world. The entity has so far held more than 50 exhibitions featuring works by children worldwide.
The Third Arts Olympiad encouraged artistically inclined children to develop their physical abilities and inspired athletically inclined children to be creative. The Arts Olympiad also develops empathy invoked through art and team spirit instilled by sport to promote the Olympic ideals of mutual respect and tolerance.

Most of the handwritten Persian literary works dating back to five centuries ago are maintained at India’s Asian Society and the Institute for Oriental Studies.
According to Fars news agency, the society, which is among the main centers for manuscripts, was established in Kolkata, eastern India, in 1784. One of the main intentions of the entity in safeguarding the documents is to edit and publish them or even translate some of them into English.
Although its activities experienced basic changes following the independence of India and the emergence of Bangladesh, it is still home to a considerable number of manuscripts, which are mainly in Persian, Arabic, Bengali, Tibetan, Tamil and Malayalam in addition to several local languages. Some of the copies have been illuminated in gold and silver.
Another center in India for maintaining handwritten copies is the Institute for Oriental Studies in Pune, a city in the western Indian state of Maharashtra.
The entity is currently in possession of more than 20,000 manuscripts on philosophy, medicine, history, literature, religion and music. The number of Persian works at the center exceeds those in other languages.

Representative of Cannes Festival and a member of selection board of Cannes Critics Week, Matthew Daras will take part in the upcoming International Fajr Film Festival.
According to IRNA, Cannes Critics Week is considered one of the two independent sections which are held in parallel with official sections.
The Iranian films ’High Shadows of Wind’ (Bahman Farman-Ara), ’Zeenat’ (Ebrahim Mokhtari), ’Circle’ (Mohammad Shirvani), ’Under the Moonlight’ (Reza Mirkarimi), ’Stranger and Indigenous’ (a short film by Ali Mohammad Qasemi) and ’Two Angels’ (Mohammad Haqiqat) were earlier been screened in the this section.
’Under the Moonlight’ won the special section of the section.
Meanwhile, Ali Nassirian, noted Iranian actor, has said that holding commemoration ceremony for the late director Ali Hatami at Fajr Festival will provide the audience a chance to have a deeper insight into his works.
The festival has regularly honored veteran artists and this is good, he said, adding that familiarity of the audience with other works of Hatami which have not yet been screened is another advantage of commemorating him at the festival.
The 26th Fajr International Festival will be held in the capital from February 1-11.

Mohammad Sarir

Calligraphy and music have some comparative features which are common in both.
Head of Board of Directors of Music House Mohammad Sarir said this at a specialized meeting themed ’Commonalities of Music and Calligraphy’, which was held in Niavaran Cultural House on the sidelines of an Exhibition of Calligraphy Works and Paintings by Esrafil Shirchi. He underlined the need to conduct comparative research on arts in order to forge interaction between the two branches.
He further pointed out that arts convey the elevated thoughts of mankind and one should adopt modern approaches for presenting them in a creative manner, reported Fars news agency.
The more these messages are expressed in spiritual and creative language, the more they will be complicated and eternal, he observed.
Comparative analysis of Iranian music and calligraphy, which are visual and audio arts, can be dealt with in the context of five perspectives; visual perception, color, texture, rhythm and harmony.
Commenting on the elements of music, he said that song, melody, rhythm, harmony and nuance are among the other parts of music.

The book ’Image and Mirror’ featuring photos on Iranian Tazieh (passion play) from the Qajarid era (nineteenth century) has been published by Aeineh Publishing House, IRNA reported.
The collection was compiled by Ali Reza Qasemkhan in a year from among thousands of photos maintained in Golestan Palace.
The book includes some 111 photos on the mourning ceremonies and Tazieh directors, which were taken by Nassereddin Shah of the Qajar dynasty and court photographers.
The Persian-English publication, which also covers articles by Mohammad Hassan Memar, Seyyed Mohammad Beheshti, was published in 2,500 copies.

Noted Iranian director plans to produce a film based on tales from Shahnameh, an epic by well-known Iranian poet Hakim Abolqasem Ferdowsi, with a focus on ’Rostam and Sohrab’.
Speaking to Fars news agency, Reza Mirkarimi said that he has been working on this for three years.
“I intended to start production of the film in cooperation with Sima Film Company before undertaking the film ’As Simple As That’ but since it needed considerable proficiency in the field of special effects, I postponed it and put the production of ’As Simple As That’ on my agenda,“ he said.
He further said that he will start writing and conducting pre-production activities of the film once researches to that effect are over.