Thirteen movie halls have been made ready to host the 26th Fajr International Film Festival (FIFF) which is slated to begin on Friday and continue until February 11.
Announcing this, Mohammad Reza Saberi, head of the Association of Cinema Owners, told ISNA that the entity discussed latest preparations for the event in a session with Culture and Islamic Guidance Ministry officials on Wednesday.
Referring to the disruptions in gas supply to a number of movie halls due to the recent cold snap, he said, “All halls are well-equipped and there is no concern about gas supplies.“
Commenting on other renovation works, he said that new lighting systems have been installed and the screens and chairs of a number of cinema halls have also been changed.
“Azadi Cinema Hall with a total seating capacity of 450 will reopen on January 6 to host the festival’s jurors,“ he said.
The official added that Astara, Farhang, Africa, Arikeh Iranian, Asr-e Jadid, Palestine, Bahman and Cinema Museum, are among the halls reserved for the event.
Sahra and Ferdowsi cinema halls are exclusive for the media and Federation of Producers, respectively.
Meanwhile, Mahmoud Arbabi, director general of the Supervision and Evaluation Office of the ministry’s Cinematic Department said that the films to be screened at the upcoming festival have undergone minimum changes to receive screening permit.
“Out of 43 films reviewed by the festival’s board of selection, only seven have been revised. And, this, signifies that cultural regulations are duly observed by Iranian filmmakers,“ he said. Commenting on the revisions for public screening of the films, Arbabi said, “They will be revised for the second time, if the films undergo changes after the festival.“
The festival’s secretary, Majid Shah-Hosseini, will outline the agenda for the event to be inaugurated tomorrow in a ceremony at the Interior Ministry’s auditorium.
A retrospective of veteran Iranian actress Parvaneh Masoumi and prolific filmmaker Masoud Jafari-Jozani will be held at the event.

Iran will for the first time take part in New Delhi International Book Fair, which will open in the Indian capital Thursday and continue until February 10.
According to Fars news agency, a pavilion has been made available to the Institute for Cultural Exhibitions at the Delhi event to introduce the Tehran International Book Fair.
Head of the institute, Ehsanollah Hojjati said that in the current round, books published by the private sector will be displayed at the event.
The last edition of New Delhi Book Fair was held in 2006 with the participation of 1,293 publishers from around the world.
India ranks third in English book publication after the US and Britain. In addition to English, it also publishes books in 32 other languages.
Indian biennial book event which was first held in 1957 is considered the second largest book fair in the world.

Ahmad Shamlou

English translation of selected poems by the late contemporary Iranian poet Ahmad Shamlou translated by Saeed Saeedpour will be published in the US soon.
Speaking to ISNA, Saeedpour said in addition, a Persian-English edition containing the same poems will also be released in Iran by Morvarid Publishing House.
The poems were selected with an aesthetic approach and efforts were made to incorporate a diverse cross-section of his works, he said, adding that the process of selection and translation of poems is complete and the book is now being edited.
The translator has also written a preface to the book focusing on Shamlou’s life, works and poetic language. Moreover, he deals with the poet’s linguistic features in blending archaic and colloquial languages.
Saeedpour has also translated English poems into Persian language.
Earlier, he published an English rendering of ’Omar Khayyam Quatrains’ in cooperation with UNESCO. The third reprint of the book will be released shortly.
Saeedpour, who has a master’s in English literature from the US, is teaching in university and working with the Translation Unit of UNESCO.
Ahmad Shamlou was born in Tehran in 1925 and died in 2000 in Fardis, Karaj. In addition to poetry, he was also involved in compiling dictionary, translating and journalism.
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’.

Clay inscriptions of Chogha Gavaneh Mound in Kermanshah province

Clay inscriptions of Chogha Gavaneh Mound in Eslamabad-e Gharb, Kermanshah province which are maintained in the National Museum have recently been deciphered.
According to IRNA, the relics were discovered during excavation undertaken by the late Mahmoud Kordavani at the mound in 1970 and were transferred to the museum.
The 4,000-year-old collection was studied by Kamiar Abdi, the findings of which were published by Gray Backman.
Abdi said that the collection includes clay inscriptions of which 56 are intact while 28 are damaged. The scripts are in Akkadian language (cuneiform language) and belong to Ancient Babylon, some 3,800 years ago.
The inscriptions were studied during 1997-2000 after being shelved and forgotten about for 30 years, he noted.
Topics of the inscriptions mostly pertain to agriculture and animal husbandry including dispatching consignments of wheat, barley and textiles as well as related calculations. The works also feature names of women involved in fabric-weaving, he said.
In addition to the inscriptions, a cylindrical seal bearing a prayer to a goddess sitting on the throne is also among the discoveries made in the mound.
In view of the limited knowledge about the inhabitants of the western Zagros region during the second millennium BC, releasing translation of the inscriptions is considered an important step in archeological and lingual studies of western Iran.

German theater artist Anja Hempel will organize an educational workshop in Tehran University’s Fine Arts Faculty from February 2-6.
The workshop will be held in cooperation with Experimental Theater Center and Mathew theater troupe, said theater.ir.
The artist had earlier conducted a three-day workshop in Shiraz, organized by the city’s culture and Islamic guidance department.
Hempel has studied literature and drama in Paris, and choreography at the North Carolina School of the Art.
Last year she did a pedagogical tour of Asia, teaching students in Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.

Veteran Iranian actor and director Atila Pesyani plans to stage the play ’Satan’s Ship’ in Chaharsou Hall of Tehran’s City Theater Complex during Fajr International Theater Festival on February 13-14.
According to ISNA, the play will be featured in the competition section of the event.
Inspired by ’The Lady From the Sea’ by renowned Norwegian playwright Henrik Johan Ibsen, Pesyani has written the play and will perform it with a cast of five actresses: Fatemeh Naqavi, Setareh Pesyani, Pegah Tabasinejad, Elham Asgari-Shakib and Sahar Dolatshahi.
Pesyani will manage stage and costume designing while Ankido Daresh will compose music for the work.
Earlier Pesyani staged the play ’A Discordant Symphony’ at Tehran’s Molavi Hall.
’A Discordant Symphony’ narrates the story of a theater director who realizes that his troupe has been banned from attending a theater festival for which they had been rehearsing.

Photo Festival titled ’We Can’ opened in Mehr Gallery of Artistic Bureau in a ceremony on Saturday and will continue until February 7. The same event will be held in 10 Iranian provinces as well as the UAE and Pakistan during the Ten-Day Dawn Celebrations to mark the 29th anniversary of the victory of the 1979 Islamic Revolution, reported Fars news agency.
Speaking at the inaugural ceremony, head of the bureau, which is affiliated to Islamic Culture and Relations Organization, Hassan Bonyanian referred to the cultural challenges facing the Third World and said that artists and intellectuals from the developing states have made the greatest contribution to the progress achieved in developed countries.
The event, he added, will provide an opportunity for artists to make proper assessment of themselves.
He further stated that artists love the society and thus can draw the attention of officials to the problems by depicting them in their works.

Enameling is the art of fusing soil on a metal or glass surface which dates back to 1,500 years BC.
Alinaqi Vaziri in his book ’General History of Pictorial Arts’ wrote that enameling was one of the ancient Iranian handicrafts used for decorating objects.
Metal dishes from ancient eras were made of diverse metals such as gold, silver, copper, brass, iron, lead, aluminum and chrome.
According to IRNA, the oldest examples of enamelwork unearthed in Iran reveal that like many other arts, enameling also originated in this country.
During the Mongolian invasion, a new style emerged in metalwork and enameling while in the Safavid era (1501-1736), enameling drew inspiration from Arabesque style.
Isfahan considered one of the main centers of enameling and still remains the sole hub of the art.
Enameling can be described as one of the creative human arts since it involves complicated actions and reactions. Therefore, enameling can be considered a lab art and enamel is in fact a substance melted onto metal, pots, etc.
Enameling can be undertaken on golden and silver but is usually conducted on copper.

An exhibition of Islamic artworks featuring the outcome of 50 years efforts by Edmund de Uneger, a German artist, is underway in Berlin and will continue until February 17.
According to Fars news agency, the exhibit titled ’Sammlergluck’ displays works from all Muslim Mediterranean countries and Central Asia.
The works at the event supplement the items maintained in Berlin’s museums and are comparable in value to pieces in other Islamic museums.
The event features a total of 1,500 artworks from Muslim countries including miniatures and carpets from Iran, Egypt and central Asian states.