Closing ceremony of the international section of the ongoing 26th Fajr International Film Festival was held on Wednesday at Aseman Cultural-Artistic Complex after announcing the top works in four sections.
According to the festival’s Public Relations Office, the ceremony was attended by minister of culture and Islamic guidance, Mohammad Hossein Saffar Harandi and his deputy for cinematic affairs, Mohammad Reza Jafari-Jelveh , as well as a number of Iranian and foreign cultural figures.
The festival’s top prize ’Crystal Simorgh (phoenix)’ was presented to winners of four sections: International Competition, Spiritual Cinema Competition, Asia Competition and Interfaith Competition.
Speaking at the ceremony, Saffar Harandi said, “I thank God that the event is being held concurrent with the Ten-Day Dawn (February 1-11) celebrations marking the 29th anniversary of the victory of Iran’s Islamic Revolution.“
He added that cinema is a means of finding the truth and Iranian cineastes have established ties with their foreign counterparts based on this.
The minister described the event as a source of hope for the cinema industry and also called for further attention to spiritual and Islamic cinema.
Nicole Guillement, who was on the international competition’s panel of jury, also expressed satisfaction with the prestigious event and said, “It is a great honor to find that the festival presents a collection of outstanding cinema productions.“
The film ’Wind Blows Through the Grassland’ directed by Khosrow Ma’soumi, was selected as The Best Feature Film in the international competition section, while The Best Director Award of the section went to Sami Kaplanoglou for ’The Egg’.
The Best Film Award of the panel of jury for Spiritual Films went to ’Island’ directed by Russian filmmaker Pavel Lungin. Mohammad Ali Ahangar and Mohamamd Reza Gohari jointly won The Best Script Award for ’Child of the Soil’.
Seyyed Reza Mirkarimi’s ’So Simple’ won The Best Director Award of the Asia jury, and ’Waiting in the Dark’, produced by Japanese filmmakers Katsuyuki Oana and Shunsuke Koga, took The Best Film Award.
The films ’Child of the Soil’ directed by Mohammad Ali Ahangar, ’The Music Box’ by Farzad Motamen and ’A Testimonial for God’ by Alireza Amini, were selected as best films in the interfaith section.

The 26th Fajr International Theater Festival opened on Tuesday with some movie halls such as City Theater Complex, Mehrab and Sanglaj halls resuming their activities after months of closure due to renovation.
According to ISNA, on the first day of the event, some of the halls welcomed the event with empty seats but, on the second day, the situation improved.
However, notwithstanding that foreign performances were always received enthusiastically, this year the hall hosted even the second performances of the plays such as ’Tip of the Tongue’ from Switzerland with half of the seats empty.
The event’s bulletin was not available on the first and second days.
Even after renovation of City Theater Complex, the heating systems are functioning properly only in the Main and Chaharsou halls while in Sayeh and Qashqaei halls, the heaters placed around the stage.
The lighting systems were apparently damaged during maintenance works on the complex and the group Yerma directed by Reza Gouran performed under ordinary light.
No brochures for domestic plays were published.
Unlike the earlier rounds, publicity about the festival has increased considerably as promotional teasers are seen on closed-circuit TVs in some of the squares of the capital and billboards across the city.

Saber Kermani

Saber Kermani, noted Iranian poet and researcher, died at the age of 82.
According to MNA, Kermani was born in Kerman in 1925 and began composing poems at an early age.
He was active in various branches of art and was also involved in editing anthologies of great Iranian poets and mystics.
His talent in eloquence in conveying different subjects and attention to mystic issues is evident in all his works.
He published 40 books on poetry, prose, literature and psychology during his lifetime. They include ’Lives of 14 Infallibles’, ’Fascinating Quotations of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and Imam Ali (AS)’, ’Caravan of Poetry’, ’Secret to Affection’, ’Smile of Spring’ and ’An Introduction to Hafez Anthology’.

A frame from ÔEarth-BoundÕ directed by Bahman Farman-Ara

Noted director has said that he is unwilling to allow the screening of his latest work ’Earth-Bound’ at Fajr International Film Festival in the competition section of Iranian films unless an agreement is reached on the omission of a sequence from the film.
According to ISNA, Bahman Farman-ara added that Culture and Islamic Guidance Ministry’s Supervision and Evaluation Office asked him to omit a pivotal sequence of his film before permission is given to take part in the festival.
Referring to the issuance of production permit for the film, he further said, “When I was given the permission, an agreement was reached on changing a name and I did it. Therefore the film script was approved in its original form and the film was made based on it.“ This will create a situation in which the filmmaker will be obliged to screen his/her film with changes because of the funds and time spent on it, he complained.
“But I do not want to submit to conditions and leave out the sequence which is key to the structure of the film,“ he said.
’Earth-Bound’ narrates the story of painter who escapes noise pollution in the capital and takes refuge in a village in Kurdestan province.
He is engaged in creating artworks in the hamlet until his life undergoes a dramatic change with the arrival of his niece. He revises his lifestyle.
The cast of the film includes Reza Kianian, Babak Hamidian, Maryam Boubani, Bita Farahi, Roya Nonahali, Niko Kheradmand, Hedayat Hashemi and Rana Azadi.
Farman-ara won crystal Simorgh for his films ’A House on Water’ and ’Smell of Camphor, Fragrance of Jasmine’ in the earlier editions of Fajr Film Festival.

The 58th Berlin Film Festival which will screen 400 films, including four Iranian works, opened yesterday with a documentary by Martin Scorsese.
At this year’s Berlin Film Festival, four movies from Iran will compete for the top prize against acclaimed films like Oscar contender There Will Be Blood.
The four Iranian movies to be screened at this year’s Berlinale are: Majid Majidi’s ’The Song of Sparrows’, Manijeh Hekmat’s ’3 Women’, Hana Makhmalbaf’s ’Buddha collapsed out of Shame’ and Tanaz Eshaghian’s ’Be Like Other’, reported presstv.ir.
The 58th Berlinale began Thursday evening with Oscar-winning director Martin Scorsese’s two-hour concert documentary Shine a Light.
It is the first time that the Berlin Film Festival commenced with a documentary motion picture.
The ten day festival will be adjudicated by a six-member international panel who will announce the winners at a ceremony on February 16. Hana Makhmalbaf (L), and Majid Majidi

An album featuring songs of Janab Damavandi and Hosseinali Nakisa, two noted Iranian musicians, has been released by Mahour Publishing House.
According to MNA, Damavandi, a singer and reciter of Adhan (call to prayer) was born in 1871.
He performed his first work to the accompaniment of Ali Akbar Shahnazi, a player on traditional string instrument Tar.
He said in a radio interview that he learned how to recite the Adhan from Seyyed Jafar Lahiji, a noted maestro.
Damavandi died in 1980. Nakisa was born in Tarkhouran, Tafresh, in 1921 and learned the techniques of singing from his father.

Winners of Fajr Poetry Festival in Yazd and Kerman provinces were named in ceremonies on Tuesday.
According to ISNA, Seddiqeh Aziminia’s poetry was selected as the best in the devotional and religious section while Abu Khaleq Abouei and Masoud Zare’ received awards for the top works in the free and Imam and Revolution sections of Yazd festival respectively.
Seyyed Fazlollah Tabatabaei and Maryam Abedipour were also announced winners in the social and youth poetry sections respectively.
Alieh Mehrabi was also introduced as the selected poet of the province.
This is while in Kerman, Moein Samadani, Masoumeh Shojaei were selected as the best in the Imam and Revolution section while Alieh Jahromi and Ahmad Asadollahi were chosen as the top in the local poetry and resistance poetry sections respectively.
Mohammad Ali Joshaei was also selected as the best poet of the province.