Iranian Cinema Competition Section at Fajr International Film Festival always draws expected reactions each year. A large number of people invariably object to the selection process and magnify weak points of the jury by terming omitted entries as valuable works.
However, there are only a few people who view the issue without involving personal preferences and considering specialized points about nominees and disqualified entries.
According to MNA, the following are nominees for different sections of the 26th International Fajr Film Festival.
According to a report by the event’s Public Relations Department, the films ’Song of Sparrow’ produced by Majid Majidi, ’Wind Blows Over Through Grassland’ by Fathollah Jafari-Jozani and ’Simply’ by Seyyed Reza Mirkarimi were nominated for the best film title.
Mohammad Ali Talebi, Majid Majidi, Khosrow Masoumi and Seyyed Reza Mirkarimi were selected as the top directors for the films ’Wall’, ’Song of Sparrows’, ’Wind Blows Over Through Grassland’ and ’Simply’ respectively.
The nominees for the best script section include Ali Reza Amini and Mohsen Tanbandeh for the script of ’A Testimonial for God’, Gholmreza Ramazani for ’Little Green’, Majid Majidi and Mehran Kashani for ’Song of Sparrows’, Khosrow Masoumi for ’Wind Blows Over Through Grassland’ and Seyyed Reza Mirkarimi and Shadmehr Rastin for the film ’Simply’.
Golshifteh Farahani was among the nominees for the lead actress for her role in the films ’Wall’ and ’A Woman Is Always Involved’ along with Elnaz Shakerdoust, and Hengameh Ziaei for their roles in ’Wind Blow Over Through Grassland’ and ’Simply’ respectively.
Nominees for the best lead actor are: Shahab Hosseini, Amin Haiaei, Habib Rezaei Mohammad Reza Foroutan and Reza Naji for their roles in ’Mahya’, ’Night’, ’A Woman Is Always Involved’, ’Can’an’, ’Song of Sparrows’ respectively.
Mohammad Aladpoush, Ali Reza Zarrindoust, Hossein Jafarian, Mohammad Reza Sokout and Touraj Mansouri were the nominees for the best cinematography.

Successful performances at this year’s Fajr Theater Festival should also be staged for the public, hoped a cultural official.
According to ISNA, head of the Center for Performing Arts, Hossein Parsaei added that since the entries for the international section have been reviewed once, there is no need to revise them and they can be performed for the public.
Meanwhile, Nahid Saeedpour, producer of the special program ’26th Fajr International Theater Festival’ which is broadcast on Channel Two of the national TV said that the program aims to present a report on various sections of 26th Fajr Film Festival including the section dealing with radio and TV productions.
She further said that the program can appeal to common and special audience because in addition to featuring the event, it also includes discussions by experts.
Commenting on arrangements to make the public familiar with the art of theater, she further stated that the program gives the viewers a general outlook of this branch of art.
In another development, while members of Theater House are complaining about the distribution of tickets for Fajr Theater Festival, head of the event’s secretariat, Amir Hossein Hariri denied that there was any problem in this respect.
“So far, the festival’s tickets have been sent to the entity several times,“ he said, adding VIP Cards have been issued for most of members.

Majid Majidi (l) and Reza Naji (actor) on the location of 'The Song of Sparrows'

Noted film by Iranian director, Majid Majidi ’The Song of Sparrows’, has been unveiled in the 58th International Berlinale Film Festival.
Berlinale, which was the venue for the world premier show of Majidi’s latest film, arranged a press conference following the show, reported presstv.ir.
The latest work by the Oscar-nominated Iranian director, Majid Majidi, is the story of a man named Karim (played by Reza Naji), who works on an ostrich breeding farm in the suburbs of Tehran. He is quite content with his simple life until he is dismissed from his job and forced to leave his hometown.
“For me, the message is that we shouldn’t keep asking for more and more, or make too many demands which will only lead us to ruin,“ Majidi said at the press conference on Sunday marking the world premiere of The Song of Sparrows.
Sparrows are meant as a metaphor for the children who play the main roles in the film.
“They are like tiny, little sparrows and are just as sweet and interesting and chatty as sparrows are. But the title is also a paradox because the sparrows don’t sing,“ he said.
The involved depiction of Karim’s ups and downs was screened as part of Germany’s Berlinale Competition section.

A view of Nikol Fereidani's funeral ceremony

An art school will be established and named after nature photographer the late Nikol Fereidani who died last week.
Announcing this, Habibollah Sadeqi, director general of Culture and Islamic Guidance Ministry’s Visual Arts Department, announced this in a funeral ceremony for the artist held at Artists’ House on Friday, reported jamejam.online.
He added that the move will be undertaken in cooperation with the ministry’s artistic department.
“Fereidani was a respected artist who devoted most of his life to pictorial arts and values,“ he said.
He added that the ministry also plans to release three collections of his unpublished works in cooperation with Iran’s Academy of Arts.
Born in 1935 in Shiraz, Fereidani began taking photos in the desert city of Kerman where he sought nature landscape.
He has the books ’Kerman’, ’Mahan’, ’Isfahan’ and ’Iranian Collections’ to his credit.
Fereidani, who succumbed to prostate cancer and pulmonary infection, was laid to rest at Tehran’s Behesht Zahra cemetery.
The photographer spent his life in nature and it seems that he was made for nature.

The book and film titled ’Iran: Seven Faces of Civilization’ were unveiled in a ceremony in Gouya Culture and Art House on Friday.
Addressing the gathering, Richard Frye, an American orientologist said that Iranian culture has survived from ancient times and Iran will remain forever, reported ISNA.
Referring to the glory of ancient Iran during the Achaemenid reign (648-330 BC), he further contended that the Arabs and others do not know what the Iranians have done for Islam. “In my opinion, the base of Islam and Islam itself was formed here,“ he said.
He maintained that the Iranians had made an international religion from Islam earlier than Arabs. But today, Arabs and the US have forgotten this, he noted.
Criticizing the distortion of the name of the Persian Gulf in Arab books, Frye who, in his will, has desired to be buried near Zayandehroud, a river in Isfahan, also said that the claim by the Arabs that everybody who has written in Arabic was Arab is wrong.
Iranian culture has presented many elites to the world, he noted. Meanwhile, Abderrahim Jafari, a veteran publisher described the book as an innovative work and said that it shows the glory of the ancient Iran.

A resoundingly retro Grammy Awards left its biggest winners nearly speechless. On a night filled with nods to the show’s 50-year history, the most trophies went to a 24-year-old singer known for her old-soul voice, and the most sought-after prize went to a veteran jazzman’s Joni Mitchell tribute album.
According to AP, both Amy Winehouse and Herbie Hancock were dumbstruck by the honors, fumbling for words and thank-you lists, respectively.
Industry observers had expected either Winehouse’s “Back in Black“ or Kanye West’s “Graduation“ to take the prize. There was speculation the two may have split the vote of younger, more pop-centric National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences voters, leaving the door open for Hancock.
That result left the typically outspoken West in no mood to share his thoughts. West won four trophies, but after losing out once again in the album of the year category he’d made no secret of coveting, he skipped post-show interview rooms to instead pose for photos with his fiance and members of his entourage.
Along those lines, show producers began the evening with Alicia Keys singing “Learnin’ The Blues“ alongside archival footage of Frank Sinatra, a la Natalie Cole’s “Unforgettable“ duet with her deceased father in 1992.
Beyonce was paired with Tina Turner for a showy rendition of “Proud Mary.“ Kid Rock joined up with Keely Smith, a winner in the very first Grammys in 1958, for “That Old Black Magic.“ Hancock and Chinese wunderkind Lang Lang did the dueling pianos thing for a compelling take on George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue.“
The Beatles were honored by performers from two new interpretations of their music, the Cirque du Soleil show “Love“ and Julie Taymor’s film “Across the Universe.“

Noted instructor of philosophy said that divine books can be categorized into two different types with the first including Torah and Bible which feature narratives about the prophets and their accomplishments.
Speaking to Fars news agency, Yahya Yasrebi further said that their followers do not consider the books as containing words of God; rather the collections feature the activities of their prophets.
The other kind of celestial books is the Qur’an which contains words of God and not the adages of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), he said, adding that it was revealed to the Prophet by Angel Gabriel.
Therefore, none of the Qur’anic verses are quotations of the prophet and this has on several occasions been emphasized in the holy book, he said.
Rejecting claims that the Qur’an is a type of poetry, Yasrebi further said that the style of the Qur’an totally differs from those used in modern Arab and ancient poetries.