Iran Cinema Organization Chief Praises IRGC-Linked Film Body
Many members of Iran's artistic community have criticized filmmakers who have worked with the Peace Cultural and Media Organization, which has close links to the IRGC, the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps. This has not...
Video Game Revisits 1953 Overthrow of Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh
By Julie Ershadi
Kurosh ValaNejad was born in Iran in 1966 to an Iranian father and an American mother. He and his older brother Cyrus grew up there until shortly before the 1979 Revolution, when...
Play About Prostitutes Is Banned From Iran’s Fajr Festival
Iran’s Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance has refused to reissue a permit for the play “A Barren Day” which was set to open on January 22 at the 36th Fajr International Theater Festival...
‘Homeland’ Actor Navid Negahban to Play the Sultan in ‘Aladdin’
By Shahrnaz Nancy Southwick
The Iranian-American actor Navid Negahban is best known for his role as the Al-Qaeda leader Abu Nazir in the Emmy-winning series "Homeland." He is sometimes described as "the man of a...
A Portrait of My Mother: Filmmaker Massoumi Screens New Documentary
Trailer courtesy of Nariman Massoumi.
By Tara Biglari
The British-Iranian filmmaker Dr. Nariman Massoumi pays a moving tribute to his mother Manijeh in a half-hour documentary screened recently at London’s Royal Anthropological Institute.
“How do you see...
Iranian Filmmaker Sohrab Shahid Saless Gets Major Tribute at London’s ICA
By Tara Biglari
The drab existence of a Turkish guest worker in Germany is the subject of the late Iranian director Sohrab Shahid Saless's film "Far From Home," which was screened at the Institute of...
Iranian Directors In the Spotlight at London Film Festival
A documentary shot by an Iranian asylum seeker in a detention camp was among several Iranian films screened at this year's London Film Festival, which drew some 200,000 moviegoers to an array of cinemas...
Halloween with a Persian Twist
By Fred Parvaneh
Halloween is a quintessentially American celebration – yet one that countless Iranians around the globe happily partake in.
Halloween relives the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain (pronounced sow-in), which originated in Ireland, the...
Shirin Neshat Talks About Her Latest Film: A Tribute to Oum Kulthum
By Ahmad Rafat
Shirin Neshat – the Iranian visual artist and filmmaker who won the Silver Lion award for best director at the 2009 Venice International Film Festival for "Women Without Men" – was in...
Iranian Films Win Awards At Venice Film Festival
By Ahmad Rafat
Iranian filmmakers and actors won three awards in the Horizons (Orizzonti) section of the Venice Film Festival earlier this month. The section runs parallel to the main festival competition.
Dominique Welinski and René...
