Iranian Filmmakers Reluctant to Participate in 37th Fajr Film Festival
The 37th Fajr Film Festival, scheduled to run from January 31 to February 11 in Tehran, coincides with the 40th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution. Many prominent filmmakers have reportedly decided not to take...
After Live Duet With Female Artist, Musician Ali Ghamsari Banned from Performing
9 Jan- The Iranian authorities have banned the tar virtuoso, songwriter and singer Ali Ghamsari from recording and performing in public after he accompanied the solo vocalist Haleh Seyfizadeh in a concert on January...
Iranian Refugee Portrait Leads Hoda Afshar to Win Australia’s Top Photography Award
The Melbourne-based, Iranian-born artist Hoda Afshar is the 2018 winner of the Bowness Photography Prize, Australia’s most important photography award, for her “Portrait of Behrouz Boochani, Manus Island.”
Afshar was selected from among 50 finalists...
Tehran’s Qajar-Era Elephant House Damaged by Fire
A fire has damaged a landmark building that once housed elephants during the reign of Qajar King Nassereddin Shah (1884– 1896), ILNA (the Iranian Labor News Agency) has reported, citing Delavar Bozorgnia, the director...
Iranian Pop Singer Banned After Releasing Anti-War Music Video
The Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance has banned Iranian pop singer Mehdi Yarrahi from recording and performing in public following the release of his anti-war music video “Pareh Sang” (Broken Rock) which the...
Women-Only Cast in Iran to Perform Bizet’s ‘Carmen’ for Women-Only Audience
An all-female production of Carmen, the famous opera written by the French composer George Bizet (1838 – 1875), is soon to be staged for an all-women audience at Tehran’s Vahdat Hall, formerly known as...
Splendid Safavid Carpet Shown at the Met Now on Display at Houston Museum
Garden Paradise: The Magnificent Safavid Carpet from the Burrell Collection, Glasgow is a rarely displayed masterpiece that was exhibited for the first time in the United States at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art...
COMMENTARY: How Christmas, Mithraism and Yalda Night Are Closely Linked
By Fereydoun Vahman
A large percentage of the world population is celebrating Christmas and the New Year. Although the birth of Jesus and the start of the Christian New Year are a week apart, the...
L.A. Rock Vocalist Soraya Sebghati Would Love to Perform in Iran
By Fred Parvaneh
Soraya Sebghati is a songwriter and the lead vocalist of Night Talks (NightTalkstheband.com), a Los-Angeles-based alternative rock band.
The group’s debut album “In Dreams” got strong reviews, and the first single “Green” was...
Prominent Iranian Ayatollah Criticizes the Use of Wigs in Theatrical Production
Ayatollah Jaffar Sobhani, a source of emulation (Shia Marja) and a former member of the Society of Seminary Teachers of Qom, has criticized a theater company in Tehran for using wigs in a recent...
