Too many images representing Iranians are created by and for news Media who are inevitably influenced by either stereotyped pre-conceptions or their governments and their agendas.

AKSbazi.com is a response to a need by Iranians to re-define their own image, a sensibility which has manifested itself repeatedly in Iran’s art and cinema in the past 30 years, but is now becoming even more urgent.

AKSbazi.com  is a place where Iranians themselves can make their own image from the inside as opposed to being looked at from the outside.

Bahar By Amir Jadidi

The games as we call them are just themes which we suggest ,or our players suggest, and then we all take our cameras or mobile phones and play them. It’s that simple really.

Bahar By Shaghayegh Cyrous

Through the games on the site, Anyone with any level of interest in photography can join the themed galleries that open regularly on the site.

Cheshm va Abroo BY Dana Farzanehpour

The site went live in March 2009 and since then, over 1000 users have registered uploading over 800 photographs on our galleries showing Iranians and their psyche and their environment in a completely new way.

Bahar By Zeinab Salarvand

AKSbazi.com has in a short space of time become a community for photographers of all levels of expertise to come together and express themselves through pictures. It has also become a platform for new artists to present their work in a practical sense. Our first collaboration through a special competition set up for HERMES RECORDS in Iran, led to two of our photographers’ works being published as covers for music CDs.

Carpet By Zahra Akbari

This weekend we will have an interactive exhibition on BAHAR at the British Museum in London as part of Magic Of Persia’s Norouz event.

Balcony BY Mohammad Nickdel

The players began imagining a new day, a new beginning in the coldest months of winter, but they did an incredibly good job. A selection of 30 of the photographs will be on view for this event and the visitors will be able to write their comments on post-it notes and attach below each photo: a kind of Did-o-bazdid between London and the players wherever they may be.

Iranian flag By Ramin Sadighi

Koodakaneh By Hassan Moussavi

You can follow the day’s events live, via Twitter by following us on:

Twitter.com/AKSbazi

Or see the photos and add your own comments on our page on facebook here:

http://www.facebook.com/event.php

Love of Football BY Ali Shahbazpour

Wishing you all a very happy new day!

Norouz Pirouz
AKSbazi.com

Norouz Holidays BY Poolad Javaher Haghighi

Related Posts:

1. Exhibition: Tehran-New York
2. Fataneh Dadkhah’s photographs at Candlestar
3. Persian Visions: Contemporary Photography from Iran

Dadkhah’s beautiful Balouchi Bride series can be commissioned exclusively from Candlestar as limited edition prints.

Fataneh Dadkhah has documented the rebirth of Iranian theater since the 1979 revolution, and in 1983 she published, Theatre Photography, in association with the Dramatic Arts Center in Iran.

Since 2001 Dadkhah has traveled extensively inside and outside of Iran taking snapshots of her experiences, and has exhibited nationally and internationally

Balouch Bride series by Fataneh Dadkhah

Balouch Bride series by Fataneh Dadkhah

Balouch Bride series by Fatane Dadkhah-

http://www.candlestar.co.uk/

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Visit Fataneh Dadkhah web site

Still Traveling 6 by Fataneh Dadkhah

http://www.fatanehdadkhah.com

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Visit more artists at Candlestar

Horses Series by Mohammad Rahimi

Poet and Cage Bronze by Parviz Tanavoli

Cock + red chair by Kourosh Salehi

Feast o Angels Series by Delbar Shahbaz

By Tahereh Samadi Tari

http://www.candlestar.co.uk/

Related Posts:

1. Vintage Fashion in Iran: Photographs from the first half of the twentieth century
2. Persian Visions: Contemporary Photography from Iran
3. 1001 colors: Contemporary art from Iran

TEHRAN – NEW YORK will explore synergies and differences among the works of 40 well-known and emerging contemporary Iranian artists living in Iran and the U.S.

The exhibition does not aim to define Iranian art, but rather to examine the unique visions that exist among Iranian artists, while encouraging a much-needed place for dialogue.  However great the distance, there are always loose ties that unite these artists across the globe.

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By: MAHMOUD BAKHSHI MOAKHAR - Farshfouroushi Carpet Bazaar

While many of the artists tackle the same political and social issues, the result is hugely varied due to the different perspectives of the geographically dispersed group.

ROYA FARASSAT - American Dream 2007

The artists in TEHRAN – NEW YORK include:

Samira Abbassy, Negar Ahkami, Shiva Ahmadi, Amir-Hossein Akhavan, Afruz Amighi, Shoja Azari, Maryam Bayat, Majeed Beenteha, Bahar Behbahani, Ali Chitsaz, Reza Derakshani, Hossein Edalatkhah, Aylene Fallah, Mehdi Farhadian, Roya Farassat, Siamak Filizadeh, Shadi Ghadirian, Darioush Gharahzad, Ramin Haerizadeh, Khosrow Hassanzadeh, Bahman Jalali, Rana Javadi, Y.Z. Kami, Shahram Karimi, Farideh Lashai, Pooneh Maghazehe, Niki Manray, Mahmoud Bakhshi Moakhar, Nazar Moosavinia, Farhad Moshiri, Shirin Neshat, Nicky Nodjoumi, Farah Ossouli, Soody Sharifi, Arman Stepanian, Taravat Talepasand, Sadegh Tirafkan, Hamila Vakili, and Darius Yektai.

MAJEED BEENTEHA - Untitled, Nationa Riddle Series 2009

DARIOUSH GHARAHZAD - Untitled 2009

HOSSEIN EDALATKHAH - Brothel Keepers 2008

NICKY NODJOUMI - Religious Man 2007

NIKI MANRAY - Twisted Emancipation 2009

SIAMAK FILIZADEH - Bread Cheese Series 2002

SHIRIN NESHAT - Offered Eyes 1993

A significant portion of the work has never been shown in the U.S.  A catalog will accompany the exhibition.

http://www.ltmhgallery.com/

Related Posts:

1. Project: One Day – A Collective Narrative of Tehran
2. Exhibition: A Diasporic offering to the Ancestors
3. Iranian participants in 1st International Exhibition – poster for a Healthier World

Golha Radio Program, broadcast from 1956 through 1979, covered the entire history of classical as well as contemporary Persian poetry, giving marvelous expression to the whole gamut of traditional Persian music and poetry.

Digital archiving of all the Golha radio programs is being conducted for access by academic researchers of Persian music and literature and the public at large.

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The Golha Project has been supported by the British Library Endangered Archives Program, the Music Department of the School of Oriental and African Studies University of London (SOAS), The British Institute of Persian Studies (BIPS), the Iran Heritage Foundation (IHF) and the Parsa Foundation.

Golha Project Management by
Jane Lewisohn: jane@golha.co.uk
Aydin Azizzadeh: aydin@golha.co.uk

Following presentation is from Jadid OnLine on Golha Project  - Persian with English subtitle

Click here to view the embedded video.

The music and literary repertoire of the programs known generally as Golha, ‘Flowers [of Persian Poetry and Song]‘ was a series of weekly radio programs. The foremost and best musicians, vocalists, literary critics, poets and announcers performed on the programs, thus providing a unique – and still the best and most poetically diverse-recorded collection of the classical corpus of Persian music and poetry made in the 20th century.

Rahi Mo"ayyeri and Davud Pirnia at Maydan-i Arg Radio Studio Tehran

This project proposes to construct a digital archive of the series for access by academic researchers of Persian music and literature and the public at large. The first phase of the project, which was to compile and digitize a complete archive of all the Golha radio programs, was completed in 2008 by Jane Lewisohn under the auspices and support of the Endangered Archives Program of the British Library where a copy of the complete digital archive is currently kept in the National Sound Archive World Music Section there. Iran Heritage Foundation will be involved in the second phase of the project which aims to create a searchable, relational database of the entire archive including bio-bibliographical data on the performers and authors, musical notation for the songs, transcription of the poetry and the commentaries included in the programs. This database will be made available over the internet by means of a purpose-built website linked exclusively to the IHF website.

Adib Khwansari, Mortaza Mahjubi, and Marziya at Maydan-i Arg Radio Studio, Tehran.

The archive as a whole will be a unique cultural resource which can both be enjoyed by students and lovers of Persian culture and also used as a teaching tool for both Persian music and Persian Literature

Project Duration
3 Years – 30% of the work already completed and fully operational by September 2011

Golha References

Flowers of Persian Song and Music: Davud Pirnia and the Genesis of the Golha Programs (PDF by Jane Lewisohn)

SOAS The Gulha Programs CD cover and booklet (PDF)

Future site of Golha project database

Sample Music from Javad Maroufi

Radio Golha

jadidonline.com Golha Program

Golha Project CDs can be ordered from the SOAS Bookshop soon.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Related Posts:

1. Kennedy Center: Masters of Persian Music
2. Michelle Montezeri’s Freedom For Iran Original Song – Change
3. Persian Visions: Contemporary Photography from Iran

Click here to view the embedded video.

Song: Change
Lyrics written by: Michelle Montezeri
Arrangements by: Michelle Montezeri

Michelle-Montezeri

Close your eyes and dream
Go to sleep it is not real
Where will you go
when hope has left
Isnt someone caring
caring

Try to change but youre not strong
Someone tell us whats wrong
Please tell us whats wrong

When you struggle and you fall
Save yourself from it all
Have the strength to still believe
After all your sorrow and grief

Dont give up you get there soon
Youll reach the stars and the moon
Youll do the things you never knew how to do

Reach to me and Ill be there
Dont you worry Ill take care off you

Dont give up you get there soon
Reach the stars and the moon.

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If you like to like to know Michelle Montezeri better, please visit
Website: www.michellemontezeri.com

Related Posts:

1. Iran Regime Change Survey
2. Sohrab Aarabi ‘Freedom Warrior of Iran’ will be Memorialized in Bronze
3. Global Erosion of Freedom and Iran’s negative trend

At this time, Institute’s mission as journalists is to educate parents and those interested in the welfare of children and people in general about health and prevent developmental problems caused by exposure to toxic substances, but also educate the media, policy makers and general public on the fact that environmental health is a key determinant of public health.

The exhibition will open on January 25, 2010 in the facilities of the Instituto de Estudios Superiores AC. Following posters are a few of many more Iranian participants.

Morteza Moosavi

Reza Sheri

Elham Toroghi

Alireza Nosrati

Ali Shoghi Benam

Elham Toroghi

Mohsen Rajabi

M Qasim Hussaini

Onish Aminelahi

Onish Aminelahi

Sanaz Arjmand

Source and references

Instituto de Estudios Superiores

More Posters from Iran and other countries
Rene Wanner’s Poster Page

Related Posts:

1. Posters: Students’ Day Nov. 4th 2009
2. Exhibition: A Diasporic offering to the Ancestors
3. Exhibition: Tehran-New York

Iran’s entry to the 2010 Academy Awards, About Elly, on Feb. 20
Actress Gohar Kheirandish in person on Feb. 7
A new feature from director Bahman Gohbadi on Feb. 6
Director Shalizeh Arefpour in person on Feb. 5

All films from Iran and in Persian with English subtitles, unless otherwise noted.

Friday February 5th at 7:30PM

HEIRAN (2009)

When Iranian high school student Mahi falls for Heiran, a poor, gallant Afghani refugee, her horrified parents beg her not to ruin her life with the boy.  Love has its way until the warnings come true, and love struck Mahi finds herself entangled in an epic story of immigrant woe.  Documentarian Shailzeh Arefpour perfectly balances issues and emotions in this moving first feature.

35mm, color, in Persian with English subtitles, 86 min.

PROD: Rakshan Bani-Etemad.  DIR: Shalizeh Arefpour.  SCR: S. Arefpour, Naghmeh Samini.  CINE: Hossein Jafarian.  EDIT: Sepideh Abdolvahab.  CAST: Baran Kosari, Mehrdad Sedighian, Khosro Shakibaei, Farhad Aslani, Zhahleh Sameti.

IN PERSON:  director Shalizeh Arefpour.

Click here to view the embedded video.

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Saturday February 6th at 7:30PM

NO ONE KNOWS ABOUT PERSIAN CATS (2009)

Bahman Gohbadi (Turtles Can Fly, shown in our 2005 edition) offers a glimpse of can-do determination.  Faced with prohibitions against rock music, bandmates Negar and Ashkan plot to leave Iran for England to make music their way. Their deliberate progress toward this elusive goal takes them through the underground rock scene in a brisk, often comical look, at a side of Iranian life seldom seen on film.

35mm, color, in Persian with English subtitles, 101 min.

PROD/DIR: Bahman Gohbadi.  SCR: B. Gohbadi, Hossein M. Abkenar, Roxana Saberi.  CINE: Turaj Asiani.  EDIT: Hayedeh Safiyari.  CAST: Negar Shaghaghi, Askan Koshanejad, Hamed Behdad.

Click here to view the embedded video.

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Sunday February 7th at 7:00PM

TRADITION OF KILLING LOVERS (2004)

Jailed for harvesting trees to support his family, Salar is replaced as breadwinner by his young son Jalal while Jalal’s sister strains to defend her husband, a policeman, from the fury of her mother (Gohar Kheirandish) after he is forced to transport his father-in-law to prison.  Director Khosro Masoumi undergirds his analysis of encroaching economic despair with emotional range and power.

35mm, color, in Persian with English subtitles, 90 min.

PROD: Mahmoud Fallah.  DIR/SCR: Khosro Masoumi.  CINE: Nader Masoumi.  EDIT: Hassan Hassandoust.  CAST: Hossein Abedini, Gohar Kheirandish, Hossein Mahjoub, Hurie Mirmohammadi, Arman Nikzad.

IN PERSON:  actress Gohar Kheirandish.

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Monday February 8th at 7:30PM

WIND BLOWS IN THE MEADOW (2008)

After her father is injured in an accident, Shouka is dismayed to find herself betrothed to the developmentally-disabled son of one of the family’s creditors.  Wooed by the assistant tailor hired to make her wedding dress, Shouka sees a possible escape, but danger looms in this delicately drawn drama.

35mm, color, in Persian with English subtitles, 91 min.

PROD: Fath’olah Jafari Jozani.  DIR/SCR: Khosro Masoumi.  CINE: Nader Masoumi.  EDIT: Hassan Hassandost.  CAST: Elnaz Shakerdoust, Hossein Abdedini, Reza Naji, Jamal Ejali, Maedah Tahmasbi.

Feature preceded by:

KNOT (2006)

A captivating courtship in the snow, depicting one couple’s path to love’comprising many years and footsteps.

DVCam, color, in Persian with English subtitles, 10 min.

DIR: Javat Vatani.  CINE: Farshad Gol Sefidi.  EDIT: Mohammad Rasoulof.  CAST: Habib Vatani, Golbootheh Badeleh.

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Friday February 12th at 7:30PM

444-DAY FACE-OFF (2008)

Director Mohammad Shirvani (7 Blind Women Filmmakers, shown in our 2009 edition) recounts the spectacular taking of the United States Embassy after the ouster of the Shah and the 444-day ‘hostage crisis’ that followed.  With tremendous access and skill, Shirvani cagily interviews actual participants, including U.S. embassy officials and Iranian students, to reconstruct key episodes and deconstruct contentious issues.

DVCam, color, in Persian with English subtitles, 70 min.

PROD/DIR/ED: Mohammad Shirvani.  CINE: Hooman Behmanesh, Kambiz Karimi, Mahmoud Reza Sani, M. Shirvani.

COUNTDOWN (2008)

Along with more than a million high-school graduates, Parisa studies for difficult and competitive college entrance examinations, thought by many to be a young woman’s best hope for a career in Iran.  The familial and spiritual strains of this ritual are well rendered by director Khatereh Hanachi, as Parisa and her family face numerous sacrifices to realize a dream.

DVCam, color, in Persian with English subtitles, 50 min.

PROD: Maziar Bahari.  DIR: Khatereh Hanachi.  CINE: Rita Ebrahimi.  EDIT: Hamid Najafi Rad.

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Sunday February 14th at 7:00PM

TINAR (2007)

A pastorale of great beauty and poignancy, director Mahdi Moniri’s lyrical documentary foregrounds a poor boy’s resilience and courage.  Young Tinar lives alone in the mountains of northern Iran.  Abandoned by his recently widowed and re-married father, he supports himself as a cow herder, surviving emotionally on long-held hopes of attending school or joining urban relatives who might care for him.

DVCam, color, in Persian with English subtitles, 77 min.

PROD/DIR: Mahdi Moniri.  CINE: Seyed Hassan, Seyedi Parishan.  EDIT: Mohammad Moeen Karimoddini.

A MAN WHO ATE HIS CHERRIES (2009)

Director Payman Haghani’s first feature concerns Reza, a factory worker who learns that he is infertile.  His frustrated wife Zari files successfully for divorce and Reza has to raise money to pay back her dowry.  Reduced to basics, Reza scrounges for the necessary cash until an industrial accident suddenly gives him an idea.

DVCam, color and b/w, in Persian with English subtitles, 78 min.

PROD: Amir Samavati.  DIR: Payman Haghani.  SCR: P. Haghani, Hamid-Reza Keshani.  CAST: Hassan Pourshirazi, Asha Mehrabi, Reza Afshar, Maryam Khodarahmi, Bagher Soroosh.

Click here to view the embedded video.

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Friday February 19th at 7:30PM

MY LITTLE COUNTRY (2008)

The moving portrait of a school for Afghani refugee children in Iran that gives its students a place to feel safe and acknowledged, to study their shared past and dream of a return to their home country.

DVCam, color, in Persian with English subtitles, 26 min.

PROD: Saeed Rashtian.  DIR/SCR: Abbas Mohammadi.  CINE: Reza Jalali.  EDIT: Masoumeh Shah Nazari.

THE LEGEND OF GORDAFARID (2008)

One woman’s saga studying and performing a style of epic theater previously reserved only for men.  Her fierce determination leads to some pushback, but more often wins admiration and respect.

DVCam, color, in Persian with English subtitles, 34 min.

PROD/DIR/SCR: Hadi Afarideh.  CINE: Ashkan Ashkani.  EDIT: Hamid Najafi Rad.

FINAL FITTING (2008)

A witty, personal portrait of a man who creates beautiful vestments for Iranian clerics, this entertaining short reveals the circumstances that sometimes accompany the pomp.

DVCam, color, in Persian with English subtitles, 30 min.

PROD/DIR/SCR: Reza Haeri.  CINE: Ehsan Kaffash.  EDIT: Fardin Saheb-Zamani.

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Saturday February 20th at 7:30PM

ABOUT ELLY (2009)

Asghar Farhadi (Beautiful City, shown in our 2005 edition) returns with this captivating drama, Iran’s entry to the
2010 Academy Awards. When schoolteacher Elly is whisked away by friends on a pleasure trip to the Caspian Sea, their true agenda is revealed: to marry her off to the recently divorced Ahmad.  The fib is the first of many in what soon becomes a mystery when Elly suddenly disappears.

35mm, color, in Persian with English subtitles, 119 min.

PROD/DIR/SCR: Asghar Farhadi.  CINE: Hossein Jafarian.  EDIT: Hayedeh Safarian.  CAST: Taraneh Alidousti, Golshifteh Farahani, Mani Haghighi, Shahab Hosseini, Merila Zarei.

Click here to view the embedded video.

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Theater:
The Billy Wilder Theater in Westwood Village
10899 Wilshire Blvd. (corner of Wilshire & Westwood Blvds.).

Tickets:
Advance tickets for other programs at the Billy Wilder Theater are available for $10 at https://secure.cinema.ucla.edu/onlineboxoffice/

Tickets are also available at the Billy Wilder Theater box office starting one hour before showtime: $9, general admission; $8, students, seniors and UCLA Alumni Association members with ID.

PARKING:
After 6 p.m., $3 in the lot under the Billy Wilder Theater. Enter from Westwood Blvd., just north of Wilshire.  Before 6 p.m., $3 for the first three hours with Museum validation.

INFO:
www.cinema.ucla.edu / 310.206.FILM

Related Posts:

1. Artists for Iran, a Celebration of the Arts and Human Rights
2. Iranian Enlightenment Week – New York City
3. Unique Zan Foundation: Third Annual Essay Competition

There was a time, following the military coup of 1920 when women were forced not to wear Hijab. Here are a few photographs from the first half of the twentieth century, the rise of industrial era in Iran.

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You may find many more photos from that era in Portrait Photographs From Isfahan.

Related Posts:

1. Payvand’s Top 10 Flickr Photos of 2009
2. Fataneh Dadkhah’s photographs at Candlestar
3. Sohrab Aarabi ‘Freedom Warrior of Iran’ will be Memorialized in Bronze

Ustad Bahman Jalali was an internationally acclaimed photographer and renowned artist.  He had a gentle manner that touched all of those that came to know him, he was good hearted, observant, a private and simple man, but an expert in his field.

He was liked and respected as a teacher and photographer by his colleagues, contemporaries and by his many students and without a doubt has influenced many young photographers deeply.

He was known as a war photographer and covered the Iranian Revolution, and published two books Khorramshahr and Days of Blood, Days of Fire.  He was also involved in making documentaries but he is mostly known for the time and devotion that he bestowed on his students and as a real good ustad (teacher) to photographers, photojournalists and his students at the universities that he has taught for many years. He was easily the most popular professor as many students desperately wished to have him as their tutor.

He had collected a large collection of glass negatives from Golestan Palace, and published these in a very interesting book of his, ‘Visible Treasure’.   He was curator of Iran’s first photography museum and he exhibited internationally – currently he was participating in an exhibition in Milwaukee.   In 2007 he was honoured by the Fundacio AntoniTapies in Barcelona by a retrospective exhibition.

I worked with Bahman Jalali during the three years of the Kaveh Golestan Photojournalism Awards for which he was head of the jury as well as a member of the steering committee.  I came to know his gentle yet interesting sense of humour during our many committee meetings and later during less formal dinners and time we all spent together along with our mutual good friend Mrs Golestan.  I always found him calm and serene – he spoke his mind, never insisted but let the logic of his point reveal itself.

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With his wife, my good friend the photographer Rana Javadi, he lived in a beautiful house in the centre of Tehran where we all went to pay our respects this afternoon.  From what I saw today, the pain and sorrow of his students was overwhelming, one of them said to Rana, “I do not know if we are to express our condolences to you or you to us”  – this made everybody there watery eyed as this young man let out his emotion and cried his heart out along with all of us present.

Bahman had arrived back in Iran from Germany late last night, saying that he wanted to be under his own lahaf (blanket). On Friday morning he did not feel well and so they went to the Tehran Clinic, where everything seemed under control until suddenly at about 3 in the afternoon, he kissed his wife’s hand and smiled and thanked her and a few minutes later left this world for the next, as calmly and quietly as he was famous for.

He will never be forgotten by all those who loved and respected him and I am sure that he will be looking after loved ones and his students from high above.

His funeral will take place on Sunday morning, 17^th January, commencing at Artists Forum and he will be buried in the Artists plot at Beheshte Zahra.

Please join me sending his soul a prayer and we hope that his loved ones and Iranian photography will be able to bear this loss.  We are all surrounded by our memories of him.

May he rest in peace.

Related Posts:

1. Persian Visions: Contemporary Photography from Iran
2. Exhibition: Tehran-New York
3. Project: One Day – A Collective Narrative of Tehran

First Place: $5,000
Second Place: $3,000
Third Place: $2,000

Applications must be post-marked by May 1, 2010

At the Unique Zan Foundation our mission is to promote health, literacy and peace for women in and from the Middle East. As part of that effort, and in collaboration with the Iranian-American Scholarship Fund (www.iasfund.org), we are pleased to announce our third annual essay competition for Iranian women graduate and undergraduate students at major universities and accredited educational institutes in the United States.

Applicants must be enrolled as students at the time of submission and at the time awards are announced. Awards will be made through the university where the student is enrolled. Students who are transitioning from undergraduate to graduate education are eligible. Non-students are not eligible to apply.

This year’s essay theme is: “Unique Iranian Women in History: Drawing Inspiration from the Past.”

Applicants’ essays should focus on any unique and inspiring Iranian woman in history and how her life, and overcoming the challenges of her time, is relevant to today. The essay should address: the woman’s life and work, the social environment in which she was raised, what was ground-breaking about her work, how she overcame obstacles to forge new pathways relevant not only to women but also to others in her field, how she provides inspiration to women today, and how she also provides inspiration to the author, herself.

The “unique woman in Iranian history” can be a writer, poet, musician/singer, physician, scientist, scholar, politician, artist, activist, or any other profession of the author’s choosing, but she must be a prominent figure in her field. The author must also demonstrate detailed knowledge of her subjects’ work; for example, if choosing a poet include her poetry in the essay and discuss its relevance to both then and now. The “unique woman in Iranian history” must be someone who is not currently living, so Forough Farokhzad is fine but Shirin Ebadi is not.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Essay Format:
Essays should be between 5000 and 6000 words (approximately 16-18 pages, double spaced, 12 point “Times New Roman” font, with 1.5 inch margins), and be stapled in the upper left-hand corner. Report binders should not be used. Only the title page and first page of the essay should contain the author’s name. All other pages must be numbered in the lower right hand corner and contain first and last initial only in the upper right header.

While higher grade point average will be considered a bonus, the main emphasis is on applicants who exhibit exceptional writing skills and a compelling story. A copy of recent transcripts should be included with your essay. Essays should not have been previously published in any other publication or on the internet, but must be of publishable quality. Unique Zan Foundation will retain first rights of refusal for publication, but publication is not guaranteed. All submissions become the property of Unique Zan Foundation.

These essays will be reviewed by a qualified panel of academic experts. Awards will be given by The Unique Zan Foundation through the Iranian-American Scholarship Fund in the following amounts:

First Place: $5,000
Second Place: $3,000
Third Place: $2,000

All applications must include:

1.    Four hard copies of your essay in proper format,
2.    A brief cover-letter with name, contact information (including email and telephone), university attending, and explaining course of study and why applying for this award,
3.    One letter of recommendation from professor,
4.    One copy of recent college transcripts.
5.    One copy of essay and cover-letter sent by email to info@uniquezanfoundation.org.

Applications must be post-marked by May 1, 2010 and sent to the
following address:

Unique Zan Foundation
PO Box 1257
Menlo Park, CA 94026

http://www.uniquezanfoundation.org

Related Posts:

1. The Golha Project: Digital Archiving of Flowers of Persian Poetry and Song
2. UCLA Film & Television Archive: 20th Annual Celebration of Iranian Cinema
3. Vintage Fashion in Iran: Photographs from the first half of the twentieth century

Sunday, February 28, 2010 – Washington, DC
Sunday, February 13, 2010 – Berkeley, CA

This edition of Masters of Persian Music features two of the most important figures in Persian classical music touring with the next generation of musical masters! Kayhan Kalhor on kamancheh and Hossein Alizadeh on tar are joined by remarkable young vocalist Hamid Reza Nourbakhsh.

Funded in part by the D.C. Commission on the Arts & Humanities, an agency supported in part by National Endowment for the Arts

Alizadeh is considered an inspiration to an entire generation of Iran’s musical culture. Trained in composition, performance and musicology at the Universities of Tehran and Berlin, he also studied with the ostads (maestros) of Persian music including Ali Akbar Khan Shahnazi, Nur Ali Borumand, Abdollah Davami, Mahmood Karimi and Houshang Zarif.

Kayhan Kalhor and Hossein Alizadeh

Alizadeh has been both conductor and soloist with the Iranian National Radio and Television Orchestra. He founded the Aref Ensemble and performed with the Shayda Ensemble, both dedicated to the promotion and advancement of Iranian classical music. Alizadeh has recorded the entire body of the radif (a core set of works made up of about 200 short modal pieces called gushehs) based on the
interpretation of Mirza Abdollah (1843-1918), a noted court musician and master of both the Persian setar (a four-stringed plucked lute) and the tar.

Alizadeh has himself composed many works of contemporary and neo-classical Iranian music including “Hessar,” “Ney Nava” and “Song of Compassion” and film scores including Gabbeh, A Time for Drunken Horses and, most recently, Turtles Can Fly. Alizadeh has performed extensively throughout the United States, Europe and Asia and has appeared on many radio and television programs around the
world. He has taught at the University of Tehran, the Tehran Music Conservatory and the California Institute of the Arts.

Kayhan Kalhor is an internationally acclaimed kamancheh (spike-fiddle) virtuoso and has played a leading role in popularizing Persian music in the West. A member of Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road Project, his compositions appear on all three of the ensemble’s albums and three of his recent recordings have been nominated for Grammys. Said the New York Times last season, “When Mr. Kalhor performed, it
sounded like a conversation among several instruments, with the varying timbres at times evoking the wailing pleas of disconsolate lovers. From a simple, muted beginning, the music became more intense and embellished, as ornate melodies and ornaments unfolded with calligraphic detail above ostinato bass patterns.”

Kalhor began his musical studies at the age seven and at 13 was invited to work with the National Orchestra of Radio and Television of Iran, where he performed for five years. At 17 he began working with the Shayda Ensemble of the Chavosh Cultural Center, the most prestigious arts organization in Iran at the time.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Kalhor has traveled extensively throughout Iran, studying the music of its many regions, especially of Khorason and Kordestan. He has soloed with a number of leading ensembles, including the New York Philharmonic and the Orchestre National de Lyon, and is co-founder of the renowned ensembles Dastan, Ghazal: Persian & Indian Improvisations and Masters of Persian Music.

Kalhor has composed works for Iran’s most renowned vocalists Mohammad Reza Shajarian and Shahram Nazeri and has performed and recorded with Iran’s greatest instrumentalists. Kayhan has also composed music for television and film and was most recently featured on the soundtrack of Francis Ford Coppola’s Youth Without Youth in a score on which he collaborated with Osvaldo Golijov. Last season, composer John Adams invited Kalhor to perform a solo recital at Carnegie Hall as part of his Perspectives Series and in the same year Kalhor appeared on a double bill at Lincoln Center’s Mostly Mozart Festival.

The Masters of Persian Music ensemble also includes vocalist Hamid Reza Nourbakhsh, a leading disciple of Mohammad Reza Shajarian. Accompanists are M.R. Ebrahimi (barbat or oud, plucked lute) Alireza Hosseini (tombak, single-headed goblet-shaped drum), Rouzbeh Rahimi, (santur, a hammered dulcimer) and Siamak Jahangiry (ney, flute).

Kennedy Center Tickets:
Sunday, February 28, 2010 – Washington, DC

Washington Performing Arts Society

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts

Berkeley’s Zellerbach Hall Tickets:
Sunday, February 13, 2010 – Berkeley, CA

Cal Performance

Related Posts:

1. The Golha Project: Digital Archiving of Flowers of Persian Poetry and Song
2. Persian Visions: Contemporary Photography from Iran
3. UCLA Film & Television Archive: 20th Annual Celebration of Iranian Cinema

An exhibition of more than 60 works of photography and video installations by 20 of Iran’s most celebrated photographers. The exhibition gathers personal perspectives of contemporary Iran filtered through individual sensibilities, while simultaneously addressing public concerns.

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Iran has long distinguished itself with the spectacular quality and international presence of its visual art and film. With the backdrop of increasing attention given to the art and culture of Iran and the current political crisis in that part of the world, an exhibition with this focus is most timely. In expressing their many different visions of their world, these artists offer a look at private and public realms. Their perspectives contradict the way many foreign photographers typically capture Iran on film as purely exotic.

TV series 1- The Light Is Out The Room Is Dark BY:Mehran Mohajer

Shokoufeh Alidousti offers self-portraits and family photographs exploring cultural and female identity. Esmail Abbasi draws on Persian literature for his subject matter with contemporary notes on the present circumstances in Iran. Shahriar Tavakoli focuses on his family history through a series of portraits capturing the subtleties and mood of the Iranian family. In Koroush Adim’s Revelation series, the images in the exhibition that feature the veil acknowledge this sign of culture, but the “revelation” is anything but simple. Shahrokh Ja’fari’s use of unusual spacial rendering in depicting the veiled figure demands that the viewer look harder and think harder about what can be revealed through the visual.

Persepolis BY: Sadegh Tirafkan

The images presented in Persian Visions cannot entirely surmount the physical and cultural distance between Iran and the United States. Nevertheless, the exhibition builds a visual bridge that allows for differences, even as it leads viewers to new awareness of other ways of being and seeing.

Revelations BY: Koroush Adim

Persian Visions was developed by Hamid Severi for the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art in Iran and Gary Hallman of the Regis Center for Art at the University of Minnesota and toured by International Arts & Artists in Washington, D.C. This exhibition is supported in part by grants from the ILEX Foundation; the University of Minnesota McKnight Arts and Humanities Endowment; and the Department of Art and Regis Center for Art at the University of Minnesota.

Image of Imagination BY: Bahman Jalali

Untitled BY: Ahmad Nateghi

My Family BY: Shahriar Tavakoli

Untiltled BY: Arman Stepanian

Haggerty Museum of Art
Free admission
Open daily: Monday-Saturday

Related Posts:

1. 1001 colors: Contemporary art from Iran
2. Exhibition: Tehran-New York
3. Fataneh Dadkhah’s photographs at Candlestar

Kaveh is the most famous of Persian mythological characters in resistance against despotic foreign rule in Iran. After losing 18 of his sons to Zahhak’s serpents, he rebels against the foreign ruler of Persia and leads the people to overthrow the tyrant king.

Graphic Novel by Ramin Abhari ramin465@gmail.com

As a symbol of resistance and unity, he raises his leather apron on a spear, known as the Derafsh Kaviani. This flag is later decorated with precious jewels and becomes the symbol of Persian independence, resistance and resilience, as well as the revolutionary symbol of the masses in their fight against foreign invaders.

Graphic Novel by Ramin Abhari ramin465@gmail.com

Related Posts:

1. Exhibit: Iranian banknotes uprising

Participation criteria  for the photo selection was to have the word  “Iran”  in the photo tag or in the description, plus a high number of views/favorites, and finally uploaded by the photographer in 2009. Please post or link other photos that you find as top rated.

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1- Need For Speed by B A R A N

مسابقه ی هفتگی ویرایش عکس

27,426 views with 194 favorites

More photographs by B A R A N

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2- Iran: 5th Green Day by Hamed Saber

27e Khordad (June 17th) Haft-e Tir Square (and around streets)

9,132 views with 171 favorites

More photographs by Hamed Saber

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3- Rose Flower by Bahman Farzad

The birthplace of the cultivated Rose was probably Northern Persia (Current IRAN)…

6,669 views with 104 favorites

More photographs by Bahman Farzad

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4- Cute Baby by A.T.E.F.E.H

5,888 views with 292 favorites

More photographs by A.T.E.F.E.H

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5- Untitled by Ali Shokri

Iran, Tabriz, Miyaneh mountains

2,741 views with 292 favorites

More photographs by Ali Shokri

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6- Tulip Duet by magda.indigo

Although tulips are associated with Holland, both the flower and its name originated in the Persian empire…

2,757 views with 65 favorites

More photographs by magda.indigo

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7- Eve of Ashura by Alieh

The Day of Ashura is on the 10th day of Muharram in the Islamic calendar and marks the climax of the Remembrance of Muharram…

3,647 views with 189 favorites

More photographs by Alieh

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8- Spring flag by kavan

Kurdistan, Iran

1,868 views with 182 favorites

More photographs by Kavan

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9-Road Man by by Shahram Sharif

Baraghan, Iran

3,028 views with 141 favorites

More photographs by Shahram Sharif

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10- Peace and Freedom for IRAN by Negar Daneshfar

Jun 22, 2009

Flickr Stats: 2,223 views with 53 favorites

More photographs by Negar Daneshfar

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Honorable mentions

1- Memories of April 1979, People Revolution by * WE * Ahmad & Graça

I dedicate this image to the brave people of my country, who lost their children and loved ones in recent fascistic attacks to peaceful demonstrations in Iran…

More photographs by * WE * Ahmad & Graça

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2- Untitled by Tamishir

More photographs by Tamshir

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3- Iran – Mystery Woman in Virani Caravanserai in Mashhad by Lucie’s Photography

The Ribat-i Sharaf is a caravanserai, or rest place for travellers, that is located in northern Iran between Merv and Nishapur…

More photographs by Lucie’s Photography

Related Posts:

1. Photos: The Life of Nomads in Iran
2. Persian Visions: Contemporary Photography from Iran
3. Exhibition: Tehran-New York

Smithsonian Institution – Thru Jan. 24, 2010
Arthur M. Sackler Gallery

Whether by consulting the position of the planets, casting horoscopes, or interpreting dreams, the art of divination was widely practiced throughout the Islamic world. The most splendid tools ever devised to foretell the future were illustrated texts known as the Falnama (Book of omens). Notable for their monumental size, brilliantly painted compositions, and unusual subject matter, the manuscripts, created in Safavid Iran and Ottoman Turkey in the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, are the center piece of Falnama: The Book of Omens.

The first exhibition devoted to these extraordinary manuscripts, Falnama: The Book of Omens sheds new light on their artistic, cultural, and religious significance. The exhibition comprises more than sixty works of art from international public and private collections and is accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue.

Khaybar: The Conquering Palm of Ali - 1580s

Falnama: The Book of Omens is organized by the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery. The exhibition has received generous support from anonymous donors, the Lee and Juliet Folger Fund, Roshan Cultural Heritage Institute, the Hagop Kevorkian Fund, Mr. and Mrs. Farhad Ebrahimi, Smithsonian Scholarly Studies Program, The Barakat Trust, The Packard Humanities Institute, and PARSA Community Foundation.

Adam and Eve Expelled from Paradise - 1550s

Beast of the earth - 1580s

The Angel of Death Descends on Shaddad ibn Ad - 1550s

Sun - 1580s

Location
The Sackler Gallery is located at 1050 Independence Avenue, Washington, D.C, SW.
The Freer Gallery of Art is located at Jefferson Drive at 12th Street, SW.
The two museums are connected by an underground exhibition space.
Map & Directions to the Freer & Sackler Galleries

Hours and Admission
Hours are from 10 AM to 5:30 PM every day except Dec. 25, and admission is free.

http://www.asia.si.edu/

Related Posts:

1. Exhibition: A Diasporic offering to the Ancestors
2. Exhibition: Tehran-New York
3. Iranian participants in 1st International Exhibition – poster for a Healthier World