[NEW YORK]
‘PERSPOLIS’ WRITER SATRAPI’S NEW FILM
“Persepolis” graphic novel writer MARJANE SATRAPI tours the United States in support of her live-action film adaptation of “Chicken With Plums,” a 2011 release in France, directed by her “Persepolis” co-director VINCENT PARONNAUD. The film stars MATHIEU AMALRIC as the character inspired by Satrapi’s real-life uncle andtar virtuoso Nasser Ali Khan.
Last week AZAR NAFISI, author of READING LOLITA IN TEHRAN, interviewed Marjane Satrapi in DC.
Satrapi received the Special Jury Prize at Cannes and an Oscar nomination for Persepolis. “Chicken with Plums” was unveiled to American audiences at the Tribeca Film Festival last week. She has been touring colleges, as her books are included in class curriculums at colleges across the U.S.
NOMADS AND NETWORKS
Nomads and Networks is the first U.S. exhibition to provide a comprehensive overview of the nomadic culture of the peoples of eastern Kazakhstan’s Altai and Tianshan regions from roughly the eighth to first centuries BCE. With over 250 objects on loan from Kazakhstan’s four national museums, the exhibition provides a compelling portrait that challenges the traditional view of these nomadic societies as less developed than sedentary ones.
ThroughJune 3, 2012, 11am-6pm, Friday 11am-8pm, Closed Monday. Free admission.
Institute for the Study of the Ancient World, 15 E 84th St., New York, NY, www.isaw/nyu.edu
[LOS ANGELES]
CHECKPOINT FILM
AT UCLA
“It was hell to speak in a language that I didn’t understand. We didn’t have that much time and this movie was made in a very difficult situation,” actor HOUSHANG TOUZIE said during a discussion panel at UCLA for the film “Checkpoint”.
“The director Mr. PARVIZ SAYYAD, which I think we should adore him for making two movies in a situation when making a movie was impossible…”
It took Sayyad four years to finance his second film in exile, “Checkpoint”, with the help of his long time artistic collaborator, MARY APICK.
The film, released in 1987, is about A busload of college students, returning to Michigan from a Canadian field trip, is stopped at the US border at the time of the Iranian hostage crisis. The group includes a number of Iranian passengers, divided along ideological lines, whose debates about policy and politics soon lead to a full-scale confrontation.
The Q&A session was at the Celebration of Iranian Cinema at UCLA the end of April. Actors HoushangTouzie, and Mary Apick, as well asdirector ParvizSayyad answered questions for almost two hours in both Farsi and English about the process of making the films and subjects matters such as language barriers.
SHAKILA’S
MOTHER’S DAY TRIBUTE
Shakila will be releasing her latest video FRESHTEH BANU (BANU) on Mother’s Day. This Video is contributed to all the mothers around the world, and will be premiered on Bia2.com, Nabz.com, Farsimedia.com, Iranproud.com &Shakila.com.
“FreshtehBanu (Madar) was written by AliRezaHosseiniLargani and HosseinFazel. The video was directed by AlirezaTavangar and director of photography was Moe Manouchehri. The video premieres worldwide on May 11th 2012.
Shakila is a Persian vocalist and master of classical Persian music. She studied the traditional repertoire of Persian music and “Radif” with MahmoodKarimi at a young age in Iran.
[UNITED KINGDOM]
FROM SHIRAZ TO BAKU
UK-based ARC Music plans to publish the Persian-Azeri album “From Shiraz to Baku” in Europe.
Passage To Dawn which is part of the collection titled From Shiraz to Baku is a joint production by Iranian Setar virtuoso HAMID MOTEBASSEM, Tombak player PEJMAN HADADI and Azeri Kamancheh virtuoso IMAMYAR HASANOV, ISNA reported.
The album was published by an Iranian recording studio in 2008 and some of its pieces were also performed during their concert tour Berlin, Frankfurt, Aachen, Gothenburg, Rotterdam, Venice, Rome, and Milan in 2010.
[BERKELY, CA]
ZIBA SHIRAZI LIVE
ZIBA SHIRAZI is back with new stories. Iranian Jazz/ Pop musician Shirazi whose songs focus on women’s emotion, bold expressions of love and feminism, performs with accordionist PEYMON GAZI on stage for a sing a long of memorable
Iranian songs.
May 27, 5:30pm Live Oak Theater, 1301 Shattuck Ave., Berkeley, CA 94709, for info www.zibashirazi.com/calendar.