Tag Archives: Poland

Iranian cartoonist wins top award at contest in Luxembourg

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The theme of the 9th International Contest of Caricature and Cartoon in Vianden, Luxembourg was “My Home Is My Castle”. A six-member jury selected the three winners and three trophies from 1312 submitted drawings by 504 artists from 33 countries, including caricaturists and cartoonists from Russia, Syria, Turkey, Poland, Portugal, Nicaragua, Peru, many artists from Iran, China, Croatia, Germany, Canada, Cuba, Italy, Portugal, Romania and Ukraine.

Iranian cartoonist Mohammad Habibi has won the first prize, Angel Boligan from Mexico and Klaus Pitter Austria were awarded the second and third prizes. Agim Sulaj from Italy, Raúl Zuleta from Colombia and Zbigniew Kolaczek from Poland received honorable mentions.

The winning works and a selection of entries were displayed at the Museum of Caricature and Cartoon of Vianden. The museum was initiated by Florin Balaban and his wife Sandra. Balaban is a known Luxembourgian political cartoonist.

Sources: Payvand Iran News, Der Trierer (in German),

Tehran Contemporary Music Festival (Photos)

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The first edition of the Tehran International Contemporary Music Festival was held last April at Roudaki Hall (Vahdat Hall), Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art and Iranian Artists’ Forum. The festival, an independent cultural and artistic endeavor that is planned to be held annually, included lectures about contemporary music and art in general, different stage performances and experimental improvised presentations by more than thirty ensembles.

A wide spectrum of national musicians like Mehdi Behboudi, Mohammadreza Govahi, Sina Shoaei, Siavash Sojoudi, Kian Hosseini, groups like “Arvand”, “A4” and “Trans-Modern” string quartets, “O.R.P. Quartet” and “Anil Guitar Quartet”, along flute recitals by Firouzeh Navaei and Ali Choupani, violin by Arash Asadnejad, guitar by Farzin Tehranian, double bass by Farshid Patinian and more performed at the week-long event.

The festival welcomed also many artists from abroad, including Geert Callaert (Piano) and Bert Helsen (Bassoon) from Belgium, the Stockholm Saxophone Quartet, Opia Ensemble with Aleksandra Pykacz (Cello) from Poland and Ioana Mandrescu (Piano) from Romania, Reso Kiknadze from Georgia (Saxophone and Free Improvisation), Lugano Ensemble from Switzerland and Martyna Kosecka (Piano and Electronics) from Poland.

Sources: Tehran Contemporary Music Frestival, Iran Daily, Facebook | Spectro Center,
(in Persian): tiwall.com, musicema.com 1, musicema.com 2, musicema.com 3, musicema.com 4, musicema.com 5, Honar Online 1, Honar Online 2, Honar Online 3, Honar Online 4, Honar Online 5, Honar Online 6, Honar Online 7, Honar Online 8, Honar Online 9, Honar Online 10

Iran’s Fajr International Theatre Festival: Performances

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Fajr International Theater Festival (FITF) is a golden opportunity to enjoy theatre projects from other cultural backgrounds. This year over 300 plays from Japanese, Hungarian, Spanish, German, Norwegian, Polish, French as well as Iranian artists were presented on all theater stages as well as some outdoor public spaces in Tehran.

The members of the jury panel for the international section – Stefan Schmid from Germany, Jerzy Limon from Poland, Oleg Loevski from Russia and Iranians Masoud Delkhah and Farrindokht Zahedi – honored “Hamlet” with two awards; German director Thomas Ostermeier received the Grand Prix of the festival and Lars Eidinger won the Best Actor Award. The play had three completely sold-out performances.

34th Fajr International Theater Festival in Iran – Hamlet – Germany
34th Fajr International Theater Festival in Iran – Hamlet – Germany

Photos: “Hamlet” directed by Thomas Ostermeier, Germany

Norway participated with a powerful performance of Henrik Ibsen’s “Hedda Gabler” by Visjoner Teater, founded by Juni Dahr in 1988. The play was staged at a house and not at a theatre to allow the site specific artistic concept of this production. The shows were sold out, thus an extra performance was organized. Actress and artistic director Juni Dahr won in 2014 the Jury’s FITF Special Prize for “Ibsen Women”.

34th Fajr International Theater Festival in Iran – Hedda Gabler – Norway
34th Fajr International Theater Festival in Iran – Hedda Gabler – Norway
34th Fajr International Theater Festival in Iran – Hedda Gabler – Norway
34th Fajr International Theater Festival in Iran – Hedda Gabler – Norway
34th Fajr International Theater Festival in Iran – Hedda Gabler – Norway
34th Fajr International Theater Festival in Iran – Hedda Gabler – Norway
34th Fajr International Theater Festival in Iran – Hedda Gabler – Norway

Photos: “Hedda Gabler” by Visjoner Teater, Norway

“The Shadow Game” written by Koichiro Iizuka and directed by Tatsuya Hasegawa from Japan’s Dazzle Dance Company took the stages by storm with four sold out shows at Tehran’s Vahdat Hall, leaving the audience breathless long after the actors have left the stage.

The play, about the clash between positive and negative energy to highlight the effects of the natural disasters in Japan, used a magnificent combination of street dance, electronic music, theater, elements of video games and anime plot with Japanese commentary all wrapped up in street and contemporary dance styles choreographed by Hasegawa himself. In 2012 Hasegawa’s “Misty Mansion” won the FITF Best Play Award.

34th Fajr International Theater Festival in Iran – The Shadow Game – Japan
34th Fajr International Theater Festival in Iran – The Shadow Game – Japan
34th Fajr International Theater Festival in Iran – The Shadow Game – Japan
34th Fajr International Theater Festival in Iran – The Shadow Game – Japan

Photos: “The Shadow Game” directed by Tatsuya Hasegawa, Japan

Hungary’s “Becoming Butterfly – Conspiracy” written and directed by Zsófia Bérczi, has taken the audience through an existential journey on the wings of imagination and visual aesthetics. There was something universal and deep about the play that made it connect with the audience no matter from which country and culture. “Human beings are not the most beautiful creation on earth, but they are the most beautiful dream of all creations on earth.” Bérczi also staged Living Surface at this year’s festival.

34th Fajr International Theater Festival in Iran – Living Surface – Hungary
34th Fajr International Theater Festival in Iran – Living Surface – Hungary
34th Fajr International Theater Festival in Iran – Living Surface – Hungary

Photos: “Living Surface” and “Becoming a Butterfly – Conspiracy” directed by Zsófia Bérczi, Hungary

“Peregrinus” from Poland’s KTO Theater is a performance without dialogue, illustrated by music that depicts a single day in the life of an individual of the 21st century. The contemporary “Everyman”, whose life is “suspended” between home and work for a corporation, identifies his or her “pathway through life” as a “pathway to work”. Homo Peregrinus is a formatted human being, stripped of emotionality, predictable and bereft of individual characteristics. Perigrinus’s belongings can be packed in one piece of hand luggage.

34th Fajr International Theater Festival in Iran – Peregrinus – Poland
34th Fajr International Theater Festival in Iran – Peregrinus – Poland
34th Fajr International Theater Festival in Iran – Peregrinus – Poland
34th Fajr International Theater Festival in Iran – Peregrinus – Poland
34th Fajr International Theater Festival in Iran – Peregrinus – Poland
34th Fajr International Theater Festival in Iran – Peregrinus – Poland
34th Fajr International Theater Festival in Iran – Peregrinus – Poland
34th Fajr International Theater Festival in Iran – Peregrinus – Poland

Photos: “Peregrinus” from KTO Theater, Poland

“Katastrophe” and “A House in Asia” were presented by Agrupación Serrano, a Spanish theatre company that creates original productions based on stories drawn from contemporary times, blending stage performance, text, video, sound, and scale models to stage stories about discordant aspects of today’s human experience.

The FITF international section also included “Dance of Death B La La”, a joint Iranian-German production by Iranian director Yaser Khaseb from Crazy Body Group, “Body Revolution” by Belgium based Iraqi director Mokhallad Rasem, the monologue “Monsters” by Laurent Fraunie from France, Georgian “Me-Medea” written and directed by Salome Joglidze and more.

34th Fajr International Theater Festival in Iran – Body Revolution – Belgium
34th Fajr International Theater Festival in Iran – Me-Medea – Georgia
34th Fajr International Theater Festival in Iran – Monster – France
34th Fajr International Theater Festival in Iran – Dance of Death B La La – Iran-Germany
34th Fajr International Theater Festival in Iran – Dance of Death B La La – Iran-Germany
34th Fajr International Theater Festival in Iran – Dance of Death B La La – Iran-Germany
34th Fajr International Theater Festival in Iran – Dance of Death B La La – Iran-Germany
34th Fajr International Theater Festival in Iran – Dance of Death B La La – Iran-Germany
34th Fajr International Theater Festival in Iran – Dance of Death B La La – Iran-Germany

Photos: 34th Fajr International Theater Festival in Iran

Sources: Mehr News Agency (MNA) 1, MNA 2, MNA 3, MNA 4, Tehran Times 1, Tehran Times 2, srserrano.com, na-weekly.com, fitf.theater.ir, tiwall.com | 34th FITF (in Persian), tiwall.com | Dance of Death B La La (in Persian), teatrktro.pl, Honar Online, swr.de, Facebook | Visjoner Teater, Instagram @crazybodygroup, IRNA, Facebook | Teatr KTO

Winners of the 32nd Tehran Short Film Festival (Photos)

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The winners were announced during the closing ceremony of Tehran’s 32nd Short Film Festival held at Andisheh Hall.

The jury members of the International Competition Section were Andrzej Bednarek from Poland, Matthias Flügge from Germany, Seigo Tono from Japan, Gipsy Chang from Hong Kong and Alireza Shoja Noori from Iran.

“A Warm Spell” by Toshimichi Saito from Japan received the Grand Prix of the festival. Best Fiction Film was awarded to “It Will Be Alright” by Patrick Vollrath from Austria. “Songbirds’ Shop” by Anatoliy Lavrenishyn from Ukraine won the Best Animation Award. Best Documentary was awarded to “Touch of Freedom” by Sardar Arshad Khan from Poland.

Jessica Dürwald from Germany received the Best Experimental Award for “Eat My Dream”, “Survival” by Masoud Hatami from Iran won the Special Jury Prize, “Electronic Town” by Tony Mullen from Japan was chosen as the Best Film from Asian Countries. Saeed Nejati from Iran received the Best Film from Islamic Countries Award for “Prohibition” and “Angelus Novus” by Aboozar Amini from Netherlands won the Best Anti-Violence Film Award.

Sources: Tavoos Online, Tehran International Short Film Festival, Fars News, ISNA 1, ISNA 2, Tasnim News, Mehr News

Iran wins 3rd place in FIVB U19 Volleyball World Championship 2015 in Argentina

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An incredible tournament-high production of 40 points from Iranian star Rasoul Aghchehli ejected the Asians to a remarkable bronze medal as they won over previous champions Russia 3-1 (25-17, 26-28, 25-16, 25-23).

Iranian captain worked at their maximum and he completed 36 spikes and 4 blocks, to break all previous records. Rasoul was escorted by Mirbabak Mousavigargari and Aliasghar Mojarad, with 13 and 12 points respectively. On top of that, Rasoul won a terrific battle of opposites over powerful Russian Dmitry Yakovlev, who led his side with 26 tallies. Yakovlev had in middle-blocker Aleksandr Melnikov his best supporter with 13 points, but it wasn’t enough to stop the Iranian machinery.

 

Iran finished second behind Poland on the group stage, winning against Germany on the round of 16 and although they were only a few inches away from elimination, Iran resurged from ashes and achieved a spectacular return to rule out Italy 3:2 (17:25, 22:25, 25:20, 25:20, 15:11) and move to semifinals, where they lost against champion Poland 3:1.

Iran improved his previous run with the step onto the podium, as they were left out on the very verge of it on Mexico 2013, finishing fourth. Russia fell out of the top, as the gold medal will now change hands.

Iran U19 national volleyball team
Iran’s youth team have won seven gold medals and a silver medal – the best record in this age group in the Asian region. Last year, the team earned the qualification ticket to the FIVB Volleyball Boys’ U19 World Championship in Argentina after an unbeaten run in the continental championship. The result is the product of a long-term project of Iran to serve as a farm of talents for the senior men’s team. In the World Championship, Iranian youth have been a consistent force in the final, finishing with a gold medal in 2007, two silver medals in 2001 and 2009, a bronze medal in 2003, and a fourth place finish in the last edition.

Source: 2015 U19 FIVB Men Volleyball Championship | News, FIVB | Press releases, 2015 U19 FIVB Men Volleyball Championship | Iran

5th International Urban Film Festival underway in Tehran, Iran

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Tehran, Iran - 5th International Urban Film Festival 1 - PosterIran’s 5th International Urban Film Festival is running from May 24 to June 2 in eleven movie theaters across Tehran.

More than 360 productions will take part in this year’s national and international competition sections, presenting short and feature-length films, as well as documentaries and animations from Iran, China, Egypt, the US, Britain, Palestine, Switzerland, Italy, Serbia and other countries.

The festival is also holding filmmaking, cinematography and scriptwriting workshops for cinema enthusiasts of all ages.

International cineastes Krzysztof Zanussi, Dina Iordanova, Deborah Young and Caroline Otto are scheduled to hold several master classes at the Mellat Cinema Complex during the 5th International Urban Film Festival.

Zanussi, 76, is a renowned Polish filmmaker and screenwriter. Zanussi, whose work was noticed during his activities in the amateur film movement in the 1950s and 1960s, is also a professor at the Silesian University in Katowice.

Iordanova, a professor of film studies at University of St Andrews, focuses on transnational cinema, global film industries and film festivals, as well as on Eastern European and Balkan cinema.

American film critic Young is an editor of the Hollywood Reporter, and Film Comment Magazine. Based in Rome, Italy, she has reviewed films from around the world since the 1990’s, when she was appointed Rome bureau chief for Variety.

Active as a screenwriter and director Otto is a member of the Federation of Scriptwriters in Europe (FSE). She was also the head of the script funding commission of the German film board during 2009-2013.

Sources: Press TV | News, Tehran Times | News