Kioumars Derambakhsh, the Iranian director, documentary maker and still photographer, died in Paris of COVID 19, on March 31st. During his long career, his many interests and wide culture caused him to direct a number of documentaries on a range of subjects, (including a thirteen-episode series on the drawings of Eugène Flandin, famed French 19th-century traveler to Iran, or ancient Armenian ... more >
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Under the turban, plenty of opinions on film | IRAN
Axis of evil state weighs in on Oscar winners
Ann Hornaday, eat your heart out. Iran's islamic republic can fight with the best of them when it comes to voicing opinions on movies. The "Argo" win this weekend has unleashed a torrent of film criticism from the Iranian capital. Maybe we should all pay more attention to this. Or should we? Yesterday Iranian media described the handing of the Best Film Oscar to Ben Affleck for “Argo” as ... more >
Yay for “Iranian” cinema | ARGO
Republic Islamic of Iran ups the ante -- sort of
Not ones to be outdone Iran’s government is funding a film about the American hostage crisis of 1979 in response to what they consider the “distorted” vision put forth in “Argo,” directed by Ben Affleck and which garnered major accolades at the Golden Globes this past weekend. "The screenplay for ‘Setad Moshtarak’ (‘Chiefs of Staff’ in Farsi) was approved by the authorities and we expect to get ... more >
WAR! IRAN to boycott Venice Film Festival
Sanctions weigh heavily on Iranian censors' minds
Iran may boycott the Venice Biennale because of sanctions imposed on its oil and economy and the fact that--horror!-- the European Union is applying pressure on this country to abandon its nuclear program. "Taking into account the fact that the E.U. has imposed the highest inhuman and illegal sanctions against Iran, we're naturally thinking of boycotting the Venice Film Festival," said Alireza ... more >
NEW DOCUMENTARY EXPOSES PLIGHT OF IRAN’S BAHAIS
Iranian state orchestrated witch hunt
Iranian documentary filmmaker Reza Allamehzadeh (pictured, sitting on the right, with former Iranian president Abolhassan Bani-Sadr) has exposed the plight of Bahá’ís in Iran with a new documentary called “Iranian taboo.” Adherents of the faith have been persecuted by the Iranian Islamic Republic because they are considered un-Islamic. Banned from Iran himself (but not a Bahá’í) Allamehzadeh ... more >