TEHRAN, Nov. 27--Identifying and nurturing talents as well as creating conditions for artists to undertake cultural activities are among the duties of the country’s theater management.
Expressing this view, secretary of the Strategic Council of Theater Abbas Jahangirian told ILNA that unfortunately, Management and Planning Organization has not provided a legal definition for artistic management, reported the Persian specialized daily Bonnie Film.
Referring to the 13th Children and Young Adults Theater Festival, he further said that directors general of provincial culture and Islamic guidance departments had earmarked a budget for the festival with the aim of boosting the progress of children in this field whereas some managers had spent the funds elsewhere.
Lack of regulations will also promote preferentialism, he observed.
Jahangirian further said that whoever wants to shoulder a responsibility as a cultural manager should have three significant qualifications including cultural background, high level education as well as managerial experience.
Cultural architects should first be well acquainted with the principles of the field, he said. “If the management systems are defined properly and eligible persons occupy the posts, the country will take a great leap forward and compensate for lost opportunities,“ he concluded.

TEHRAN, Nov. 27--Managing director of Iranian Music Society said that the several-thousand-year history of Iranian art shows that there is a deep bond between music and religion.
Babak Rezaei contended that throughout history, music has been the primary and oldest means of inspiring a sense of spirituality and it has always retained this status in the past.
“For about five months since I took over as the head of Iranian Music Society, I have tried to pave the way for enhancing the status of music in the society,“ he added.
Rezaei noted that he and his team have worked hard to transform Iranian Music Society from being a mere service organization to a scientific and research one.
“We are doing our best to make the society a center for macro planning in the field of music by attracting the elite,“ he added.
Referring to remarks by the Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei who said the country should rely on young and pious people in order to help the Iranian art make progress, he declared, “We are trying to prepare conditions for further involvement of young musicians.“

KERMAN, Nov. 27--First Nationwide Razavi Poetry Congress opened here at Emad Hall on Sunday with a message from Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance Mohammad Hossein Saffar-Harandi, reported IRNA.
According to IRNA, the message said that in the Year of Holy Prophet (PBUH) and the intervening period between two auspicious occasions of the birth anniversaries of Imam Reza (AS), the eighth Imam of Prophet Mohammad’s infallible progeny, and his sister Hazrat Masoumeh (SA), a wave of gaiety inspired by religious teachings has swept across the nation.
Location of Imam Reza’s (AS) holy shrine in Mashhad, Iran, has turned the country into a gem among countries, the message added.
With the blessing of the Imam’s knowledge, the country has been one of the important scientific centers in the Islamic world.
The sacred luminosity of the great Imam has transcended boundaries and shone farther in the world, Saffar-Harandi said.
Stating that 28 specialized festivals focusing on the luminous Razavi culture were held in 24 provinces, he also described the events as a step forward in the country’s cultural development.
Appreciating the efforts of artists, he underlined the need for the continuation of such a great cultural move.
A total of 864 poems were submitted to the secretariat of the first Nationwide Razavi Poetry Congress, of which some 64 works were selected for recitation at the two-day event.

TEHRAN, Nov. 27--An Iranian photographer, Alfred Yaqoubzadeh, was awarded the superior prize at the International Angers Festival of Scoop and Journalism (Festival International Scoop du Angers) in France for a collection of photographs titled ’Iranian Women-2006’.
In addition to photography, the festival deals with documentary films, reported Fars.
A number of photojournalists and directors of documentary films worldwide take part in the festival each year.
Yaqoubzadeh has also taken part in several international events such those dealing with 1980-88 Iran-Iraq War and Israeli aggression against the Palestinians.

KUWAIT CITY, Nov. 27--A exhibition of calligraphy featuring works by Amir Ahmad Falsafi was inaugurated here on Saturday in a ceremony attended by the Kuwait’s deputy endowment minister as well as the Iranian Ambassador to that country Ali Jannati.
According to IRNA, the event features a total of 55 works of calligraphy.
A large number of those interested in Persian language as well as Iranian and Arab artists also attended the inaugural ceremony. Maestro Falsafi, who has written in the Nastaliq style for 40 years, is a member of Iran’s High Council of Calligraphers. He was a student of Seyyed Hassan Mirkhani and Gholamhossein Amirkhani.
He has so far written anthologies of poems by Sadi, Hafez (two well-known Iranian poets), Allama Iqbal Lahori (an intellectual and poet from Pakistan) as well as selected sections from Shahnameh, an epic by the towering Iranian poet Abolqasem Ferdowsi in his beautiful handwriting.
He has exhibited his works in India, France, Malaysia, the UAE and Canada.

TEHRAN, Nov. 27--A book titled ’Global Eye’ by Dr. Yarmohammad-Bay has been published by Sureh-Mehr Publishing House.
According to a press release issued by the publishers, the book has seven chapters titled ’Introduction to Television’s Nature’, ’Psychology and Television’, ’Ideology, Culture, Religion and Television’, ’Political Television’, ’Television News and Commercials’, ’Postmodernism and Television’ and ’Future Outlook of Television’ as well as a list reference works.
The book deals with topics such as ’television compared to idolatry’, ’glued to the television box’, ’television and democracy’, ’scrutinizing the notion of the people’, ’impact of TV commercials on children’, ’folk broadcast journalism’ and ’television and modernity culture’.
Meanwhile the same publisher has also released the special summer edition of the 48th Poetry quarterly which contains articles by Ziaeddin Torabi, Mohammad Kazem Kazemi, Seyyed Hamed Hojjatkhah, Abolfazl Pasha, Siamak Bahramparvar and Kamran Sharafshahi.
The quarterly also includes articles titled ’Crisis in Contemporary Poetry’ by Soheil Mahmoudi, ’Creation of Mythology’, ’Grief in Literature’, ’Qur’anic Teachings in Shahnameh (book of the king)’, ’Impact of Poem Reading on Children and Young Adults’ and ’Polish Contemporary Poetry’.

LOS ANGELES, Nov. 27--Starbucks Corp. was one of the companies that turned down interview requests from Nick and Mark Francis when the brothers were shooting their documentary about rampant poverty among Ethiopian coffee growers, AP reports.
But after Black Gold attracted attention at the Sundance Film Festival in January, the coffee giant invited the British brothers to its Seattle headquarters as it prepared for a barrage of bad publicity.
Black Gold, now being screened at festivals and art houses, is the latest in a growing genre of documentary films shaking up the business world. They are taking critiques of corporate power that would once have been the province of newspapers and magazines to movie theaters and DVD shops, where they’re finding an increasingly receptive audience.
The trend, which started with Roger and Me in 1989 and more recently featured Super Size Me and Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room, is forcing some corporate targets to counterattack to dodge claims of unfair wages, unhealthy products or environmental degradation.
Michael Moore’s Roger and Me left a lasting blemish on General Motors Corp. for closing its plant in Flint, Mich., and leaving rampant unemployment in its wake.
Morgan Spurlock’s 2004 documentary Super Size Me assailed McDonald’s for pushing high-calorie meals, while last year’s Enron film by Alex Gibney showed how internal avarice and corruption brought down the world’s largest energy company.
Nick Francis said Black Gold stemmed from the brothers’ outrage about the poverty that persists among Ethiopian growers even as multinational coffee sellers make huge profits.

TEHRAN, Nov. 27--An exhibition of paintings by Iraj Eskandari is underway here at Homa Gallery and will run through December 5. According to Fars, the event features 15 paintings by the artist, which are inspired by nature.
The artworks were created in the past one year.
The exhibit is open to the public everyday from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. and from 3:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.
Eskandari, dean of Arts University’s Visual Arts Faculty, was a member of the selection board of the first, second and third Iranian Contemporary Painting biennials.
The artist has so far held eight solo exhibits and has participated in more than one hundred domestic and foreign group expositions.
Homa Gallery is located at 27, Rahimi Alley, Vali-e Asr St., Tehran.

BEIJING, Nov. 27--Peter Chan’s musical Perhaps Love has picked up four Golden Horse awards at the Chinese-speaking world’s cinema equivalent of the Oscars.
According to BBC, Chan was named best director and China’s Zhou Xun was named best actress at the 43rd award ceremony. The film also won best cinematography and best song.
But After This Our Exile caused the biggest surprise by scooping best film. It also made nine-year-old Goum Ian Iskandar the youngest Golden Horse winner for best supporting actor.
The film was honored again when Hong Kong actor and singer Aaron Kwok picked up his second consecutive award for best actor for his portrayal of a single and abusive father.
The 43rd award ceremony was dogged by controversy in the run-up to the event. Two nominated films pulled out of the competition.
Director Tsai Ming Liang, who is Malaysian-born but a Taiwan resident, withdrew his film I Don’t Want to Sleep Alone, upset by comments from jury members that it was too self-indulgent and failed to engage audiences.