Director general of the Interior Ministry’s Office for Council Affairs has called for proper information dissemination to make the people of the world aware that renowned mystic poet Shams Tabrizi belongs to Iran.
According to CHN, Seyyed Mostafa Abtahi added that one cannot speak with a nation which relies on the works Molana Jalaleddin Rumi, another well-known Iranian mystic and poet, and Shams Tabrizi, with a language other than culture.
According to the ministry’s website, Abtahi said at a coordination session for organizing a commemoration congress for Shams Tabrizi in Orumieh on Saturday that the names of literati and scholars should be registered internationally as a mark of respect for their lofty status.
“Today, most of the neighboring countries register Iranian literary figures and intellectuals in their own names,“ he complained, adding that such improper moves should be prevented through cultural measures. “We should turn international threats to opportunities by dealing with cultural issues,“ the official said.
Abtahi noted that organizing congresses is one of the ways to introduce elites, literati and thinkers to the world, in addition to commemorating them.
Calling for the cooperation by cultural and scientific institutes in holding the congress on Shams, he also said that given the fact that tomb of Shams Tabrizi is in Khoy, this city and Konya in Turkey, the site of the mausoleum of Molana Jalaleddin Rumi, can be linked as sister cities.
International congress on Shams will be held in Khoy and Orumieh for two day in October.
He also said that performance of the play ’Resurrection of Love’ featuring the story of Molana’s first meeting with Shams and a display of handwritten and printed books by are among the programs planned for the event.

Martin Scorsese’s mob epic ’The Departed’ won best picture at the Academy Awards on Sunday and earned the filmmaker the directing prize that had eluded him throughout his illustrious career, AP reported on Monday.
“Could you double-check the envelope?“ said Scorsese, who had been the greatest living American filmmaker without an Oscar. He also had never delivered a best-picture winner before, despite crafting such modern masterpieces as ’Raging Bull’ and ’Goodfellas’.
Scorsese received his Oscar from three contemporaries and friends, Steven Spielberg, Francis Ford Coppola and George Lucas. “So many people over the years have been wishing this for me,“ Scorsese said.
In an evening when no one film dominated as the Oscars shared the love among a wide range of movies from around the world, three of the four acting front-runners won: best actress Helen Mirren as British monarch Elizabeth II in ’The Queen’; best actor Forest Whitaker as Ugandan dictator Idi Amin in ’The Last King of Scotland“; and supporting actress Jennifer Hudson as a soul singer in “Dreamgirls.“
The other front-runner, Eddie Murphy of ’Dreamgirls’, lost to Alan Arkin for ’Little Miss Sunshine’.
“For 50 years and more, Elizabeth Windsor has maintained her dignity, her sense of duty and her hairstyle,“ said Mirren, who has been on a remarkable roll since last fall as she won all major film and television prizes for playing both of Britain’s Queen Elizabeths.
“She’s had her feet planted firmly on the ground, her hat on her head, her handbag on her arm and she’s weathered many many storms. ... If it wasn’t for her, I most certainly wouldn’t be here. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the queen,“ Mirren said, holding her Oscar aloft.
’The Departed’ led the evening with four Oscars, also winning for adapted screenplay and editing.
The Oscars had their most diverse and international scope ever, with wins for two black actors and global dramas that included ’Pan’s Labyrinth’, ’Babel’ and ’Letters From Iwo Jima’.

First comprehensive bank on Iranian animation industry was launched on the first day of the Fifth International Animation Festival, which opened on Sunday.
According to IRNA, the databank features information about animations produced in Iran, Iranian animators as well as companied involved in the production of animation.
Compiling of relevant information began six months ago and is still continuing.
Currently, information about 1,000 animations and particulars of Iranian animators are available on the website www.defc.ir
The bank was commissioned by the Center for Development of Documentary and Experimental Cinema, which is affiliated to Cinematic and Audiovisual Department of Culture and Islamic Guidance Ministry.

The foundation will seek to create public awareness about modern Islamic art.

Islamic Modern Arts foundation will be set up in the country in near future with the aim of promoting modern Islamic and traditional arts as opposed to European arts, IRNA said on Sunday.
Announcing this, founder of the School for Islamic Modern Arts and Emamieh painting style in Iran, Seyyed Ziaeddin Emami-Dehkordi said while visiting Shahr-e Kord, Charmahal-Bakhtiari province, that the establishment of the foundation has been endorsed by the Culture and Islamic Guidance Ministry.
According to him, the foundation’s board of trustees will be elected in cooperation with a number of outstanding artists majoring in modern Islamic art.
Emami added that the foundation will also set up a faculty of Islamic modern arts and the ministry has allocated two billion rials for the purpose.
He acknowledged that present Iranian painting has been derived from European styles and most of the European maestros have taught these styles to Iranian painters during their visit to the country.
Emami, the creator of the tableau ’Supplication of Corn’, further said that modern Iranian arts have been influenced by Iranian arts and blended with post-modern style.
One of the aspects of the foundation is the availability of 12,000 artistic plans for implementation, he said.
Emami, who is also an instructor, said that the articles of association for the foundation have been drawn up.
The United Nations cultural body, UNESCO has declared the publication of the book featuring modern Islamic arts as the document for registering the school, he concluded.

In sculpture symposiums, people can get familiar with the works of artists from close.

Head of the Association of Iranian Sculptors has said that cities need suitable sculptures and holding Tehran International Sculpture Symposium can play a positive role in this if it is held regularly.
Speaking to Fars, Taher Sheikhol-Hokamaei added that organizing the symposium is an excellent undertaking and will produce the desirable results, the most palpable of which is to forge communications among international artists. In such events, the people also get familiar with the works of artists from close, he noted on Sunday.
“We will witness transformation of a piece of stone into a very beautiful statue,“ he said, adding that this is one of the advantages of the symposium.
Wherever these statues are located, they will forge communications with people of different tastes, he said.
Sheikhol-Hokamaei further stated that the event can be organized in the provinces as well as at the international level annually or biennially since this will promote cultural links between the public and domestic and foreign artists.
Describing foreign participants at the upcoming symposium as cultural envoys, he said that they will get acquainted with Iranian lifestyle and traditions from close, thus they will also become Iranian ambassadors in their countries.
Commenting on the selection of works and their installation in squares, he also said that the works will be chosen according to time and place.
Since the event is competitive, each artist will try his/her utmost to create the best work, he concluded.

Preliminary studies by archeologists on Persian Gulf coastlines in Bandar Lengeh, which were undertaken with the aim of finding traces of urban settlement as well as signs of Achaemenid reign in the area, remained inconclusive.
According to CHN, archeologists believe that since coral layers have been found in the region, Persian Gulf might have been bigger than what it is today in the first and late second millennia BC.
They maintain that traces of Helil Rood culture may be found in Bandar Lengeh thus completing the link of the culture between the southeast and southwest of the country.
Davoud Abyan, who is charge of preliminary studies in Bandar Lengeh, said on Feb. 22 that superficial review indicated no trace of urban settlement and historical eras including those of the Achaemenid period.
Given that a historical text introducing Bandar Lengeh as one of the cities under Achaemenid rule 2,500 years ago, he stated that it was likely that historical layers pertaining to the period and Iron Age now lie under Persian Gulf waters.
However, preliminary studies revealed a coral layer and it is probable that since the area was under water in the first and late second millennia BC, there was no sign of settlement in the region, he pointed out.
He called for reviewing this theory through geophysical experiments.