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’A Midautumn Night’s Dream’
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A scene from
the play
ÔA Midautumn NightÕs DreamÕ, directed
by Kiumars Moradi, which is on stage
at City Theater
ComplexÕs
Qashqaei Hall.
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French Flick Takes Palme d’Or
The Cannes film festival has awarded its top prize to a French classroom drama with a cast of amateurs in a banner year for movies with a conscience.
In a popular choice, the jury led by US actor-director Sean Penn gave the festival’s coveted Palme d’Or to “The Class“, featuring a multicultural cast of first-time teenage actors all plucked from the same Parisian secondary school, AFP reported.
The picture, shot in documentary style and based on the bestselling memoir of French teacher Francois Begaudeau, beat out 21 other contenders to claim the trophy in a year dominated by dark dramas on social ills.
“The film had to show society as a whole--it had to be diverse, teeming, complex--and it also needed to show the social tension,“ said Laurent Cantet, flanked by two dozen of the pupils, as he became the first French filmmaker to win Cannes gold since 1987.
The politically minded Penn, 47, said the nine-strong jury had chosen the Palme d’Or unanimously.
“In a world that hungers for education and a voice, it just touched us deeply,“ he said.
Best director honors went to Turkey’s Nuri Bilge Ceylan, an arthouse favorite, for his searing, visually rich family drama “Three Monkeys“.
The runner-up Grand Prize went to Italian drama on the corrosive influence of the mafia, “Gomorrah“, based on an international bestseller.
Another film about corruption in Italy, “Il Divo“ about seven-time Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti, won the Jury Prize.
“Hunger,“ a biopic on the Irish Republican Army prisoner Bobby Sands, who died on a hunger strike in a British prison, won the Camera d’Or prize for best first feature.
The jury surprised many by shutting out “Waltz With Bashir“, a first-ever animated documentary at Cannes that offered a deeply critical look at Israel’s involvement in the 1982 slaughter of Palestinian refugees in Beirut’s Sabra and Shatila camps.
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Hatami’s Absence Felt
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The late Ali Hatami
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Iranian cinema is still grieving the loss of the late prominent film director and screenwriter Ali Hatami whose works are undoubtedly comparable to Shakespeare’s, observed a film critic.
Ahmad Talebinejad further told a seminar called ’Tradition Through History’ at Tehran University’s Fine Arts Faculty on Sunday that Hatami is comparable with Shakespeare since both delved into their national history in their works.
The critic cited a number of Hatami’s works, including ’Sattar Khan’, ’Soltan-e Sahebgharan’, ’Kamal-olmolk’ and ’Delshodegan’ as examples, ISNA said.
“The use of traditional settings and architecture was one of the features of his works and filmmakers such as Bahram Beizaei rank after Hatami,“ he said.
Talebi referred to Hatami’s debut ’Hassan Kachal’ (Hasan the Bald) as the first Iranian musical film in 1969. “The film, which has rhythmic dialogs, features a collection of Persian parables and traditions that are part of our national identity,“ he added.
Born in 1944 in Tehran, Hatami majored in cinema from Tehran University’s Faculty of Dramatic Arts. Hatami was interested in making films on historical and folkloric figures.
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Imam Ali
Islam means obedience to Allah, obedience to Allah means having sincere faith in Him, such a faith means to believe in His power.
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Unique Projector At Cinema Museum
A rare 72-year-old equipment for screening 35-millimeter films is being maintained at Tehran’s Cinema Museum.
According to IRIBNews, the late Tagor Sokiasian, a leading cinema owner, bought the projector from France. The equipment was handed over to Cinema Museum following his death in 1995. The device is still in working order.
The seven-hall museum, with a library and a documents center, is a showcase of the history of Iranian cinema industry. It also features over 1,000 international awards granted to Iranian artists.
Meanwhile, Mohammad Hassan Pezeshk, the museum’s managing director, in a recent session with Mohammad Shalouei, director general of Culture and Islamic Guidance Ministry’s Visual Arts Department, agreed to hold a permanent exhibition for the sale of artworks at the museum.
Resistance Theater Fest Underway
The 11th Resistance Theater Festival opened on Sunday in the southwestern cities of Khorramshahr and Abadan, Khuzestan province
Tehran is represented in the event by five troupes, and 12 other cities are taking part with 16 plays in this year’s festival, IRNA reported.
Four plays from Tehran, Karaj, Ardebil and Isfahan were staged at the festival’s competition section on Monday.
They include ’The Sky and the Earth’, directed by Ayoub Aqakhani from Tehran, ’Parallel’ by Amin Aban from Karaj, ’The Lost Piece’ by Javid Rakhshani from Ardebil and ’Khorramshahr 11’ by Asghar Khalili from Isfahan.
The event will run through Thursday.
Arab Artists Keen on Abu Taleb Project
Director of the project ’Abu Taleb’, a biopic on the life of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH)’s uncle, said that distinguished Arab artists are eager to accept roles in the film.
Speaking to Fars News Agency, Ahmad Reza Garshasbi said, “The production team recently visited Syria to choose the filming location. They also held talks with a number of Arab artists who were interested in taking part in the project.“
The cast will be picked up from among Syrian, Egyptian and Lebanese artists, he added.
The director further that Syrian actor Ghassan Massoud was interested in a role in the film. He earlier acted as Salahuddin Al-Ayoubi in ’Kingdom of Heaven’ directed by Ridley Scott. Garshasbi added that Mohammad Hossein Saffar Harandi, minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance welcomed the project which narrates the advent of Islam.
Garshasbi also said that the team will be in Morocco and Jordan in the next two weeks to select the cast of the film.
Michael Moore to Visit
American documentary filmmaker, Michael Moore, plans to visit Iran, the Documentary and Experimental Film Center (DEFC) announced on Sunday.
During a recent meeting with DEFC commercial manager, Shirin Naderi at Cannes Film Festival, Moore has said that he will be in Iran to take part in the second edition of CinŽma VŽritŽ Festival, an Iranian gala for documentary films which will be held in Tehran from October 14-19, Mehr News Agency reported.
Last year, organizer of the event, DEFC had invited Moore and his producer Meghan O’Hara to screen ’Sicko’, their highly acclaimed documentary attacking the US medical system, at the CinŽma VŽritŽ Festival.
However, Moore had told Naderi that he was involved in last year’s Traverse City Film Festival, which coincided with the CinŽma VŽritŽ Festival.
DEFC recently screened Moore’s ’Sicko’ which compares the private-sector US system with the socialized systems of Canada, the United Kingdom, France and Cuba.
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