A farmer picking dates in Bushehr province. Southern provinces of Kerman and Bushehr are top two date producers in Iran, a major exporter of this nutritious fruit.

A scene from ÔOn FootÕ

Five theatrical performances are currently on stage at City Theater Complex.
The complex’ Main Hall is currently staging ’Bijan and Manijeh’. Directed by Mahmoud Azizi, the play is inspired by a tale from Shahnameh (Book of the King), an epic by renowned Persian poet Abolqasem Ferdowsi, Fars News Agency reported.
’Bijan and Manijeh’ will remain on stage until the beginning of the 12th Tehran International Puppet Theater Festival in September.
Noted director Qotbeddin Sadeqi is performing ’Zariran Memory’ at Chaharsou Hall. The performance is a modern adaptation of the first Iranian epic from Parthian era which was later written as a prose during the Sassanid dynasty (224-651 AD).
’Zariran Memory’ narrates the bravery of ’Bastour’, the son of Iranian legendary hero ’Zarir’ during the war between Iran and former Touran (Khorasan region in present-day). It is also inspired by the Shahnameh.
’On Foot’, directed by Davoud Daneshvar, is being performed at Sayeh Hall. The play will soon be replaced with Kourosh Narimani’s ’Plaza Hotel’.
Qashqaei Hall is hosting ’Lost in the Crowd’, co-directed by Saeed Hashempour and Jalal Tajangi.
The complex’s Performance Workshop is presenting ’Bride, Nightmare, Sigh, Bluetooth’ directed by Arash Mirtalebi.

A biopic on the life of the world’s four-time and twice Olympic +105kg weightlifting gold medalist Hossein Rezazadeh will be aired on national TV after the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games in August.
Announcing this, the film’s producer, Hamid Hosseinali told Fars News Agency that the biopic ’Cold as Steel, Warm as Fire’ focuses on Rezazadeh’s personal life. “Shooting of the sections pertaining to his childhood has been completed in his hometown Ardebil, and next week we will begin filming his warm-ups,“ he said.
The producer noted that the documentary includes interviews with political figures, including President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, former President Seyyed Mohammad Khatami and Majilis Speaker Ali Larijani.
“It also includes interviews with the head of Weightlifting Federation as well as Rezazadeh’s Qatari rival Jaber Saeed Salem,“ he said.
Hosseinali added that the project is scheduled to be completed by the end of the Olympics in which he will be competing.
“It will be broadcast on national TV’s Channel 3 in early September,“ he said.
Rezazadeh currently holds world records in weightlifting’s super heavyweight class in the snatch, clean, jerk and total. He became the first Iranian athlete to win two Olympic gold medals.