Iranians mark Norouz (the Iranian New Year starting March 21) by shopping for the new year.

(Photo by Marzieh Mousavi)

Iranian Doc Heading To Switzerland

The Iranian documentary ‘Trucker and the Fox’ will go on screen at the Visions du Réel International Film Festival, which will be held in Nyon, Switzerland from April 19-26.
Directed by Arash Lahouti, ‘Trucker and the Fox’ chronicles the life of a trucker named Mahmoud Kiani Falavarjani. Lahuti is a documentarian whose works are on wildlife, .Mehr News Agency reported.
The documentary will go on screen in the État d’esprit (State of Mind) section, dedicated to films that explore the best of the world production focusing on the new talents.
The festival aims to promote the widest possible spectrum: experimental films, essays, personal diaries, family films, films on current affairs and social issues, historical investigations, and films with classic or fragmented narrative approaches.
Cinéma du Réel (Cinema of the Real) does not confine itself within conventional boundaries; it is open to different genres, integrates stylistic variations and montages, and is inspired by “cinéma direct” as well as fictional-style narratives.

Spanish Gallery Will Exhibit Mirzazadeh Artworks

A number of calligraphic paintings by the Iranian artist Ahmad Mirzazadeh will go on display during an exhibition at the Amigo Gallery in Malaga, Spain.
Twelve artworks by Ahmadzadeh will go on display during a ten-day exhibition, which will start on March 20.
“I use a combination of Kufi and Thuluth scripts in my calligraphic paintings,” he told ISNA.
His works has previously been showcased at over 30 solo and group exhibits over his ten-year career in the Persian calligraphy.

Ahmadi Interviews Released

Arts & Culture Desk

A collection of interviews by Iranian poet and screenwriter Ahmad Reza Ahmadi has been published.
Titled ‘An Informal Reception: Ahmad Reza Ahmadi’s Press Interviews’, it has been released by Qatreh Publications.
Ahmadi is known as the founder of New Wave Poetry in Iran.
The Design, The Glass Newspaper, Daily Prose, Rhymes were Lost in the Wind and All Those Years are among his better-known works.
Iranian writers Houshang Moradi-Kermani, Mohammad-Reza Yousefi and Mohammad-Hadi Mohammadi were also nominated for the previous editions of the award.
The only Iranian who received the Hans Christian Andersen Award was the renowned illustrator Farshid Mesqali who won the award in 1974 for his contribution to children’s books illustration.
The Hans Christian Andersen Award is given biennially by the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY) to authors and illustrators, who have contributed to children’s literature.
The prize is named after the Danish author Hans Christian Andersen, and winners receive a gold medal from the Queen of Denmark.

1600 Books Hit Iranian Bookshelves

A total of 1600 book titles were released in Iran during the period of March 2-6, 2013. The fields of literature and children released the highest number of publications.
The fields of literature and children released the highest number of publications with 644 and 258 book titles, respectively.
Then the groups of practical sciences (135 titles), social sciences (123 titles) and religion (112 books) were ranked, IBNA reported.
The rest of the books were themed on different subjects including generalities, history and geography, philosophy and psychology, education, arts and language.
Totally 1600 book titles were marketed in Iran of which 1129 were compilations and 471 were translations. Moreover 979 first prints and 621 reprints were released.
Tehran marketed 1386 works while some 214 books were released in other provinces of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Picasso Ceramics Up for Auction

Over 100 important ceramics by Pablo Picasso from a private collection will be auctioned in Sotheby’s Bond Street salesroom on March 19, 2013.
Picasso constantly explored opportunities to break creative boundaries and challenge himself in innovative ways.
A chance encounter with the owners of the renowned Madoura pottery in Vallauris, Southern France in 1946, when the artist was 64 years of age, was the starting point for his exploration of a whole new creative medium. It sparked a fascination with ceramics that would last for the rest of his life, and would demonstrate his full artistic versatility, blending his interests in painting, drawing, sculpture and printmaking, ArtDaily said.
This important collection includes plates, vases, jugs, bowls and tiles designed by Picasso over a 20 year period, depicting a range of classical and mythical forms alongside portraits of animals and people.
The individual pieces range from around £2,000 -£30,000, and in total the collection, which also comprises a wide selection of prints, is expected to achieve in excess of £970,000. Séverine Nackers, Sotheby’s Head of Prints, Europe, said, “The auction of such a comprehensive group of impressive ceramics by Pablo Picasso represents a wonderful opportunity for collectors to acquire their own work of art by one of the twentieth century’s most famous artists. Since the Royal Academy’s flagship exhibition of Picasso’s ceramics in 1998 there has been a renewed appreciation for the artist’s experimentations with this art form. This exemplary collection showcases Picasso’s dexterity in this field.”

Norwegian Government To Finance Munch Museum

Norway’s government will help finance a new Munch Museum in Oslo in a bid to put an end to a long political squabble that has paralyzed the project.
“The state will help establish a new Munch Museum, both in terms of finances and organization,” Norway’s Culture Minister Hadia Tajik told national television news channel TV2 Nyhetskanalen.
But she said Oslo’s city council would have to make a formal request for the support. The city has been struggling for several years to reach agreement on a new museum to replace the current one. Edvard Munch bequeathed a large part of his collection to the city on his death in 1944, including two versions of “The Scream”, perhaps the most famous expression of existential angst, ArtDaily reported.
The current Munch Museum, constructed cheaply after World War II in a rather rundown Oslo neighborhood, is not seen as doing justice to the priceless trove. The city council agreed in 2008 to erect a new museum near the new, futuristic opera house on the shores of the Oslo fjord, but those plans were scrapped three years later over disputes about the cost, location and architecture. The issue has been at a standstill ever since, and is considered an embarrassment in Norway as it celebrates the 150th anniversary of Munch’s birth.
“It’s a real shame that it has taken so many years,” Tajik said, adding that the state funding should be seen as “a clear signal to help resolve the local discussions.” Tajik did not say how much money the state was ready to inject in the project, the cost of which is estimated at around 1.6 billion kroner (215 million euros, $278 million).

Prophet Muhammad (PBUH):

God is pure and loves purity.