Film, Theater and Music Mark a Busy Cultural Week
TEHRAN -- An exhibition of photographs and posters from award-winning Iranian films, a restored screening of The Last Act, an international festival appearance for One of Them, a meeting between the Iranian Directors Guild and filmmaker Rakhshan Bani-Etemad were among the latest developments in Iran’s cultural and artistic scene.
The Cinema Museum of Iran will host an exhibition featuring 30 photographs and posters from films that have won the Crystal Simorgh at the Fajr Film Festival.
The exhibition, designed to revisit aspects of the history of photography and poster design in Iranian cinema, will bring together selected works from the festival’s award-winning productions.
An accompanying discussion, titled “A Review of the History of Photography and Posters in Iranian Cinema,” will feature photographer and graphic designer Ebrahim Haghighi and photographer Seifollah Samadian.
The program will be held Saturday, Sept. 12, from 4 to 6 p.m. at the Ferdows Hall of the Cinema Museum.
Restored The Last Act to Screen at Cinema Museum
A restored version of Varuzh Karim-Masihi’s acclaimed 1990 film The Last Act will be screened Saturday at the Cinema Museum to mark Iran’s National Cinema Day.
Actor Saeed Pour-Samimi will attend the screening and speak about his experience making the film before the screening begins.
The event is part of a program organized with the National Film Archive of Iran to present restored Iranian films.
The Last Act, released in 1990, stars Jamshid Hashempour, Saeed Pour-Samimi, Dariush Arjomand, Mahaya Petrosian and the late Niko Kheradmand and Farimah Farjami.
One of Them Selected for Italian Festival Competition
Iranian-Italian short film One of Them, written and directed by Mostafa Vaziri and produced by Hussein Kakavand, has been selected for the international short-film competition of the Orizzonti section at Italy’s i-Fest International Film Festival.
The film is making its seventh international festival appearance. Italian company Lights On participated in its production and is handling its international distribution.
The 10th edition of i-Fest is scheduled to take place in Calabria in September 2026. Its program includes film competitions, international screenings, retrospectives, masterclasses, workshops and specialist events.
Directors Guild Delegation Meets Rakhshan Bani-Etemad
Members of the central council of the Iranian Directors Guild have met filmmaker Rakhshan Bani-Etemad at her home ahead of National Cinema Day.
The delegation included Mohsen Amiryousefi, Mehdi Jafari, Vahid Mousaian and Asghar Naimi.
The meeting covered Bani-Etemad’s recent activities and the difficulties that have kept her away from filmmaking in recent years. Participants also discussed restrictions affecting Iranian social cinema, the growing involvement of younger filmmakers, underground filmmaking and legal cases involving members of the film community.
The Directors Guild council also reported on its efforts over the past year, including its campaign to eliminate screenplay censorship and remove production permits as an instrument of such censorship.
MUMMENSCHANZ Films to Screen at Tehran-Mobarak Festival
Two puppet-theater films will be screened Saturday at the Cinematheque of the Iranian Artists Forum as part of the 21st Tehran-Mobarak International Puppet Theater Festival.
The program will feature That Moonlit Night, directed by Zahra Ghorbani and Maliheh Zahmatkesh, and a film of a MUMMENSCHANZ performance, the Swiss theater group known for its wordless productions using masks, objects, movement, light and shadow.
MUMMENSCHANZ was founded in Paris in 1972 by Floriana Frassetto, Bernie Schürch and Andres Bossard. Frassetto is now the group’s artistic director and the only active member of its original founding team.
Hussein Alizadeh to Appear on Hamkalām
Iranian composer and tar and setar player Hossein Alizadeh will be the guest of the fifth episode of Hamkalām, a Filmnet interview program scheduled to stream Sunday morning.
The program, directed by Salar Tehrani and produced by Kousha Dehghan, features host Farzad Farbod in conversations with prominent cultural figures about their personal and professional lives.
Alizadeh is one of Iran’s most prominent composers and musicians. His work includes Ney Nava, Turkmen, Nobang-e Kohan, Moon and Mist and Salaneh. He has also composed scores for films including Gabbeh, The Ugly and the Beautiful, The Song of Sparrows and The Queen, winning Crystal Simorgh awards for film music.
Iranian Children’s Book Published in Arabic and English
The Old Farmer and the Brown Bear, a children’s book by Muhammad Reza Sarshar based on an Iranian folk tale, has been translated into Arabic and English.
The book, illustrated by Narges Delavari, was originally published in Iran by the Institute for the Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults before later editions were issued by Sureh Mehr Publications.
The Arabic translation, titled Al-Muzari‘ al-‘Ajuz wa al-Dubb al-Bunni, was produced by Maryam Salem-Deeb, while Samira Razavi translated the English edition.
Both translations have been published by Hosni Publications in editions of 1,000 copies.
Filmnet Marks National Cinema Day
Filmnet has launched a three-day campaign marking Iran’s National Cinema Day, offering discounts on subscriptions and online cinema tickets as well as free access to the first episodes of selected original programs and series.
The campaign runs through Sunday and includes free access to the opening episodes of programs such as Shahgol and Hamkalām and series including The Blind, Vahshi, The Tehran Cobra, Notebook, Jan Sakht, At the End of the Night and Poost-e Shir.
The platform is also offering selected Iranian films free of charge during the campaign.