The Film Society of LINCOLN CENTER presents the 49th edition of the NCY’s most prestigious films festival…

NEW YORK FILM FESTIVAL (49TH ANNUAL NYFF)

Setpember 30 – October 16

at Alice Tully Hall, the Walter Reade Theatre, and Elinor Bunim Munroe Film Center at Lincoln Center

for a full list of films and ticket information, go to http://www.filmlinc.com/nyff2011

The 17-day New York Film Festival highlights the best in world cinema, featuring top films from celebrated filmmakers as well as fresh new talent.  Now in its 49th year, the festival’s main slate includes 27 films that will screen in the incomparable Alice Tully Hall from September 30 – October 16. THIS YEAR’S FESTIVAL INCLUDES TWO IRANIAN FILMS we think you might be particularly excited about!

• A SEPARATION by Asghar Farhadi

Saturday, Oct 1: 6:00 pm | Sunday, Oct 2: 1:00 pm

A critical and audience favorite at this year’s Berlin Film Festival, where it won the Golden Bear as well as acting prizes for all four lead performers, A Separation is an Iranian Rashomon of searing family drama that turns into an unexpectedly gripping legal thriller. The film, directed by Asghar Farhadi, begins with married couple Simin (Leila Hatami) and Nader (Peyman Moadi) obtaining coveted visas to leave Iran for the United States, where Simin hopes to offer a better future to their 11-year-old daughter. But Nader doesn’t feel comfortable abandoning his elderly, Alzheimer’s-stricken father, and so the couple embark on a trial separation. To help care for the old man, Nader hires Razieh (Sareh Bayat), a pregnant, deeply religious woman who takes the job unbeknownst to her husband (Shahab Hosseini), an out-of-work cobbler. Almost immediately there are complications, culminating in a sudden burst of violence that constantly challenges our own perceptions of who (if anyone) is to blame and what really happened. A Sony Pictures Classics release. More info: http://www.filmlinc.com/films/on-sale/a-separation

COUNTRY: IRAN | PERSIAN WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES | RUNNING TIME: 123M

• THIS IS NOT A FILM by Jafar Panahi, Mojtaba Mirtahmasb

Thursday, Oct 13: 6:00 pm

Accused of collusion against the Iranian regime and currently appealing a prison sentence and a ban from filmmaking, Jafar Panahi (a four-time NYFF veteran with films like Offside and Crimson Gold) collaborated with the documentarian Mojtaba Mirtahmasb on a remarkable day-in-the-life chronicle that, as with many great Iranian films, finds a rich middle ground between fiction and reality. Shot with a digital camera and an iPhone, the movie is almost entirely confined to the director’s apartment, where he discusses his films and an unrealized script, while the outside world imposes itself through phone calls, television news, a few comic interruptions, and the sound of New Year’s fireworks. Far more than the modest home movie it initially seems to be, This Is Not a Film is an act of courage and a statement of political and moral conviction: surprising, radical, and enormously moving. More info: http://www.filmlinc.com/films/on-sale/this-is-not-a-film

In addition, the 49th New York Film Festival will include more special screenings and events than ever before.  From debuts to forums to industry dialogues, the Film Society of Lincoln Center can’t wait to bring you a truly 360-degree view of the film world today.  Stay tuned for even more additions to this exciting list of programs!

http://www.filmlinc.com/films/series/nyff-special-events

Film Society of Lincoln Center

165 West 65th Street

between Broadway and Amsterdam

the Film Society of Lincoln Center’s Walter Reade Theater is on 65th Street near Amsterdam Avenue.

Buy Ticketes ONLINE here: http://www.filmlinc.com/nyff2011/pages/ticket-info/

VISIT OUR BOX OFFICES

Walter Reade Theater

165 West 65th Street, north side/upper level

Monday-Friday opens at 12:30pm, Saturday/Sunday opens one half hour before the first screening. Closes every day 15 minutes after the start of the last show. If there are no evening screenings, the box office closes at 6pm. For more information call 212 875 5601 during hours of operation.

Sima Bina & Lian Ensemble (Sat) Jun 4, 2011 at 8:00 PM

Sima Bina & Lian Ensemble (Sat) Jun 4, 2011 at 8:00 PM

Sima Bina, one of Iran’s most distinguished folk and classical singers, makes a rare appearance in New York with the highly acclaimed Lian Ensemble.  Together they will present a stunning blend of music influenced by Persian traditional and folk music.  Evocative and exhilarating, the music presented is an authentic expression of a way of life and a rejection of rigid boundaries, preferring simplicity, authenticity, joy and hope. For one night at The Town Hall, hear Sima Bina and Lian Ensemble bring to life the wonder of Persian folk and classical music.

Ticket Prices:  $100, 85, 75 & 55
How to Get Tickets: Ticketmaster
http://www.ticketmaster.com/event/0300463BF301A3B7?artistid=784513&majorcatid=10001&minorcatid=2

Producer: Absolutely Live

The Town Hall is located at
123 West 43rd Street
New York, NY 10036

http://townhall.lw1.mageenet.net/events/6/June#173

212.840.2824

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5th Annual Persian Arts Festival — MARCH 26 — TICKETS ON SALE NOW

5th Annual Persian Arts Festival
Saturday, March 26, 2011
6pm doors; 7pm show

92YTribeca 200 Hudson Street, New York City
Tickets on sale now http://www.92y.org/shop/92Tri_series_detail.asp?productid=T-MM5PM99

EARLY SHOW:

“OUR SWEET LIFE BY THE PACIFIC OCEAN” STAGE READING STARRING SHOHREH AGHDASHLOO AND HOUSHANG TOUZIE
*WORLD PREMIER*

http://www.92y.org/shop/92Tri_event_detail.asp?productid=T-MM5PM10

From the acclaimed writer, producer and actor, Houshang Touzie, comes the hilarious story about an Iranian man struggling to provide for his family, revive the passion in his marriage and communicate with a rebellious son raised far from what once was “home.” Join us at 92YTribeca for this concert-style reading, starring the Emmy award-winning actress Shohreh Aghdashloo and Touzie himself.

Directed by Shidan Majidi and produced by Noor Theatre and Persian Arts Festival, this is an event not to be missed.

LATE SHOW:

RICHARD JEFFREY NEWMAN / AMIR VAHAB / LIKE A PHOENIX FROM THE ASHES / DJ PAYAM

http://www.92y.org/shop/92Tri_event_detail.asp?productid=T-MM5PM11

A celebration of Persian arts and culture featuring literature, music and film.

Starting off the late show portion of the night, Richard Jeffrey Newman http://www.richardjnewman.com reads from The Teller of Tales (Junction Press), his newly published translation of the first five kings’ stories in Ferdowsi’s Shahnahmeh.

Hailed by The New York Times as the “ambassador for a silenced music,” Amir Vahab is one of New York’s most celebrated and distinguished composer / vocalists of traditional sufi and folk music and will perform a spectacular set of music featuring songs of the Ancient land of the Middle East.

Rounding out the night will be a screening of “Like A Phoenix From The Ashes” — a psychedelic visual feast of ultra-rare and vintage film from ’60s/’70s Iran, culled and curated from hundreds of hours and endless stacks of VHS and film of flicks from the pre-revolution glory years. Curated by Mahssa Taghinia and Tom Fitzgerald, edited and “collaged” by Tom Fitzgerald, and soundtracked with an exclusive Persian mash-up mix done by Finders Keepers founder Andy Votel. The music paired with this rare film footage can be found on the critically acclaimed release “Pomegranates” featuring Persian folk and funk that will have everyone on their feet.

Musical ambiance will also be provided by DJ Payam throughout the evening, spinning rare grooves from around the globe.

Art Installation: A PAF original Haftseen, showcasing a collection of artwork creating a one-of-a-kind public display. The Haftseen, or the seven ‘S’s is a traditional celebratory table setting of Norooz, the Persian New Year. The items symbolically correspond to seven creations and sacred immortals protecting them. Curated by PAF Art Director, Pooneh Maghazehe.

FESTIVAL SPONSORS
AIIrS American Institute of Iranian Studies

PROMOTIONAL PARTNERS
New York University Persian Club
IAAB Iranian Alliances Across Borders
PAAIA Public Affairs Alliance of Iranian Americans
CISA Columbia Iranian Students Association

FOLKS TO THANK FOR THEIR CONTRIBUTIONS
Noor Theater, 92Y Tribeca & all their staff,more to come,,,adding more everyday!

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Here She Is To Save The Day! Artist Aphrodite Désirée Navab’s Photographic Narrative

In a new installation of photographs at New York City’s Skylight Gallery, Iranian-American artist Aphrodite Désirée Navab deals with geo-political issues between the Middle East and the United States through a cheeky visual hybrid of idealized American superhero motifs and traditional women’s garments from the Middle East.

In her new photography exhibition Super East-West Woman’s Sufi Dance: Egypt, which opens February 28th, 2011,Navab documented herself whirling through Egypt’s capital city of Cairo – armed with her superhero shirt and her chador (Islamic covering for women) which pulls double duty as her hero-cape.

“The Superman figure of popular Western culture is transformed into a Superwoman whose chador turns into a cape of agency” Navab said. The cheek of Navab’s art has allowed her to represent visually the ludicrous situations in which her cultural duality has placed her.

The exhibition was inspired by the mounting tensions between the U.S. and the Middle East – in particular Iran. Navab describes her motivation behind the piece “take[ing] shape in 2002 after President George W. Bush branded Iran as one of the three nations comprising an “axis of evil.” This reminded Navab of the Islamic Revolution in 1979, when Iran’s new leaders labeled the United States as “The Great Satan.”

Growing up in the USA, Navab was destined to critique the two nations and cultures that define her identity.The end result is a provocative, nostalgic, and pensive body of work which blends traditional Islamic elements with American popular culture. And, perhaps Super East-West Woman illustrates what Navab herself lives every day of her life: that these two cultures can most definitely live side by side in harmony, even beauty.

The exhibition will run from February 28-April 3, 2011, at the Skylight Gallery NYC. Gallery hours are Monday through Saturday from 10am until 4pm. The gallery is located at 538 W 29th St. NY, NY 10001. For more information or inquiries, please contact Gallery Director Carla Goldberg at 646-772-2407, or via email at [email protected].

Upcoming exhibitions of Aphrodite Navab include works featured at the Affordable Art Fair May 5-8, 2011 at 7W 34th St., NYC, as well as a solo exhibition opening September 6 running through October 1, 2011 at Soho 20 Chelsea, 547 W27th St., Suite 301, NYC.

Fri, Jan 28th – Three Faiths in the Form of a Fugue – Featuring Reza Aslan, Shirin Neshat and others!

This Friday, January 28th, the NY Public Library in partnership with BoomGen Studios is hosting a magical night of art & music entitled THREE FAITHS IN THE FORM OF A FUGUE. We’d love it if you’d join us.

The evening, hosted by our own Reza Aslan, will bring together the amazing Shirin Neshat on the written word in Islam, Alicia Jo Rabins performing poems set to music about women in the Torah, Salman Ahmad who will play traditional ghazals mixed with rock and roll, and Fabrice Hadjadj who will read on the Book of Job in a duet with Gregorian chant singer Damien Poisblaud.

Click here for more information on the event.

This event will SELL OUT. Please purchase your tickets as soon as possible.  To purchase tickets go to http://www.showclix.com/event/16519 or call 1.888.718.4253

PAF PRESENTS: ABJEEZ IN CONCERT – TUES DEC 14th!

PERSIAN SLANG FOR SISTER … AND THAT’S JUST WHAT THEY ARE –

SAFOURA AND MELODY SAFAVI.

Backed by a colorful crew of musicians, the two abjee’s present their own original brand of Persian world pop!

Their lyrics, often humorous and sometimes rebellious, are written in Farsi, English, Spanish and Swedish – the  expressive groove of the music and the abjees’ dramatic delivery break down all language barriers to create a new synthesis of cultures.

BUY TICKETS NOW!

PAF Shab-e Yalda Celebration: An Evening of Music and Poetry

PAF Presents: An Evening of Music and Poetry, in celebration of Shab-e Yalda

Saturday, December 11th7 pm – 9:30 pm

Featuring Hafez and Ferdowsi in translation and Persian; Performances by Iraj Anvar, Elizabeth Gray and Richard Jeffrey Newman

$10 suggested donation

Bowery Poetry Club / 308 Bowery / NYC 10012 / Subway to 2nd Avenue F train

Begin celebrating the upcoming winter solstice at this special PAF event.

Iraj Anvar co-founder and a director of the Tehran Theater Workshop, is translator of two collections of ghazals of Jalal al-Din Rumi, specializing in reciting of classical Persian poetry.  He holds a doctorate in Near Eastern Languages and Literature and has over 25 years of teaching experience at major institutions and universities in both the U.S. and Iran. He played and recited Rumi in “Rumi / In the Blink of the Eye” directed by Robert Wilson in May 2007, in the Athens Festival, in Warsaw in February 2008 and in the Theater Festival of Ravenna in the spring of 2008. He also read Rumi’s poetry in the celebration of the UN for the 800th anniversary of Rumi in June 2007. He is currently teaching Persian Language and Culture at Brown University.

Elizabeth T. Gray, Jr. is a poet, scholar, translator, and a consultant to corporations forming or managing complex negotiations or alliances. The Green Sea of Heaven, her translations of Iran’s major medieval mystical lyric poet Hafiz-i Shirazi (d. 1389), was published by White Cloud Press in 1995 (The Green Sea of Heaven, a CD produced with Reza Derakhshani, was released in 2002). With Mr. Derakshani, Iraj Anvar, and others, she has recited and performed her translations at Harvard and Brown Universities; the Foundation for Iranian Studies; the Sackler Museum in Washington, D. C.; at Sufi Books and the Open Center in New York City; and for the Canadian Broadcasting Company.  New translations of Iranian poems of dissent will appear in Poetry International in 2011.  She lives in New York City.

Richard Jeffrey Newman, Poet, trans­la­tor, essay­ist and edu­ca­tor, Richard Jef­frey New­man is the author of The Silence Of Men (CavanKerry Press, 2006), a book of his own poems, as well as Selec­tions from Saadi’s Gulis­tan and Selec­tions from Saadi’s Bus­tan (Global Schol­arly Pub­li­ca­tions, 2004 & 2006 respec­tively), trans­la­tions of two mas­ter­pieces of 13th cen­tury Iran­ian poetry. He also co-translated with Pro­fes­sor John Moyne all of the poetry in A Bird in the Gar­den of Angels (Mazda Pub­lish­ers, 2008), a selec­tion of work by Rumi, also from 13th cen­tury Iran. In addi­tion, he has com­pleted a verse trans­la­tion of a book-length sec­tion of Shah­nameh, the Per­sian national epic. Richard Jef­frey New­man served as Per­sian Arts Festival’s first Lit­er­ary Arts Direc­tor, and he con­tin­ues to co-curate the monthly Shab-e She’r (Night of Per­sian Poetry).

“FUNATICAL: Taking Comedy to the Extreme” goes from CA – NY!

“FUNATICAL” IS A PRODIGIOUS COMEDY TOUR WITH AN INTERFAITH, INTERCULTURAL LINE-UP TO UNITE AMERICANS, DESPITE ISLAMOPHOBIA

SHOW DATES

12/9/2010Los AngelesCAComedy Store
12/10/2010GlendaleCABeyond the Stars
12/11/2010Los AngelesCALos Angeles Theater Center
1/27/2011New York CityNYGotham Comedy Club
1/28/2011New York CityNYMiller Theater
1/29/2011New York CityNYComing Soon
3/3/2011ArlingtonVAArlington Cinema & Drafthouse
3/4/2011WashingtonDCComing Soon
3/5/2011WashingtonDCComing Soon

[LOS ANGELES, OCT. 25th, 2010]-All comedy tours are equal, but some are more equal than others. The new *FUNATICAL: Taking Comedy to the Extreme* tour’s motto is ‘We Come in Peace’, and features multicultural comedians who are Arab, Iranian, South Asian and American of different faiths.

Produced by PlanetPix Media & Entertainment Group, the “FUNATICAL” tour launches in Southern California on December 9th at the World Famous Comedy Store and continues on to New York City in January 2011 and the D.C. area in early March. The tour features comedians who poke fun of stereotypes, culture and current events, which they lampoon with humor and satire.

All things being equal -this is a prodigious tour. For the first time, the United Religious Initiative (URI), a United Nations NGO, is supporting an interfaith comedy tour. URI is a global interfaith peace-building organization that is currently active in 72 countries around the world. The comedy tour includes dozens of partners and supporters on both coasts including Levantine Cultural Center and Beauty and the East TV.

According to a recent article published in the LA Times (9/9/10), statistics support the belief that Islamophobia is on the rise in America, and that the temptation to view Muslims through the prism of extremism remains ever-present. These perceptions are linked to the ‘Ground Zero Mosque” debates in New York and pastors and elected leaders whose dangerous rhetoric has undone years of interfaith work.

“FUNATICAL” creator and executive producer Samira Atash states, “We’re presenting this comedy tour to bring people together to laugh and forget about issues like the ‘Ground Zero Mosque’ or ‘Burn a Quran Day’-we want to counter extremism that exists in all religions as well as bigotry that exists in America against those who “look Muslim”. We want to challenge stereotypes using stereotypes to show how silly and wrong they can be. “FUNATICAL’s animated character “Mustlaufa Dajeeni’ is an example of that.”

Atash notes that ‘FUNATICAL’ is coproduced by a team of Muslims, Jews and Christians and the tour includes the world’s only Indian Jewish comedian, a black Muslim convert, an Arab Jewish performer, famous American Muslim comedians, a Jordanian Catholic, a half Iranian/half black performer, Hindus, a half Persian/half Russian, an Armenian Orthodox, and an Iranian Bahai. The tour’s coproducers include Jordan Elgrably, the creator of the long-running “Sultans of Satire” comedy show, which featured Ahmed Ahmed, Maz Jobrani and Aron Kader from the “Axis of Evil Comedy Tour” and Max Amini, comedian and founder of ‘Exotic Imports’ comedy tour.

FUNATICAL’s West Coast tour includes dates at the Comedy Store on Dec. 9, Beyond the Stars Palace Theatre in Glendale Dec. 10, and the Los Angeles Theatre Center on Dec. 11, 2010.

BUY TICKETS NOW: http://www.funaticalcomedy.com

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PAF Persian Poetry Night back with an All-Star Lineup!

Wed Nov 10
NEW TIME! 7 pm – 9:30 pm!

PAF Shab-e She’r Season Begins with All-Star event!

Featuring:
Iranian-American poet Sholeh Wolpe, author of Rooftops of Tehran and The Scar Saloon, and Sin: Selected Poems of Forugh Farrokhzad

Zohra Saed/Sahar Muradi, editors of the Afghan-American Writers Anthology

Bowery Poetry Club / 308 Bowery / NYC 10012 / Subway to 2nd Avenue F train

Sholeh Wolpé is the author of Rooftops of Tehran, The Scar Saloon, and Sin: Selected Poems of Forugh Farrokhzad for which she was awarded the Lois Roth Translation Prize in 2010. Sholeh is a regional editor of Tablet & Pen: Literary Landscapes from the Modern Middle East edited by Reza Aslan (Norton), the poetry editor of the Levantine Review (an online journal about the Middle East,) and the guest editor of 2010 Iran issue of the Atlanta Review which immediately became the journal’s bestselling issue. Her poems, translations, essays and reviews have appeared in scores of literary journals, periodicals and anthologies worldwide, and have been translated into several languages. Born in Iran, Sholeh presently lives in Los Angeles.

Zohra Saed was born in Jalalabad came to Brooklyn as a child by way of Riyadh. She received her MFA in Poetry at Brooklyn College. She is a doctoral candidate in English Literature at The City University of New York Graduate Center. Her work has appeared most recently in Shattering Stereotypes; Cheers to Muses; and Speaking for Myself: Asian Women’s Writings. She has performed as part of the cast of the legendary theater director Ping Chong’s Undesirable Elements in 2000 and in 2007, where the ensemble caste performed at the first National Asian American Theater Festival. She is co-founder of the Association of Afghan American Writers (AAAW).

Sahar Muradi was born in Kabul, Afghanistan. She and her family emigrated to the United States when she was three years old. She grew up in New York and Florida. Sahar received her B.A. in Literature and Creative Writing from Hampshire College, and her M.P.A. in International Development from New York University. Sahar has written extensively about her family experiences, as well as reported on current events in Afghanistan. Her writing has been featured in literary magazines, newspapers, as well as read on public radio. In 2003, Sahar returned to her native Kabul to work for two years. She helped coordinate a donor conference with the Foreign Ministry, as well as managed a small grant program for civil society development. She is co-founder of the Association of Afghan American Writers (AAWW) and an Organizing Fellow for the Open City Project, a community-based writing project through the Asian American Writers’ Workshop.

Persian Arts Festival (PAF) revived Shab-e She’r, A Night of (Persian) Poetry, at the Bowery Poetry Club (BPC) but with a modern spin. Our program expands what tends to be a very classical Persian tradition to feature modern works of literature, ranging from fictional novels to memoirs. PAF and BPC continue to host readings of well-established and emerging authors who are of Persian descent or specialize in Persian literature. Readers have included Nahid Rachlin, Manijeh Nasrabadi and Joe Martin to name a few.

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8/11 Film Screening of Plastic Flowers Never Die

Plastic Flowers Never Die, by Roxanne Varzi

Persian Arts Festival supports filmmaker Roxanne Varzi on her debut film.

New York City
August 11th, 8pm
Anthology Film Archives
32 2nd Avenue @ 2nd Street)

Trailer http://www.der.org/films/plastic-flowers-never-die.html

Plastic Flowers Never Die, Iran, 2008, 34 min; video, Roxanne Varzi

The film is an experimental documentary and meditation on the aftermath of the Iran-Iraq war, and especially the mourning after.  The war with Iraq was the largest mobilization of the Iranian population, achieved primarily by producing and promoting a culture of martyrdom based on religious themes found in Shii Islam. Martyrdom became state policy. Khomeini made it clear the war was a spiritual one that the people, and not a professional army, would fight.  It would be a sacred defense; a war of good against evil, of spirit against military might, where a human wave of believers would form a wall of defense against the Iraqis. Over 800,000
people died.

Dr. Roxanne Varzi has spent twelve years researching and writing about post-Revolution public culture in Iran which culminated in her ethnography Warring Souls, Media, Martyrdom and Youth in post-Revolution Iran, Duke University Press and various articles and stories in the London Review of Books, The New York Press and anthologies of fiction.  She is currently an associate professor of anthropology and film and media studies at the University of California, Irvine.  Plastic Flowers Never Die is Varzi’s first film.

Plastic Flowers Never Die has been shown in:

New Filmmakers Series, Museum of Architecture and Design, Los Angeles,
January 2008
The Boston International Film Festival, Spring 2008
Uqbar Project Space, Berlin, Germany summer 2008
Middle East Studies Association, Fall 2008
Society for Visual Anthropology Film Fest, at the American Anthropological
Meetings, Fall 2008
NewFilmaker’s @ Anthology Film Archives, New York, NY
Third Women’s Film Festival, Chennai, India
5th Annual Women’s International Film   & Arts Festival, Miami
International Festival of Ethnological Film, Belgrade, Serbia
Days of Ethnographic Film, Moscow, Russia
DocuDays, Beirut International Documentary Festival, Beirut, Lebanon
DOCSDF, Mexico City, Mexico
Society for Visual Anthropology
And at Various Universities

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