Shirin Season – Berlinale 2013 and The Louvre with Kiarostami

Shirin Neshat was one of the International Jury for 2013 Berlinale (the 63rd International Film Festival in Berlin) alongside actor/director Tim Robbins in February. This is a great year for Neshat, partly because she is taking part in an historic new season at the newly opened Islamic Arts Department of the world-renowned Paris Museum The … Continue reading →

Fatshaker – a Film by Mohammad Shirvani

Filmmaker Mohammad Shirvani has a following on international festival circuits, but Fat Shaker is his first Iranian feature in the Sundance film festival is programmed in the reputedly under-appreciated New Frontier experimental section. This highly individualized work, remains unlikely to see exposure beyond film festival and educational settings in Europe and beyond, it is not … Continue reading →

MA Scholarships for Middle East/ N.Africa Students

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Night of the Hunchback – Film Screening Q&A London

Iranian new wave cinema is agreed to have begun in the 1960s with Darius Mehrjui’s seminal film The Cow, and is also widely attributed to the realism of female poet Farroukh Farouzad in her experimental film set in a leper colony The House is Black. But not often discussed is Farrokh Gaffari’s the Night of … Continue reading →

Rostam in Wonderland – A Six Pillars Interview

Unusually we’ve gone text only for this interview. The animation we are discussing brings to life the Persian classical hero Rostam of The Book of Kings (Shahnameh), in the cartoon Rostam in Wonderland a collaboration between two young men one based in USA (Pouya Afshar) creator, and one in Iran (Souroush Rezaee) writer and animator. … Continue reading →

Tonight’s Six Pillars – Tehran to Tyneside, with Shiraz Haq

7.30-8pm – an interview with Shiraz Haq, lead actor in BAFTA-nominated I Am Nasrine. Haq discusses the film’s themes and the making of in the ResonanceFM studio. Newcastle’s Tina Gharavi wrote and directed this coming of age tale which Sir Ben Kingsley called “an important and much-needed film.” Involving characters in the gypsy traveller communities in … Continue reading →

Screening: I Am Nasrine with Q&A

Remembering the Renoir cinema in the early days of being a student, it was always the place to see alternative film for us central London kids. It’s therefore natural for it be here that this long-overdue London screening of what Sir Ben Kingsley called: “A life enhancing, important and much needed film” will take place. … Continue reading →

Nu-Disco – A Persian Tale

A short film sampling the first album release of the Copenhagen-based band Rosemary. Continue reading →

Farhang Foundation Short Film Festival

Now in its fifth year, the 2013 Farhang Foundation Short Film Festival is accepting submissions. Submissions period: November 1, 2012 through February 1, 2013 Calling on individuals from all backgrounds and walks of life to submit short films visualizing some aspect of Iranian art, culture, and heritage, Farhang Foundation’s annual online short film festival offers … Continue reading →

Argo (2012) – Colors: The Music of Argo with Sussan Deyhim

Colors: The Music of Argo with Alexandre Desplat, vocals by Sussan Deyhim Courtesy of Warner Bros. and Costa Communications, take a quick glimpse behind one of 2012’s best scores, as Alexandre Desplat discusses scoring Argo, directed by Ben Affleck. Deyhim is an Iranian vocalist we have been enjoying on Six Pillars to Persia since 2005. … Continue reading →