Mazda Publisher has announced that the hardcover edition of Grass: Untold Stories by Bahman Maghsoudlou will be out before the end of the year. This is the second book by the author in English. His first book was Iranian Cinema, which included an introduction by Andrew Sarris and was published by New York University in 1987. It was the first book in English about Iranian cinema and is currently out of print.

Grass: Untold Stories details the exciting lives of three American explorers, Merian Cooper and Ernest Schoedsack, later the masterminds behind the classic King Kong, and Marguerite Harrison, a journalist and spy, and the various international experiences that they had both individually and together, culminating in a historic trip among the nomads of Southern Iran from which resulted one of the first ever documentaries: Grass.

Further details about the release of this book can be found at the following link:
http://www.mazdapublisher.com/BookDetails.aspx?BookID=256

IFVC and the Ziba Foundation, the two organizations responsible for the first New York International Short Film Festival: Independent Films on Iran, have collectively decided, based on the success of the first festival, that it should become a bi-annual event. Preparations will be made early next year to begin inviting submissions for the next festival, likely to be held in fall of 2009.

The first festival was held at the Asia Society from October 19th to 21st, 2007. Through a combination of films made by Iranian filmmakers on any subject and films made by non-Iranians on Iranian subjects, the festival seeks to shine a light on what is still a very misunderstood culture in the western world.

For more information, please visit www.nyisff.com

After several months of negotiations, Pathfinder Picture signed a contract with IFVC for release of six of its productions. Pathfinder, based in Venice, California, has released more than two hundred films on DVD in North America, both foreign and domestic productions. The first new releases, to debut in October, will be Manhattan by Numbers, the first American film by acclaimed Iranian filmmaker Amir Naderi, and Ahmad Shamlou: Master Poet of Liberty, the first in a documentary series on great artists. Subsequent releases will include Silence of the Sea by Vahid Mousaian and Ahmad Mahmoud: A Noble Novelist, the second in the Artists series, in December. Life in Fog by Bahman Ghobadi will be released early next year.

For more information, please visit www.pathfinderpictures.com

The First Documentary Voices Pulling Film Festival was held in Dubai from July 4th to 9th. Anisa Mehdi, a distinguished journalist and both a producer and director of films, is the artistic director, and Mahshid Zamani is managing director of this newborn festival. More than thirty filmmakers were invited and participated in this four-day event. Among them were Niki Karimi, Jafar Panahi, and Kamran Shirdel from Iran; Amer Alzuhair from Kuwait; Philip Bajjaly and Hadi Zaccak from Lebanon; and Danny Schechter and Bahman Maghsoudlou from the USA. The latter two also served on the jury

Ahmad Shamlou: Master Poet of Liberty, by Bahman Maghsoudlou, the first book from a series about how IFVC films are made, was published by the Ketab Corporation in Los Angeles on July 1st.

Bahman Maghsoudlou, the producer of this feature documentary, dedicated this book to his younger brother Behrouz Maghsoudlou, who passed away during the printing of this book. The book is in two languages, English and Persian, and is 162 pages long. The book includes the film’s full credits, a section entitled ‘Ahmad Shamlou: The Poet,’ a chronology of Ahmad Shamlou’s life and work, a full transcription of the film, the copyright, and Ahmad Shamlou’s letter to the author before his death. In this historical letter Shamlou writes:

… Dear friend, regarding the film, you naturally should have all the authority. You are not merely an expert in this field and aware of all technical and non-technical issues. It also is enough for me to enjoy affection and love. At the same time, the truth is that you will be responsible for whatever good or bad will come out of this work and, thus, you will use all your expertise to make the work as best as you can…

The author has written extensively and vividly about how this documentary was created from beginning to end, detailing the entire process of the film’s production.

The next book in this series, also by Bahman Maghsoudlou, will be Manhattan by Numbers, a similarly detailed account of the making of Amer Naderi’s first US feature, as well as an overview of Naderi’s cinema. Maghsoudlou was executive producer of Manhattan by Numbers.

Pathfinder Pictures will release the DVD of Shamlou and other IFVC productions before the end of the year.

The first major retrospective in the United States of legendary artist Ardeshir Mohasses was exhibited at the Asia Society from May 23rd through August 3rd under the title ‘Art and Satire in Iran.’ This unique exhibition brought together seventy rarely seen ink drawings from pre-and post-Revolutionary Iran. Ardeshir Mohasses (born in 1938 in Rasht, Iran) is a self-taught graphic artist who moved to New York in 1978. His philosophical sense of humor created unique insights into modern Iranian history. His caricatures and works have been reproduced in a variety of distinguished graphic magazines and newspapers throughout the world, including the New York Times. Mohasses’s works also have been exhibited in international museums and galleries in Iran, Europe, Asia and America. Acclaimed Iranian artists Shirin Neshat and Nicky Nodjoumi, co-curators of the exhibition, were joined by former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark, a collector of the artist, to discuss the life and art of Mohasses on June 10th. Then Shirin Neshat introduced Dr. Bahman Maghsoudlou, and his short documentary, Ardeshir Mohasses and His Caricatures, was screened. Mohasses’s presence in the film helped fill the gap that his absence at the hall had created, and clearly pleased the audience full of fans.

Bahman Maghsoudlou wrote, directed and produced Ardeshir Mohasses and His Caricatures all by himself in his home in Tehran in 1972. The film was shown on National Iranian Television at the time and went to various film festivals. In 1996 it was selected as one of the best short films made before the revolution by the Leipzig Film Festival. This is the only film about Mohasses in existence in which the artist has appeared, since he does not like being filmed. Maghsoudlou is working on a new updated version of the film.

The first Sinfronteras Festival International de Cine was held in Medellin, Colombia from May 28th to June 8th. The festival’s aim is to promote understanding of social subjects through contemporary films, with a different subject highlighted each year. This year’s theme was children and their treatment in the movies. Twenty-five movies from different countries along with a variety of documentaries were shown in seven movie houses, universities, museums and other cultural centers.

Bahman Maghsoudlou, the Iranian film director, producer and historian, was among the distinguished guests. He delivered a lecture at the Medellin Modern Art Museum on June 4th for a full house of students and cineastes about the way children have been used in Iranian films. His lecture was well received and was followed by a Q&A about Iranian cinema that lasted until midnight.

Richard Pena, director of the New York Film Festival, and Adriana Fresquest, the Argentinean-Brazilian director of the “Cinema to Learn and Unlearn” project of the Federal University in Rio de Janeiro were the other lecturers. Two Iranian films were screened at the festival: Life in Fog by Bahman Ghobadi, a production of IFVC, and Buddha Exploded in Shame by Hanna Makhmalbaf, a House of Makhmalbaf Production.

The Iranian American Medical Association (IAMA) held its 15th annual meeting in Washington, DC over the Memorial Day weekend. In a special program for this event, Bahman Maghsoudlou appeared as a guest lecturer and screened three short films: Interview by Mohsen Makhmalbaf, Persian Tree by Hassan Naghashi, and Life in Fog by Bahman Ghobadi.

After the enthusiastically-received screening, Mr. Maghsoudlou participated in a rousing Q&A debate.

Ahmad Mahmoud: A Noble Novelist, a feature documentary about the life and works of the essential Iranian author, was screened in Toronto on Saturday, May 17th to a full house at the Parya Foundation. The event was dedicated to Behrouz Maghsoudlou, one of the producers of the film, who passed away on April 15th in Tehran from a heart attack. Shahrvand, one of the most influential magazines in North America, sponsored the event. At the beginning, Mr. Hassan Zerrehi, the chief editor of Shahrvand, introduced Bahman Maghsoudlou, the director and producer of the film. Mr. Maghsoudlou requested one minute’s silence to honor his younger brother in the wake of his sudden death, and then talked about him briefly. Thefilm was then screened for the eager audience, who took to it whole-heartedly. After the screening, Mr. Maghsoudlou gave a short lecture about Iranian pictorial culture through history, and then led a Q&A for more than an hour. Ahmad Mahmoud: A Noble Novelist has been selected for various film festivals and has been shown at various film and cultural centers throughout Europe and America. This film will be released on DVD by Pathfinder Pictures before the end of the year.

Silence of the Sea, a poignant study of displacement and one of the most successful Iranian films of the new millennium, finally received a theatrical release in Los Angeles at the Vine Theater on April 25th.

The film, written and directed by talented Iranian filmmaker Vahid Mousaian, has been selected for more than thirty international film festivals, among them Manheim and Sundance, and has received six international awards. The film has garnered praise from a number of the most notable film publications from around the world, including Variety, in which Robert Kohler, in a long article, called the film “high-end Iranian work” and “exquisitely directed.” Scott Foundas wrote in LA Weekly that “Mousaian has a sensitive approach.”

Silence of the Sea was produced by Bahman Maghsoudlou (IFVC) and Rouhollah Baradari (Tuba Film), and was shot in Sweden and Qeshm Island in the Persian Gulf.

IFVC is deeply saddened to announce that Behrouz Maghsoudlou, architect, producer and Vice President of IFVC, passed away suddenly in Tehran of a heart attack in April. Behrouz, younger brother of President Bahman Maghsoudlou, was a part of the IFVC wing of film production from the very beginning.

Behrouz was born in Kashan, Iran in 1948. He graduated from Tehran’s Melli University in 1975 with a Master’s degree. He was an experienced graphic architectural designer, having worked in the field since his graduation. In addition to architecture, he also had a longtime interest in film, an interest he pursued in a couple of different ways. He acted a few times, most notably as a school superintendent in The Runner by Amir Naderi in 1985. He also produced seven short films with Mr. Bahman Ghobadi, including Like Mother (1996, Winner, First Prize, Melbourne International Film Festival, Australia), A Soldier Called Amin (1997, Winner, First Prize, Rosario International Film Festival, Argentina; Silver Prize, Denmark International Film Festival), and Life in Fog, winner of fifteen international awards, and the single most awarded short documentary in the history of Iranian cinema.

The Other Side of the Broken Wall, his first outing as a writer and director, made its US debut last year at the First Annual International Short Film Festival: Independent Films on Iran.

Behrouz’s artistic spirit and great heart will be remembered by all who knew him.

On November 2, 2007, Ahmad Mahmoud: A Noble Novelist was screened at Wien Technical University in Austria . The Iranian Cultural Society of Austria, which arranged the event, invited the filmmaker Bahman Maghsoudlou to attend. The event also included a screening of Mojgan Roudbarani’s film about Mahin Oskui. After the films were shown there was a question and answer period. Among the audience, which fully packed the auditorium, was renowned Iranian filmmaker Houchang Allahyari, who has been living and making films in Wien for almost the past fifty years.

On September 15, 2007, Ahmad Mahmoud: A Noble Novelist was screened at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, sponsored by the Iranian Cultural Society of North Carolina (ICSNC) and the Persian Cultural Society (PCS). It was presented by director/producer Bahman Maghsoudlou and was very well received by the attendees. This long documentary has been selected for various international film festivals and also has been screened at numerous art and cultural centers and universities throughout the world.

;The first annual International Short Film Festival: Independent Films on Iran was held at the Asia Society on Park Avenue in Manhattan from October 19 to 21. Attendance met expectations, with several of the programs being sold out, and the audience reaction was uniformly enthusiastic. The festival showed a total of sixty films from nine different countries, as selected by a committee made of festival founder Bahman Maghsoudlou, filmmaker Ghasem Ebrahimian and filmmaker Farhad Zamani. The roster was comprised of twenty films shown in competition, two out of competition, seventeen past award winners, a retrospective of five films by Kamran Shirdel, seven films from the Makhmalbaf Film House, three films from Afghanistan, and six films from Tajikistan. There was also a panel discussion on Iranian short films with Mr. Maghsoudlou, critic Godfrey Cheshire (also a member of the international jury) and author/critic Mohmmad Abdi.

On the final day, awards were presented to a handful of notable films, although all of the films presented were of considerable quality. The following were the award winners, as decided by our three-member international jury: Richard Pena, Milton Ginsberg and Godfrey Cheshire:

• Gold Prize (Trophy, Diploma and $3000.00):
  The Season of Soil (D: Shahrokh Babhrololumi)
• Best Fiction (Trophy, Diploma and $2000.00):
  Just Waiting (D: Hamy Ramezan)
• Best Documentary (Trophy, Diploma and $2000.00):
  Underneath My Father’s House (D: Naser Zeraati)
• Special Jury Prize (split decision):
  Fish Talking (D: Hassan Solhjou)($1000.00 from PCHA);
  What If Spring Does Not Come? (D: Alireza Darvish)($1000.00 from IFVC)
• ZIBA Prize (Trophy and $1000.00):
  Bistoon & Its Secrets (D: Katayoun Afrooz)
• Audience Award: Security (D: Matthew Linnell)

The Season of Soil rode a particularly difficult path to the Gold Prize. A print of a different film by director Shahrokh Babhrololumi was accidentally sent at first. The director, unable to obtain permission to enter the country from Canada in time for the festival, sent an acquaintance, who drove down to New York from Toronto, delivering a print of the right film just in time to be screened and ultimately win the top prize.

We are tremendously grateful to our participants and the attendees, all of whom contributed towards making our first year an unqualified success.

Datum: Tue, 08 May 2007 18:06:24 +0200

An: Film Acting School Cologne Betreff

Today we are proud to announce that shooting of the long documentary The Life & Legacy of Mohammad Mossadegh after 22 month around the world is finished and most of the necessary newsreel footage of that era has been located and purchased. All pertinent locations have been shot, we have interviewed one hundred ten people all over the world, one thousand still photographs have been gathered, and newspapers and magazines of the era have been scanned. In short, we have put together more than 100 hours of pictorial history of the last century and the film is ready to be edited.

Monday, April 16th, 2007- Mr. Maghsoudlou was an invited lecturer on Independent Production and acting at the prestigious Acting School of Koln in Germany. A full house of roughly one hundred people gathered in the small lecture hall that afternoon, comprised mostly of students and graduates, with a handful of filmmakers, journalists and school staff. After Rebecca Goerke, one of the students, entertained the audience with a couple of songs, School President Mr. Bernd Captain thanked Mr. Maghsoudlou for his presence and then introduced artist/filmmaker Daryush Shokof, who had recently made a ten-minute film with Melinda Hardorp, a student of the school, called Smoqing. The film was shown, and then Mr. Maghsoudlou delivered his lecture to enthusiastic response from the audience, entertaining a Q&A afterwards.

Smoqing was written and directed by Daryush Shokof, produced by Tom Dukopil and Bahman Maghsoudlou, and will be shown at the New York International Short Film Festival in New York this coming October.

International Film & Video Center, in conjunction with the Ziba Foundation, is proud to announce the establishment of the International Short Film Festival: Films by Iranians/Films About Iran to be held in October in New York City.

The festival accepts films of 30 minutes and under, and will dispense awards totaling ten thousand dollars.

The founding principals of this festival are the education of youth, intercultural dialogue, the defense of civil rights, and the exhibition of films that may contribute to human dignity. Because behind every film hides a world of identity and culture, this festival accepts films by two groups of filmmakers from anywhere in the world:

1. Iranians who live and make films in Iran and those of the first and second generations living outside of Iran without any limitations can participate in the festival freely.
2. Non-Iranians who have made a film that in some way deals with Iranian culture.

1. The Competition. The Festival only accepts films for competition in two categories: fiction and documentary.
2. Retrospectives. The Festival will arrange an exhibition of short films by Iranian filmmakers whose works greatly influenced and shaped Iranian cinema.
3. Panorama and Special Programs. The Festival will also exhibit a selection of Iranian short films that have received awards recently or any time over the past decade.

1. The festival only accepts films of two genres: fiction and documentary.
2. Films must not exceed a length of 30 minutes.
3. Films must have a completion date of January 1st, 2006 or after.
4. Selection can only be made on complete productions.
5. In exceptional cases, the Festival reserves the right to accept films of duration up to 45 minutes.
6. Separate soundtracks will not be accepted.
7. Films that have been shown or awarded at other international film festivals will not be accepted.
8. Educational, industrial, advertising, tourism, and propaganda films will not be accepted.
9. The deadline for submission is August 1, 2007.
10. A $20 fee must accompany the submission. This fee can be paid by credit card, bank or cashier’s check.

In May of 1951, Mohammad Mossadegh, leader of the liberal nationalist movement in Iran, was democratically elected to the office of Prime Minister. His election was seen as a tremendous victory for those who believed that Iran’s future lay in self-determination and democracy. However, by August of 1953, forces working against Mossadegh and his progressive objectives had managed to carry out a coup d’etat, engineered by the CIA and MI6, with the support of a number of domestic groups opposed to the nationalist movement. Following the downfall of the Mossadegh government, the country was returned to authoritarian royalist rule and the hopes of the Iranian people having a say in their political future were dashed.

“The Life and Legacy of Mossadegh” is a feature-length documentary that seeks to present a comprehensive and impartial look at the man, his ideas, and the rise and fall of his government. This project began in July of 2005, and since then over one hundred hours of more than eighty-five interviews have been conducted worldwide with experts on the subject. (Ultimately more than one hundred interviews will be conducted.) In addition to important interviews conducted inside Iran, the producer/director has carried out interviews in Paris, London, Berlin, Rome, Frankfurt, Geneva, Helsinki, Stockholm and elsewhere, in addition to interviews in the United States in Los Angeles, Washington, D. C., Boston and other cities. The interviewees have been carefully selected and have had questions written specifically for them by the expert historians associated with the project. The interviewees were chosen with special emphasis on those who observed or were involved in particular events or were politically active during Mossadegh’s premiership. It was essential to speak to the people who were involved as well as those knowledgeable about these important historical events, and so interviews were conducted with diplomats and politicians, writers and journalists, spies and scholars.

Although dealing with a subject with obvious contemporary political implications, the film will be based on historical evidence that has come to light from sources such as CIA and British Intelligence Service documents, as well as documents released under the Freedom of Information Act. The producers did not set out to favor any particular side, preferring to paint as complete a picture as could be achieved. Equal time was given to the many different viewpoints regarding these events, and interviewees included leaders and supporters of the Iranian National Front, individuals who were at one time members or supporters of the Tudeh Party (communists), monarchists, as well as representatives of the religious community. New documents and evidence were discovered, including stills and film clips concerning the coup. Additionally, the front pages and stills of about 20 magazines and newspapers of that era were scanned.

The film will ultimately appear in two versions: a two-hour theatrical cut and an extended cut to be released on DVD. Narration will be in English by a well-known contemporary actor. An original score will be commissioned from a renowned composer and a top-notch editor will be recruited to edit the film. Given the abundance of interview material collected, some may not make it into the finished version. We also plan to release a book or possibly books based on the interviews, and some material not included in the film may be utilized for these. In any case, having accumulated so much valuable material on some one hundred years of Iranian history, we hope ultimately to be able to store it in a library or foundation for the benefit of future historians.

This informative and engrossing documentary will be entered into the most prestigious film festivals around the world, as well as receiving worldwide theatrical release.

Ahmad Mahmoud: A Noble Novelist has been well received by critics and audiences alike. The former have included the LA Times, Keyhan (London), Nimrouz and the BBC. Mr. Maghsoudlou’s first documentary, Ardeshir Mohasses (1972), was shown at the Leipzig Documentary Film Festival, 1996, as one of the best short documentaries made before the revolution.

Sadly Mr. Mahmoud was never able to see the film he inspired about himself. He died in Tehran three months after shooting was completed. The director had known Mr. Mahmoud for almost forty years. The two men were close friends and Mr. Maghsoudlou was Mr. Mahmoud’s trustee.
The DVD of the film will be released with additional material late in 2006. Mr. Maghsoudlou is currently in the editing room working on two new documentaries, one on painter Iran Darroudi and the other on the history of Iranian cinema entitled Iranian Cinema: Searching for the Roots (1900-1979).

kudos for best screenplay.

Best director honors went to Croatian filmmaker Krsto Papic for “Infection.”

“Rave Against the Machine,” about the underground music scene in 1990s Bosnia, won best docu.

Producer Branko Lustig (“Schindler’s List”) received the fest’s Libertas Award for lifetime achievement.

Other features screened at the four-day event included “Stander” and “Grand Theft Parsons.”

Directed by Vahid Mousaian, has its North American premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, which ran from January 15th to January 25th, in Park City, Utah. This complex metaphorical film that deals with displacement and identity, was selected from among 1000 feature films for Sundance, the most prestigious American film festival, for the World Cinema section.

The film premiered at The Egyptian Theater on January 16th and had three more screenings during the ten-day festival. All shows were sold out, and talk about the film was widespread. Unfortunately the World Cinema section did not have any Jury or prizes, though it was announced that from 2005 on a Jury and awards would be established.

Variety published a great review of the film from Sundance on January 29th. They called it an excellent film and recommended its distribution in the United States.

The Mannheim-Heidelberg Festival is the second oldest festival in Germany (After Berlinale). It was founded in 1952 by Fritz Lang, one of the pantheon directors of world cinema. Every year more than 1000 films are submitted. The festival has been home to many premieres and has an eye towards featuring new, as yet unknown directing talents. Such famous directors as Francois Truffaut, Wim Wenders, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Krzystof Kieslowski, Jim Jarmusch, and Lars Von Trier, all began their careers at Mannheim-Heidelberg.

This year’s festival, which commenced on November 20th, featured 31 films (23 long, 8 shorts) from the 1000 submitted, and attracted an audience of 60,000 people.

Ta'zieh directed by Parviz Jahed has been selected for the 44th Festival dei Popoli in Florence, Italy.
It will take place November 28 - December 4, 2003.

Also selected for the First Iranian.com Film Festival in Berkeley, CA, September 5-7, 2003, and the 3rd Annual Tiburon International Film Festival in Tiburon, CA, in March 2004.

Silence Of The Sea has been selected for the competition sections of the 18th International Fort Lauderdale Film Festival and the 52nd International Film Festival Mannheim-Heidelberg in Germany. We expect that the film will be selected for many more festivals throughout the rest of the year.

IFVC’s long documentary about acclaimed Iranian novelist Ahmad Mahmoud; A Noble Novelist, is now in the editing room. Filming had begun in August of 2002 when Mr. Mahmoud, who authored seventeen books in his career, died three months later in the hospital of respiratory failure. It will be Released by the end of the January 2004.

Bahman Maghsoudlou (IFVC president) attended the 29th Letni Filmova Skola from July 25 to August 3 in Uherskeho Hradiste in the southwest of the Czech Republic. He took part in three programs at the festival:

Mr. Maghsoudlou was one of a three-member panel speaking on Death and Media: The Iraq War And Beyond. The others on the panel were Mr. Peter Arnett, former CNN and MSNBC reporter and Pulitzer Prize-winner for his Vietnam reportage, and Mr. Ludvik Vaculik, the distinguished Czech writer and political activist, whose 2000-word manifesto in 1968 and 1989 Harta 77 are famous for calling for a Czech human rights movement. The discussion/debate went on for three hours and included a question and answer period. An abridged version of the discussion was broadcast on Czech national television the following day.

He presented a screening of Abbas Kia-rostami’s A Taste Of Cherry, as part of the festival’s Death in Cinema program. In addition to showing the film, he also gave an analysis and discussed Mr. Kia-rostami’s style and vision.

In conjunction with the festival’s other program, Poetry and Film, Mr. Maghsoudlou presented screenings of three films he produced for IFVC: Ahmad Shamlou: Master Poet Of Liberty, Bahman Ghobadi’s Life In Fog (1998, winner of fifteen international awards), and Ardeshir Mohasses & His Caricatures, which Mr. Maghsoudlou also wrote and directed.

Other guests of the festival included French filmmaker Alain Robbe-Grillet, Polish filmmaker Krzysztof Zanussi, Russian cinematographer Mikhail Vardanov, and a number of distinguished Czech novelists and composers.

The festival also included performances of Czech music, both traditional folk and contemporary pop, as well as an art exhibition. Previous Iranian guests of the festival have been Abbas Kia-rostami and Ebrahim Forouzesh.

Iranian Cinema: Searching For The Roots (1900-1979), a long in production, completely comprehensive documentary about Iranian film up to the revolution, is nearing completion. Over 100 people have been interviewed for this project, including such renowned figures as Andrew Sarris, Richard Pena, Godfrey Chesire, as well as prominent members of the Cannes, London, Berlin New York, and Venice Film Festivals. Shooting continues until fall, when the editing process begins. The two-hour version will be released in 2007, with an extended version to be subsequently released on video and DVD.

Mr. Maghsoudlou’s new book, Love And Liberty In Cinema will be published in September of 2003. The book consists of detailed examinations of three classic films: Jean Renoir’s Grand Illusion, Max Ophül’s Letter To An Unknown Woman, and Luis Buñuel’s Tristana. His next literary project will be Grass: Untold Stories, a companion book to the film of the same name, which examines the details behind Merian C. Cooper, Ernst Schoedsack and Marguerite Harrison’s groundbreaking documentary about the migration of Iran’s Bakhtiari tribein 1924.

Two IFVC long documentaries, Ta’zieh: Another Narration and Ahmad Shamlou: Master Poet Of Liberty, are scheduled to be broadcast on the Canadian Learning and Skills channel the fall of 2003.

Silence Of The Sea, the second feature by Mr. Vahid Mousaian, premiered at Fajr Film Festival and was one of three films selected for the international competition section. IFVC will release this film internationally in spring of 2004.

Bahman Maghsoudlou made an appearance at the 2002 Moscow Film Festival, serving as both a film critic and film historian, as well as giving a press conference. At the same festival, Wishes Of The Land, the first feature by Mr. Vahid Mousaian, an up-and-coming filmmaker discovered by IFVC, was awarded the Special Jury Prize.