The latest cultural headlines in the media.

Nikol Faridani’s widow to donate his books to World Food Program

Tehran Times: The widow of Iranian photographer Nikol Faridani will donate some of his rare books to the UN World Food Program on the occasion of World Photography Day on August 19.

“Nikol Faridani was in love with taking photos of nature and people from his homeland. Most of his photos are of deprived people who, despite their hunger, smiled for his camera. Therefore, it is my duty to dedicate some of his rare books to the World Food Program,” Monireh Soltani mentioned in a note.

“As we all know, photo journalism is one of the most difficult kinds of photography. So, I want to dedicate this day to all photographers who take excellent photos in the most difficult of situations,” she said.

Faridani died in June 2008 at his home. He suffered from prostate cancer, pneumonia, and Parkinson’s disease. Hed spent his last years at home with his photographer wife Monireh Soltani.

Faridani was born in 1935 in Shiraz. His family moved to Isfahan when he was two and he completed his elementary education at the Shah Abbas School in Jolfa. Then, they moved to Tehran and later to Kerman, and ultimately returned to Tehran in 1955.

The World Food Program (WFP) is the food aid branch of the United Nations, and the world’s largest humanitarian organization addressing hunger worldwide.

WFP provides food, on average, to 90 million people per year, 58 million of whom are children. From its headquarters in Rome and more than 80 country offices around the world, WFP works to help people who are unable to produce or obtain enough food for themselves and their families. It is a member of the United Nations Development Group and part of its Executive Committee.

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Ahmadinejad delivers IATC membership bill to parliament

Tehran Times: President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has presented a bill for Iran’s membership in the International Association of Theater Critics (IATC).

The bill, which was proposed by the President’s Legal Office, would increase Iran’s participation in relevant international organizations and events, the president’s official website reported on Saturday.

The IATC was established in 1926 during the first international gathering of theater critics in Paris.

The meeting, which brought together critics from 26 different countries, had been organized by the Association of Professional French Theater Critics.

The aim of this meeting was to study how criticism is organized in different countries and how to establish permanent links between the various critics’ associations.

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'Horrid Henry' Book Series Get Film Treatment

Iran News: The first film adaptation of the popular U.K. book series "Horrid Henry" is just being released in Britain and Ireland, but the film's director already has thoughts of launching the movie in the U.S. "Some films are hard for an American audience to get to grips with because we suffer from a common language, but this one, I think it will work," director Nick Moore said in an interview this week. "I think, watching it, it isn't so English that it would be difficult for it to translate."

"Horrid Henry: The Movie," in theaters Friday, is adapted from the works of Francesca Simon, whose phenomenally successful series of Horrid Henry books has made him the most popular literary character in Britain after boy wizard Harry Potter.

Henry is the sort of boy who constantly annoys almost everyone around him, particularly his exasperated parents, then wonders why people are always on his case.

Moore — who also directed 2008's "Wild Child" and edited the BAFTA-winning and Oscar-nominated 1997 British comedy, "The Full Monty" — said adapting the popular series to the big screen came with great responsibility, especially when he began casting the young actors.

"It was sort of a multi-strand attack really. We had people going out looking at lots of schools. The word was out to all drama classes everywhere that we were looking," he said. "We didn't want to disappoint anybody."

The 3D film follows Henry — known as the Lord High Majesty of the Purple Hand Gang — as he tries to prevent the closing of his school. Henry is joined by popular characters from the books including the bossy Moody Margaret and Perfect Peter, his irritating younger brother, who seems to do everything right.

Theo Stevenson, the 13-year-old who stars as Henry, said playing the troubled child wasn't too challenging.

"I feel he's kind of like a mate, like a friend because I feel sorry for him sometimes when I'm reading the books," he said. "I'm like, 'Why is everyone picking on Henry?' He's a legend."

Stevenson said readers related to Henry because he's just a normal guy.

"Horrid Henry" book sales total 16 million, and the book series — which launched in 1994 — has been transformed into a cartoon series, DVDs, a play and a musical CD.

The film's adaptation has drawn comparisons to "Harry Potter," which recently released its eighth and final film installment of the J.K. Rowling book series.

"We're aiming for some younger kids," said 12-year-old Scarlett Stitt, who plays Moody Margaret. "I mean, it's hard to take on 'Harry Potter' because it's so different and obviously it's been going for a lot longer and it would be hard to take it on because it's such a huge hit — it's bigger than 'Star Wars.'"

"It is very, very different," said Moore. "It's sort of tongue-in-cheekish."

Unlike "Potter," the first "Henry" film doesn't follow the first book; the script is a new one, and Moore says he wants to direct more of the series.

"I would think so. I guess everyone's sort of waiting to see how the (first) one does," he said.

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47 Workshops At Qur’an Exhibition

Iran Daily: Forty-seven visual art workshops are being held during the ongoing International Holy Qur’an Exhibition in Tehran. The workshops deal with sections such as calligraphy, painting, miniature, illumination and ceramics.

Imam Khomeini Grand Prayer Ground (Mosalla) is hosting the Qur’an exhibition which is held each year just a few days before the holy month of Ramadan known as ‘the spring of the Qur’an’ in Islamic countries, according to IRNA.

A total of 23 artists and Qur’anic activists were honored at the event’s opening ceremony on Thursday.
Speaking at the event, Culture and Islamic Guidance Minister Seyyed Mohammad Husseini noted that activities in the field of the Qur’an are flourishing in Iran.

“No individual and no family are without the need for the Holy Qur’an and this exhibition has useful items and concepts for everyone.”
A large number of artworks on the Holy Book are showcased in the exhibit, which will run until August 26. Over 300 cultural institutes and publishing companies are presenting their latest works in the event.

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Tagore Commemorated

Iran Daily: India’s national poet Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) was commemorated in a ceremony in Bandar Abbas, Hormuzgan province in southern Iran which was organized by the Indian Cultural Office in the city.

Speaking at the gathering, Indian charge d’affaires, Sibi George said that Gurudev Tagore is an symbol of cultural relations between India and Iran. Tagore is well known in Iran and has wide respect among the Iranians, he added, according to Mehr News Agency.

Lauding Tagore’s contribution to the international community through his literary work, he said that the travelogue on his visit to Iran indicated his closeness to Iranian culture and Hafez.
Tagore, who also was a novelist, musician, painter and playwright, reshaped Indian literature and music.
He is the first non-European to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913.
Tagore visited Iran in 1932 during which he went to Shiraz, the home to the mausoleums of Persian poets Hafez and Sa’di. Tagore was said to have sat beside the tomb of Hafez for sometime in deep contemplation with eyes closed, and then to have read and recited some of Hafez’s poems in solitude.

“While sitting near the tomb, a signal flashed through my mind, a signal from the bright and smiling eyes of the poet on a long past spring day.
I had the distinct feeling that after a lapse of many centuries, across the span of many deaths and births, sitting near this tomb was another wayfarer who had made a bond with Hafez,” Tagore wrote in his travelogue about his visit to Hafez mausoleum.

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