The latest cultural headlines in the media.

International section of Tehran Quran exhibition inaugurated Culture Desk 

Tehran Times: The international section of the 20th International Holy Quran Exhibition was inaugurated during a ceremony at Tehran’s Imam Khomeini Mosalla on Tuesday.
The event was attended by the Deputy Culture Minister for Quranic Affairs Hojjatoleslam Hamid Mohammadi and Islamic Culture and Relation Organization Director Mohammad-Baqer Khorramshad.
Many meetings and workshops will be held by a large number of scholars and artists from different countries including Russia, France, Bangladesh, Syria, Afghanistan, Turkey and India in the international section.
The exhibition runs until August 24 with the motto of “Quran, Culture of Awakening”.
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Doc on cartoonist Kambiz Derambakhsh in production 

Tehran Times: Filmmaker Javad Atashbari is busy making a documentary about the celebrated Iranian cartoonist Kambiz Derambakhsh.
“I got to know Derambakhsh well while I was making ‘Hello, I am Dehbashi’, a documentary about Ali Dehbashi, the Managing Director of Iranian literary bimonthly Bokhara,” said Atashbari in a press release published on Tuesday.
“The project is still in the pre-production stage and I think, as has happened in my previous works, that we will come across new figures and unexpected events to help make the project complete,” he said.
He added that he has chosen several individuals for the interviews for his doc; however, he has not conducted the interviews yet.
He also expressed his regrets that distinguished figures like Derambakhsh are not living in better financial conditions, “He is 70 now, but he still does not have a house of his own.”
What these artists need most are the appropriate conditions to enable them to work and display their artistic creations, he said.
Known for his talent to find obscure themes for his creations, Derambakhsh, has worked as a cartoonist, a graphic designer and an illustrator for over 50 years.
Derambakhsh has won many awards at international competitions including the grand prize of Istanbul competition in 1990, the grand prize at Japan’s Yomiuri Shimbun competition in 1998 and the grand prize of a Polish anti-war caricature contest in 2002.
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Iran holds Qur’anic art exhibition in Erzurum 

Presstv: Iran has mounted an exhibition of Qur’anic arts in the Turkish eastern city of Erzurum, featuring a collection of artworks created by several Iranian artists.
Iran’s cultural center in Erzurum has organized the Qur’anic exhibition to commemorate the coming of Muslim’s holy month of Ramadan.
About 100 Qur’anic artworks in forms of illumination, calligraphy, miniature, etching and mosaic were presented at the event.
The works were mainly created by four Iranian artists, including Maryam Masoudi-Parsa, Mohammad-Sadeq Ahadpour, Mohsen Aqamiri and Masoud Rahmati.
Two of Iran’s international Qur’an reciters have also been scheduled to recite in several mosques in Erzurum on the occasion of Ramadan month, said Head of Iran cultural center in Erzurum Mohammad Kheiri
A number of Iranian and Turkish Qur’an reciters are to vie during a Qur’an competition that will be held in the cultural center of Erzurum city hall on August 2, 2012, Kheiri noted.
Erzurum residents had earlier been acquainted with Persian cinema and culture during Iran cultural week held in May, 2012.
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Iran to unveil exquisite manuscripts of the holy Qur’an 

Presstv: Iran is planning to unveil a collection of exquisite Qur’anic manuscripts at the country’s Golestan Palace in the capital city of Tehran.
“Some 30 Qur’ans will be unveiled and inscribed on Iran’s National Heritage List,” Golestan Palace director Masoud Sharifi told ICHTN.
“The Qur’ans belong to the Golestan Palace treasure and date from 1,000 years ago until the Qajar era,” he added.
Renowned Iranian and Muslim calligraphers have worked on the manuscripts which will be unveiled during the holy month of Ramadan. The auspicious month is when Muslims believe the first verses of the holy Qur'an were revealed to Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).
Iranian artists have made some of the world’s most exquisite and unique Qar’anic creations which have been unveiled and showcased during national and international exhibitions.
The world’s first Qur’an etched in stone is one of such creations which will be unveiled during Ramadan.
Seyyed Hossein Pourrazavi has hewn the entire holy book with the naked eye over the past 31 months.
Iran also unveiled the world's most exquisite manuscript of the holy Qur'an in 2008.
The 600-page Qur'an was transcribed by prominent calligrapher, Zeinolabedin Qazvini, and was illuminated by some 35 artists during the reign of Fathali Shah (19th century king of the Qajar dynasty).
The book is adorned with 600 kinds of illuminations and it took the artists about two years to decorate the cover of the Qur'an with different colors and 24 types of gold.
Iran’s first international exhibition of Qur’anic manuscripts was also held at the country’s National Library and Document Center in July 2012, showcasing Persian and Arabic manuscripts of the holy Qur’an created by artists from Iran and a number of foreign countries.

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Mashayekhi Versified Biography to Be Released 

Iran Daily: Iranian poet, musician and calligrapher Foroud Shamkhali said that concurrent with the birth anniversary of celebrated Iranian actor Jamshid Mashayekhi his versified biography will be released.
Jamshid Mashayekhi (born November 26 1934) is a celebrated Iranian actor and an iconic figure of Iranian cinema, IBNA said.
Shamkhali said that concurrent with the birth anniversary of the celebrated actor his versified biography will be released reviewing his artistic works and life. Currently Mashayekhi is penning a preface for it. The book starts from Mashayekhi’s birthday and features half a century of his cinematic activities.
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Hobbit’ Movie Adaptation Will Be Trilogy 

Iran Daily: Peter Jackson’s film adaptation of ‘The Hobbit’ will be split into three movies, the director and the studios behind the venture said on Monday.
Jackson said that given the richness of the story--which is set 60 years before ‘The Lord of The Rings’--he decided after wrapping up shooting recently in New Zealand that what was originally planned as two movies would now be a trilogy, Reuters reported.
“I’m delighted that New Line, MGM and Warner Bros. are equally enthusiastic about bringing fans this expansive tale across three films,” Jackson said in a statement.
“It has been an unexpected journey indeed, and in the words of Professor Tolkien himself, ‘a tale that grew in the telling’,” Jackson said in a statement on his Facebook site.
‘The Hobbit’, written by J.R.R. Tolkien, is the prequel to the British author’s epic fantasy ‘The Lord of the Rings’, which Jackson made into three Oscar-winning films about 10 years ago.
A spokesman for New Line said the third ‘Hobbit’ film would be released in the summer of 2014. The first two ‘Hobbit’ movies, starring British actor Martin Freeman as Bilbo Baggins, have already been announced for release in December 2012 and December 2013.
“It is only at the end of a shoot that you finally get the chance to sit down and have a look at the film you have made,” Jackson said on his Facebook page.
“We know how much of the story of Bilbo Baggins, the Wizard Gandalf, the Dwarves of Erebor, the rise of the Necromancer, and the Battle of Dol Guldur will remain untold if we do not take this chance,” he added.

Id : 145027