Three Iranian films garnered the most awards at the 38th Fajr Film Festival’s closing ceremony, held on February 11 in Tehran.

‘Butterfly Stroke’, directed by Mohammad Kart, brought the best supporting actress award for Tannaz Tabatabai’s role in Kart’s directorial debut which also brought Amir Aqaei the best supporting actor honor.

The best editor award went to Esmaeil Alizadeh. The film also received the best sound engineer, and audience choice award.

The film narrates the story of some ostracized people from poverty-stricken neighborhoods in Tehran. The people have to pretend to be strong if they want to survive the brutality of their environment, ifilmtv.com reported.

A number of top-rating Iranian actors such as Mohammad-Javad Ezzati, Tannaz Tabatabaei, Mahlaqa Baqeri, Pantea Bahram and Amir Aqaei star in the film.

‘Day Zero’, directed by Saeid Malekan, brought the best costume design award for Amir Malekpur and best special effects for Mohsen Ruzbehan.

Malekan’s film also received Best Film in the New Look section and the Special Jury Prize.

The Golden Simorgh for the Best Film, from the national point of view, also went to this movie.

The film is about Iran’s intelligence and police operations to arrest the Jundallah terrorist group founder and leader Abdul-Malik Rigi.

Iranian actors Amir Jadidi and Saeid Soheili play two lead roles in the project alongside a couple of international actors.

‘The Sun’, Majid Majidi’s drama about child labor in Tehran, won the Crystal Simorgh for Best Film.

Majidi and his co-producer Amir Banan received their award during the closing ceremony of the festival organized at Tehran’s Milad Tower.

The film, co-written by Majidi and Nima Javidi, won the award for Best Screenplay.

The film also received the Best Set Design award for Keyvan Moqaddam.

A cast of Iran’s A-list film stars, including Ali Nassirian and Tannaz Tabatabaei, and some students of a special school for child workers in the slums of Tehran played roles in the movie. The group of child workers received honorable mentions.

Majidi’s film narrates the story of a child who works in a tire graveyard and his mother is hospitalized because of mental illness. The deprived child who is living in a poor neighborhood is told by one of his neighbors that there is a treasure in the basement of his school. So the child, accompanied by his friends, gets involved in an adventure to find the treasure.

The 38th edition of the festival kicked off on February 1 and closed on February 11.

Since its establishment in 1982, the Fajr Film Festival has played a vital role in the development of Iranian cinema.

Supervised by Iran’s Culture Ministry, the festival hosts veteran directors and new filmmakers from Iran every year.

The international version of the festival will be held in April 2020.

Over 150 films apply for 38th Fajr Film Festival

Over 150 films apply to attend the 38th Fajr Film Festival in Iran.

Some 151 titles, including 115 feature films and 36 documentaries, have applied to take part at the 38th edition of the Fajr Film Festival in Iran.

As the deadline for entries came to an end, the Public Relations office of the Fajr Film Festival announced that 115 feature films and 36 documentaries filled out the application form to attend the event.

Some 37 movies made by first-time filmmakers are among the submitted feature films, according to the report.

Photo Gallery of Iran’s 38th Fajr Film Festival

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Tehran, Iran is a beautiful city with beautiful views that can captivate and mesmerize you. If you are thinking of taking a trip to explore this beautiful city, then you would be in need of premium accommodation. While there are different choices of accommodations all over the city of Tehran, not all can afford you proper service, functional amenities, affordability, and other perks. This is why we have compiled for you a list of the best Tehran hotels that you can find in this city. With this list to guide you, finding suitable accommodation for your next trip to Tehran should be a breeze. You can book Iran hotels online easily.

Espinas Palace Hotel

Espinas Palace hotel is a gorgeous 5-star hotel that happens to be located in one of the best areas in Tehran. This area is best for both residential and commercial purposes. It is located in the northern part of Tehran, and the Tehran International Exhibition center lies just a mere 3 kilometers away from the hotel. The Espinas Palace hotel also happens to be just a stone throw away from the amazing Milad-e Noor Shopping Centre. This means that you can easily enjoy a shopping spree at your convenience. This hotel offers a wonderful combination of spirituality and beauty as well as providing you with every modern amenity you can possibly think of.

Espinas Hotel

The Espinas hotel, locally called Espinas hotel Khalije Fars, is beautiful and serene and simply exquisite in its details. Its customer service is among one of the best in the Tehran hospitality industry. Because of the height upon which the building is situated, it promises a most wondrous view. The ambiance is also very welcoming and calming as it is furnished with wonderful music notes coming from the piano in the background. For a chance to enjoy calmness in Tehran, look no further than the Espinas hotel.

Ibis hotel

The Ibis hotel is also known as the Tehran Imam Khomeini International Airport Hotel. This hotel is best suited for frequent travelers who need to be close to the airport. Formerly called the Axis Hotel, it is just a mere 10 minutes away from IKIA which is on the Persian Gulf Highway. Despite its closeness to the airport, it is also not far away from the town itself; just 45 minutes away. With 196 rooms, fully furnished with all of the basic amenities that you would need, it is indeed, the travelers’ hotel.

Novotel Hotel

The Novotel hotel is located South of Tehran just opposite the Imam Khomeini International Airport. This exquisite hotel is one of Iran’s first airport hotels in cooperation with the French hotel group, Accor hotel group. This hotel is elegantly and tastefully furnished. Providing travelers with every basic modern amenity a hotel should have. The Novotel hotel promises its guests a memorable experience with its uniquely designed rooms, which are both stylish and spacious. The restaurant here delights in serving its guests with a variety of both local and international delicacies. 

Tehran Grand Hotel

This luxurious hotel is situated right in the center of Tehran. This hotel is best suited for tourists who would like to explore the city of Tehran exhaustively. This hotel offers access to Tehran’s public transportation system as well as other basic modern amenities. The hotel also sports a smoker’s lounge where smokers are allowed to relax and unwind. They also have a salon and barbers shop ready and at your convenience. You can also decide to patronize their pastry shop where you can fill yourself with the wonderful tastes and flavors that Tehran has to offer.

Parsian Esteghlal Hotel

This is one of the 22 prestigious Parsian International Hotel chains. The Parsian Esteghlal hotel is one of the 5-star hotels among this fleet of hotels. It is by far the largest hotel in the Parsian International Hotel chain. Located on the longest street in the Middle East, Valiasr Street, the hotel offers an easy access to both the Imam Khomeini International Airport and the Mehrabad Airport. The Tehran International Exhibition Centre is also just a mere 5-kilometer distance away from this luxury hotel. This hotel has a total of 552 rooms, all fully furnishes and equipped with every basic and modern amenity that you need.

Parsian Azadi Hotel

The Parsian Azadi hotel is located in one of the best areas in Tehran and boasts of being just 3 kilometers away from the Tehran International Exhibition center. This elegant hotel boasts of having 475 rooms all fully and adequately furnished and equipped with every basic modern amenity that is required of a hotel of its caliber. It also sports a shopping center which grants you access to a variety of Iranian souvenirs. The hotel also has a fully functional indoor and outdoor restaurant that serves a variety of both local and international cuisines.

Eskan Alvend Hotel

This elegant 4-star hotel was opened in 2014. Situated close to one of the famous squares in Tehran, the Argentine square, this hotel grants you easy access to most of Tehran’s attractions and also to its administrative centers. This hotel houses different restaurants that cater to different types of variety of delicacies which the guests can enjoy at their convenience. The hotel also sports a café which serves the most attractive and delicious drinks around. There is also a water complex which houses a steam, sauna, and spa ready for the relaxation of the guests. For a relaxing and easy stay in Tehran, the Eskan Alvend hotel is your best bet.

Borj Sefid Hotel

The Borj Sefid is a 4-star hotel. Situated in the North of Tehran, this hotel offers you the best access to the mountainous terrains of Tehran. With only 15 rooms, this exclusive hotel not only grants you a view of the gorgeous mountains of Tehran, but it also offers ample parking space. An additional view you would absolutely delight in is a view of Tehran itself right from the mountain heights. This hotel houses a wonderful French restaurant and café and a wonderful array of breakfast while enjoying a breath-taking view from the 14th floor of the building.

Homa Hotel

The Homa hotel may as well be the hotel for business travelers. This hotel is situated right in the middle of the northern business district of Tehran. It is also located close to the old parts of the city and is very convenient for travelers who have a fascination for the city’s history. These old parts are home to Tehran’s museums and palaces. The Homa hotel is proud to house the traditional Iranian restaurants which cater to any kind of taste that you fancy. This hotel has 172 rooms, all fully and tastefully furnished and equipped with all of the necessary basic and modern amenities that hotels have to offer. The hotel is designed with a fusion of continental and Iranian culture and as such brings about a distinguishing ambiance that is second to none.

There you have it, 10 of the best hotels in and around Tehran. From the functional airport hotels suitable for frequent travelers to the exclusive Borj Sedif, which is a classic and suitable for tourists, this list covers hotels for every kind of trip into Tehran. Whatever your preference, you simply cannot go wrong with this list.

The 50th establishment anniversary of Assyrian Universal Alliance was held in Tehran’s Laleh Hotel in the presence of state and military officials.

The Assyrian community (Āšūrīān) in Iran

The term “Assyrian.” Assyrians (Āšūrīs) is the term for the modern, East Syrian Christian communities in Iran. The ancient name “Assyrian,” derived from that of the god Aššur, designated the Semitic population of north Mesopotamia and their capital city. Even before the final destruction of the Assyrian empire in 612 B.C., its population had become largely Aramaic-speaking; knowledge of its ancient language, Akkadian, had become restricted to the educated people and to scribes. This facilitated the rise of a confusion over the identity of “Assyrian.” The term “Assyrian letters” used by Herodotus (4.87) meant to Ezra (465-24 B.C., scribe to Artaxerxes I) the Aramaic alphabet he used as a scribe; with it he transcribed the Pentateuch from the ancient Hebrew script, and he read these scriptures in this form before the Jewish congregation in 444 B.C. (Nehemiah 8). The Hebrew square-letter script was developed from this alphabet and is still called keṯāḇ aššūrī, “Assyrian script” and until the last century, the language of the Aramaic portions of the Bible continued to be called “Chaldean.”. More

The following are photos of a snowman festival in Pardisan Park in Tehran. People in most of the northern part of Iran including the capital Tehran have witnessed heavy snowfall and freezing weather during recent days which brought both joy and headache to them.

The 33rd Iran’s Fajr International Music Festival came to an end on Friday, after 10 days of hosting Iranian and foreign music performances.

As Christians around the world celebrate Christmas, the holiday season is also observed in Iran. Iranians go to shops and buy Christmas gift and accessories in Tehran.

Decorated trees, along with Nativity scenes of the Virgin Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus, can also be seen in shops along Mirza Shirazi Avenue and Ostaad Nejatollahi (Villa Avenue) and its surrounding neighborhoods in central Tehran, where many Iranian Christians reside.
Some Iranian Christians celebrate Christmas on Dec. 25 and New Years’ on Jan. 1, while Armenians celebrate Christmas at the same time as the Epiphany on Jan. 6.

Despite being a minority, Iran’s Christians, Jews and Zoroastrians are recognized as established religious minorities and are represented in parliament, and also enjoy freedom to practice their religions and perform their religious rituals.
Unlike other countries in the region where public celebration of Christmas is limited to hotels frequented by foreigners, there is no such restriction in Tehran. The sale of Christmas ornaments, which during the first years of the Islamic Revolution was limited to Christian districts, can now be seen around town.

 

In fact, festive Christmas decoration and celebration take place throughout the country, specifically in major cities such as Isfahan, Shiraz, Tabriz and even religious cities such as Mashhad.

A magnitude 5.2 earthquake hits the Iranian city of Malard in Tehran province.

According to the Seismological Center of the Institute of Geophysics of Tehran University, the quake hit on Wednesday at 23:27 local time (1957 GMT) at a depth of seven kilometers on the border of Tehran and Alborz provinces.

The epicenter of the tremor was located about 40 kilometers (25 miles) west of the capital.

The head of the Iranian Red Crescent Society said one person was injured in Malard.

The quake was also felt in the cities of Karaj, Qom, Qazvin and Arak.

“We are asking people to stay calm as the traffic itself could create problems,” the Iranian Red Crescent’s Mortza Redmare said during a televised interview.

The quake resulted in minor panic in Tehran province, prompting people to take to the streets and public places.

This comes as Iran is still reeling from a magnitude 7.1 earthquake, its deadliest in over a decade, which hit the western province of Kermanshah on November 11, killing more than 500 people and causing extensive material damage there.

The Oliver Thuist musical theater directed by Hossein Parsaei performed by the over 100 artist at Tehran’s Vahdat Hall up to January 20, 2018.

Navid Mohammdzadeh and Mahnaz Afshar Iranian famous cinema stars played in this musical theater.

Oliver Twist is one of famous Novel from Charles Dickens that originally published on 1838. Oliver Twist, or The Parish Boy’s Progress, is author Charles Dickens’s second novel, and was first published as a serial 1837–39. The story centres on orphan Oliver Twist, born in a workhouse and sold into apprenticeship with an undertaker.

The celebration of feast of Blessing of Grapes and Assumption of Mary was held on in Saint Sarkis Cathedral in Tehran.

The construction of St. Sarkis Church in Tehran began from 1964 and was complete by 1970. The church was built by Sarkisian brothers in memory of their parents.

At beginning the Tehran prelacy was located at conjunction of St. Mother Mary Church in central Tehran. In the early 1960s it was decided to change the site of the prelacy offices into new location. So therefore the bishop and committee members of the time requested to an Armenian benefactor Markar Sarkissian to help them in this cause. So the committee bought the land located at end of Villa Street (now called Nejatollahi Street). In 2006 Mr. Hrair Hagopian renovated the baptism pool and the church in memory of his beloved wife Vartoohi Davidian.

Armenians in Iran

Armenians can be found in almost every major city of Iran, engaged in a variety of professions and occupations, as university professors, physicians, high-school teachers, businessmen, engineers, skilled workers, truck drivers, artists, technicians, artisans, professional athletes, etc. Their traditional centers of Azerbaijan and Isfahan (since the 11th/17th century) have been overshadowed in recent years by the tremendous growth of the Armenian population in Tehran, where more than 66 percent of the entire community (estimated at 270,000 in 1977, see Nyrop, Iran, p. 152) resided in 1345 Š./1966 (Firoozi, The Population of Iran, p. 346). Three prelates with jurisdiction over the three district areas of Azerbaijan, Isfahan (including southern Iran and India), and

Tehran (including Qazvīn, Rašt, Mašhad, Bandar-e Anzalī, Hamadān, Arāk, and Kermānšāh) head the community. They are subject to the catholicos of Cilicia in Lebanon who nominates three candidates for each prelate post out of which one candidate is elected by the assembly of local representatives; then the elected prelate is officially appointed as such by the catholicos (Rāʾīn, Īrānīān-e Armanī, pp. 61-62). The Iranian community traditionally acknowledged the jurisdiction of the catholicos of Echmiadzin (Vałaršapat, the ancient capital of Armenia, now in Soviet Armenia) until the 1950s, when for political reasons he was replaced by the catholicos of Lebanon. This led to a split in the Armenian community, since a large number continued to follow the catholicos of Echmiadzin, who refused to relinquish the jurisdictional claim of his church over the entire Iranian community (Nyrop, Iran, p. 135).

Italian maestro Enrico Gerola will conduct an orchestra of Italian and Iranian musicians giving concerts in Tehran next week.

Iranian singer Parvaz Homay and members of his ensemble Mastan will accompany the orchestra during the open-air performances that will take place at Tehran’s Niavaran Cultural Historical Palace on July 26 and 27.

Homay, who is a Persian traditional singer and composer, is scheduled to perform a repertoire of his latest pieces as well as some of his hits.

Earlier last year, Gerola and Homay held a tour of the U.S. and in addition to his concert tour in America, they held some performances in Iran.

Mastan features Milad Alipur on tar, Moslem Alipur on kamancheh, Mohammad Nozari on santur and Pasha Hanji on ney.