“Hava, Maryam, Ayesha”, a co-production between Iran and Afghanistan by Afghan director Sahra Karimi, was screened at the Iranian Artists Forum on Tuesday with the producer Katayun Shahabi and director Karimi in attendance.

Karimi’s debut movie is about three pregnant Afghan women from different social backgrounds living in Kabul, each of whom is facing a big challenge in her life and must solve her problem by herself for the first time.

Speaking at the ceremony, Shahabi expressed thanks to the participants, and said that cinema requires teamwork and that no one can do it on her/his own, the public relations team of the film announced in a press release on Wednesday.

“I must also thank the Art and Experience Cinema which provided an opportunity to screen this movie,” she added.

Shahbi added that after screening the film at the Art and Experience Cinema halls, the film will also be available on Filimo, an online VOD service on which users can stream videos online.

Karimi, a filmmaker born and raised in Tehran but living in Afghanistan since 2012, also thanked Shahabi, who invested in her movie, Mastaneh Mohajer, who edited the film, and the sound engineer, Mohamamdreza Delpak, who collaborated in the project.

“I must also thank my fellow Iranian citizens. I was born and raised in Iran, Iran is my homeland and I am happy you are here to see my movie tonight,” she added.

“‘Hava, Maryam, Ayesha’ does not claim to be a good movie abut we are proud that we could make a feature in the unsafe land of Afghanistan despite all the problems in the country,” Karimi, who is the head of the state-run Afghan Film Organization, added.

“We tried to introduce a new narration of Afghanistan to the world. The film was not possible without the assistance of Iranian colleagues. This is film is the joint language of cooperation between Iran and Afghanistan. This shows that we can show our unity to the world through art and cinema,” she concluded.

Government spokesman Ali Rabiei, the former director of the Research Institute of Cultural Heritage and Tourism, Mohammad Beheshti, and Shafiq Sharq, the Cultural Attaché of Afghanistan were among the participating guests.

Photo: A scene from “Hava, Maryam, Ayesha” by Afghan director Sahra Karimi. / T.T/

An exhibition of photos by Javad Qarai, the director of the popular documentary series “Irangard”, will open Friday at the Niavaran Cultural-Historical Complex in Tehran.

Entitled “Incredible Iran”, the exhibition will feature a collection of photos taken by Qarai of different Iranian landscapes and people during his travels around the country to produce his documentary series.

“Irangard” was produced in three seasons from 2010 to 2018 and was aired on several TV channels.

The series, highlighting Iran’s natural and cultural attractions, has received several awards in different festivals including best documentary award at the Jame Jam Television Festival in March.

Qarai is a graduate of tourism management and has been traveling for over 20 years.

The “Incredible Iran” photo exhibition will be running until December 18. / T.T/

According to a report released by the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration (IRICA), during the first eight months of the present Iranian calendar year (ending on November 21), Iran exported $27 billion of non-oil products.

Non-oil exports in this period were 88,000 tons, registering a growth of 16 percent in terms of weight compared to the same time span in the year before.

As the same report confirms, level of imports stood at $28.3 billion in the said time, showing a decrease of 4.8 percent.

Iran imported 22,000 tons of good in the said time, showing a growth of 1.5 percent in terms of weight year-on-year.

As reported, China, Iraq, the UAE, Turkey and Afghanistan were the top importers of Iranian products in these eight months while China, the UAE, Turkey, India, and Germany were the main exporters to Iran. /MNA/

Iranian men’s national goalball team suffered a devastating defeat against China in the final of IBSA Goalball Asia-Pacific Championships, failing to win the Olympics quota.

Team Melli was beaten 0-10 by the reigning champion China in a game held in Japan’s Chiba on Tuesday and did not qualify for the 2020 Paralympic Games in Tokyo.

Iranian men’s team had defeated Japan in the semifinal of the event on Monday. Iran gained a 3-1 win over Japan on Monday in the semifinal of the event underway in.

Iran, in the group stage, had overpowered Thailand, South Korea, Indonesia, Australia, and Japan to reach the finals.

The final match of the 2017 edition was also held between Iran and China and the East Asian team gained a 10-2 victory.

Seven teams in the men’s and six teams in women’s categories competed to win the Asian trophy and qualify for the 2020 Paralympics. / MNA /

Iranian short ‘Slaughter’, directed by Saman Hosseinpour and Ako Zandkarimi, has made it into the competition program of the 14th Lecce Film Festival in Italy.

The film narrates the story of a family that has to sell their only cow to live through a tough winter. The family’s son, however, is not happy with the deal so he lets the cow escape.

‘Slaughter’ will be competing at the 14th Lecce Film Fest with 58 other titles from Italy, South Africa, India, Russia, France, Estonia, Greece, Spain, Slovakia, Brazil, Finland and Poland.

The film had won the Best Short film award at the 18th Villammare Film Festival in Italy, held this August.

Lecce Film Fest aims to promote the cinematographic culture in Italy through the best independent films of the world, according to the event’s organizers.

The 14th edition of the festival will be held on December 28, 2019 to January 4, 2020./ /MNA/

The official draw of the 2020 AFC Futsal Championship was carried out on Friday and the 16 participating teams, including the defending champion Iran, knew their rivals.

Iran was drawn in Group D along with South Korea, Saudi Arabia, and Thailand.

The event will be held in Turkmenistan from February 26 to Match 8.

Iran is the most decorated team of AFC Futsal Championship with 12 titles out of 15 editions of the games. The team defeated Japan in the final of the 2018 edition to claim the trophy.

The AFC Futsal Championship is Asia’s flagship international futsal competition, also serving as the final stage of FIFA Futsal World Cup qualifying, with the top five sides in Turkmenistan to represent the Continent at Lithuania 2020. /MNA/

Some 6.7 million foreign nationals have visited Iran since the beginning of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21), IRNA reported.

“Since the beginning of this year, 6.7 million foreign nationals holding visas have arrived in the country,” said Mojtaba Karimi who presides over Foreign Ministry’s visa and passport department.

He made the remarks in a two-day national conference on ecotourism which kicked off in the city of Mashhad on Wednesday.

Iran welcomed some 7.8 million foreign nationals last year, achieving 52.5 percent increase year on year. According to the World Travel & Tourism Council, Iraq was the main source of tourism for Iran in 2018, constituting 24% of all inbound visitors. Azerbaijan with (17%), Turkey (8%), Pakistan (4%) and Bahrain (2%) constituted other major sources while the remaining 46% came from the rest of the world. / MNA/

Iran’s goalball team beat Thailand at the International Blind Sports Federation (IBSA) Goalball Asia-Pacific Championships on Thursday.

The Iranian players beat Thailand 16-10, at their first game of the competitions, which was held at the Chiba Port Arena in Chiba, Japan.

Iran will take on South Korea on Friday.

In the men’s event, seven teams will be in action until Dec. 10, while six women teams will compete against one another.

The winners of each of the men’s and women’s competitions, if not already qualified, will secure a ticket to Tokyo 2020. / MNA/

Iranian students from Sharif University won Special Mention Award of the 11th International Conference on Software and Systems Reuse (ICSR 2019) for designing ‘MAYA: an Intelligent Elephant Social Robot’.

Elham Ranjkar, Raman Rafatnejad, Ali Amoozandeh Nobaveh, Ali Meghdari, Minoo Alemi were the prize winners from Sharif University.
The 11th International Conference on Social Robotics (ICSR 2019), was held on November 26th-29th, in Madrid, Spain.
The conference organized by the Roboticslab at University Carlos III of Madrid, brought together researchers and practitioners working on the interaction between humans and intelligent robots and on the integration of robots into the fabric of our society.
Social robots are intended to coexist with humans and engage in relationships that lead them to a better quality of life. The success of these relationships relies on a positive perception of the robots that can be achieved by their behavior through AI, computational models, or robot embodiments.
ICSR2019 aimed to foster discussion on the development of innovative ideas, novel applications and relevant studies that contribute to the integration of social robots in our daily society.
The conference welcomed original contributions describing technically rigorous scientific and philosophical advances in the area of social robotics and AI: innovative ideas and concepts, new discoveries and improvements, novel applications on the latest fundamental advances in the core technologies that form the backbone of social robotics, distinguished developmental projects, as well as seminal works in aesthetic design, ethics and philosophy, studies on social impact and influence pertaining to social robotics, and its interaction and communication with human beings and its social impact on our society. /MNA/

Deputy Minister of Industry, Mine and Trade and Chief Executive of Iranian Mines and Mining Industries Development and Renovation Organization (IMIDRO) Khodadad Gharibpour said that Islamic Republic of Iran will produce 28 million tons of steel by the end of the current Iranian calendar year (to end March 20, 2020).

He said that the country managed to export more than six million tons of steel in the first half of the current year (from March 21 to Sept. 22).

Given the indigenized technical knowhow and knowledge made in Iranian mines and mineral sector, Iran’s steel industry has less been unfazed as a result of US sanctions imposed against Iran, IMIDRO chief added.

IMIDRO has concluded separate contracts with reliable universities and academic centers of the country for indigenizing technical knowhow in mining sector, he said, adding, “for this purpose, IMIDRO has executed a number of 18 research projects in the first half of the current year (from March 21 to Sept. 22), showing a twofold hike as compared to the last year’s corresponding period.”

Turning to the trend of activities in the mining and mineral sector, he stated, “IMIDRO experienced a considerable growth in all mines and mining sectors, ranging from exploration, extraction to processing operations.”

He once again pointed out that the country will produce 28 million tons of steel before termination of the current year (to end March 20, 2020). / MNA/