“Valad”, Iranian filmmaker Amir-Abbas Rabiei’s short film about the savage Israeli bombardment of Gaza, has won the jury special award at the International Open Film Festival (IOFF), which was held in the Mirpur neighborhood of Dhaka, Bangladesh.

The story of the film is about a pregnant woman who is trapped under rubble after an Israeli bombardment of a hospital in Gaza.

The Arabic-language film was screened in the Film on Women section of the festival, which came to an end on June 14, Sureh Film, the producer of the movie, announced on Monday.

“Vallad” has recently won the award for best social short film at the Tracce Cinematografiche Film Fest in the Italian town Nettuno. / Tehran times /

Philanthropists and some high ranking officials made a 21-billion-rial (nearly $600,000) contribution to release prisoners committed involuntary crimes, Blood Money Organization director said.

The contributions were made over the 29th charity fund raising ceremony held in Tehran on Sunday arranged by Blood Money Organization with some MPs, judiciary and military officials in attendance, IRIB quoted Asadollah Jolaei as saying.

Some 12.34 billion rials (nearly $350,000) was collected over the ceremony and those who were invited to the event but couldn’t show up also sent their contributions which increased the final sum to 21 billion rials, Jolaei noted.

Additionally, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, President Hassan Rouhani, Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani and Judiciary Chief Ayatollah Sadeq Larijani also made 3-billion-rial ($85,700), 2.5-billion-rial ($71,400), 500-milion-rial ($14,200), and 500-million-rial ($14,200) contributions respectively, he added.

He further explained that some 21,000 philanthropists made a 2.33-billion-rial ($66,500) contribution via their cellphones [by dialing a special number dedicated to charity fundraising activities].

It is customary for Iranians to hold special events to raise money for those who are imprisoned for involuntary crimes particularly in the month of Ramadan. ? / Tehran times /

The construction of Iran’s largest professional theater center has been completed and will be inaugurated soon in Tehran.

Located in southeast part of the metropolis, Khavaran Professional Theater Center (also called Tehran Theater Campus) will address the shortage of cultural space as it will be host to theater performances, film screenings, concerts, exhibitions and workshops, said Alireza Jafari, managing director of Tehran Municipality Cultural Spaces Development Company.

In order to meet the needs of artists for a professional center and with emphasis on narrowing the social and cultural gap between the northern and southern parts of the rapidly expanding capital, the center was established and will become operational in summer, Honaronline reported.

It comprises a main theater hall with a capacity for 1000 people and four smaller ones of 150 seats for experimental plays. There is also a special hall for puppet shows which can accommodate 120 people. Designed according to world standards and equipped with the state-of-the art devices, including a moving six-meter deep stage, a side-by-side shooting system and professional projectors, the center can also host international events.

There is also a library, restaurant, shopping center and children’s playroom so that visitors can do more than just watch plays and make the most of their time.

Situated in District 15, (Kahavaran neighborhood), the theater center is built on 2,800 sq. m. in an area of 16,000 sq. m next to Khavaran Cultural House. Also, 3,500 sq. meters of open space is allocated to traditional and ethnic performances.

“Developing cultural spaces in the southern neighborhoods will help provide the youth with cultural activities and entertainment and keep them busy, and thus help in reducing social harm,” Jafari said.

He pointed to the construction of cultural centers in deprived areas, especially for the young people, to make the best of their leisure time so that they don’t get drawn to anti-social activities.

District 15 which covers the southeastern part of Tehran is inhabited mostly by working class families with low income and such centers can help them spend their leisure time on being culturally productive.

Currently, most of the theater halls (private or affiliated to the government) are located in central Tehran with a few scattered in eastern, western, and northern areas. The new center will surely play an important role in the development of culture and art among the residents.

Tehran Book Garden, Saba Experimental Theater Center and renovation of artists’ old houses are among the other projects of Tehran Municipality Cultural Spaces Development Company which will be completed by next March. / financialtribune.com /

Based on the numbers and figures announced by National Organization for Civil Registration, since the beginning of the current Iranian year (March 20), birth rate in cities has been 3.5 times of birth rate in villages.

So far in the aforesaid amount of time 278,848 births occurred in the cities while 78,651 babies were given birth in the villages, Mehr news agency reported.

Another report indicated that the baby boys born in the same period outnumbers the baby girls by 2.3 percent more births as out of 357,492 births nationwide 183,036 are boys and 174,458 are girls.

Moreover, over the same amount of time 85,300 died of which 45,209 were men and the rest were women. 54,593 of the deaths reported in the cities and 30,709 passed away in the rural areas.

/ Tehran times /

Ramadan is a time when families get together in the evening to break their fast.

Is it simply the practicalities of the concentration of the food at that time of the day which makes it a pragmatically sensible thing to do?

Or is there more to this ritual? Is the necessity of food the vehicle by which an environment is created for thinking beyond the ties of food?

Ramadan is undoubtedly a time when families are more focused on dining together.

The common physical hardship makes us as human beings come together – perhaps there is a lesson to be learned to implement within society.

The physical abstinence develops a culture where one is forced to think beyond the self and the needs of others; a time perhaps where the concept of self-sacrifice is etched in the spirituality of the individual for furthering the cause of a better humanity for all. / Press tv /

Iranian karate fighter Hamideh Abbasali has been placed second in the latest edition of the World Karate Federation (WKF) Karate 1 rankings.

According to the rankings released by the largest international governing body of karate with over 130 member states, the 26-year-old Iranian sportswoman racked up 980 points to stand behind a representative from Switzerland.

Zabihollah Poursheib, Iran’s male karate fighter, claimed the third place with 840 points. On January 24, Abbasali clinched a bronze medal in the 20th edition of the Open de Paris – Karate Premier League in France.

She received a bye in the first round of women’s kumite over 68-kilogram contests at the Pierre de Coubertin Stadium in Paris. The Iranian athlete emerged victorious with a result of 2-0 in her first contest against the host nation’s Sofia Kloucha.

Abbasali then took down her Ecuadorian opponent Valeria Echever 4-0 in her march to the final competition, before losing to French athlete Anne Laure Florentin and settling for the third-place fight.

The Iranian sportswoman defeated Italian and Danish rivals in the next bouts, and won the bronze medal for Iran.

The 20th edition of the Open de Paris – Karate Premier League opened in the French capital on January 22, and finished on January 24.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Tuesday that the Iranian women’s mission is to present to the world a model of socially active Muslim women.

In an Iftar party with women’s activists, he stated that the government is highly active in upholding women’s rights. He also said Iranian women have stood for their rights powerfully.

Attaching great importance to women’s role as mother, Rouhani added women can play important and active part in the society along with fulfilling their duties as mother.

Rouhani expressed hope that women would play more active role in the Iranian society. He also said that “moderation” has been the slogan of the current government.

Equality between men and women is one aspect of moderation, he added. Elsewhere, he noted that Iranian women have social, political, and economic rights and women’s participation in the society and doing activities do not run counter to their duties as mother and wife.

Finally, Rouhani said women’s presence and help are very important for the country’s development and even implementing the resistance economy.

Out of the 290 seats up for grabs in the February parliamentary elections in Iran, 17 were secured by women, a record in itself./ Tehran times/

Iran and Bangladesh agreed to boost cooperation in the field of religious tourism, IRNA reported.

The director of Iran’s Cultural Heritage, Tourism, and Handicraft Organization, Masoud Soltanifar, met the Bangladeshi ambassador to Tehran, Majibur Rahman Bhuiyan, on Sunday.

“There are several religious commonalities between the two nations, which provide an opportunity for boosting religious tourism,” Soltanifar said.

He also pointed to cooperation in holding exhibition as a means to boost bilateral tourism ties.

“We are ready to share experience in the field of handicraft with Bangladeshi artists as well,” he said.

Soltanifar called Iran an “attractive destination” for Bangladeshi tourists. /Tehran times/

The recent birth of four baby red deer in Semeskandeh Wildlife Refuge in Sari, Mazandaran Province, has lifted the spirits of officials and activists, and increased the critically endangered animal’s chances of survival.

Prior to the birth of the four fawns, the red deer, or maral deer, numbered 21 in the wildlife refuge.

The red deer is the largest species of deer in Iran and its habitat stretches from the southern shores of Caspian Sea to as far as North Khorasan Province in northeast.

Illegal hunting and deforestation of the Caspian Hyrcanian Forests (where the animal is found) have caused a major drop in the population of the mammal, putting it at serious risk of extinction.

Conservation efforts are made all the more difficult by the fact that maral’s gestation period is around 8.5 months and the female deer gives birth to one fawn at a time.

Bahram Faghani, the head of Department of Environment’s office in Sari, Mazandaran Province, said the mortality rate of red deer “has decreased significantly over the past few years”, Mehr News Agency reported.

With an area of 937 hectares, Semeskandeh Wildlife Refuge is a lowland forested hillside located in southeast Sari. The refuge is also home to the Persian fallow deer, a species that has been listed as an endangered species under the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List since 1986.

The animal’s main habitat is the province of Khuzestan in southern Iran but is kept in Semeskandeh for conservation purposes.

/financialtribune.com/