Over a dozen of Iranian movies will be screened at the 21st Dhaka International Film Festival, which will take place in the Bangladeshi capital from January 14 to 22.

Six films from the lineup, including “Forbidden Womanhood” by Maryam Zahirimehr and “The Last Snow” by Amir-Hossein Asgari, will be showcased in the Asian Film Competition.

“Forbidden Womanhood” follows Mahi, a 12-year-old girl who brings dishonor to her family and village, because her mother withholds the truth about sex.

“The Last Snow” is about Yousef, a successful and committed veterinarian who lives in a village. His daughter’s friend, Khorshid, disappears. It is not clear what exactly happened to Khorshid; all the villagers look for her sympathetically until a secret is revealed.

“No Prior Appointment” by Behruz Shoeibi, “Motherless” by Morteza Fatemi, “The Apple Day” by Mahmud Ghaffari and “Life & Life” by Ali Qavitan will also compete in this category.

The Cinema of the World section will also screen eight movies by Iranian filmmakers.

Among the films are “The Opposition” Amir-Abbas Rabiei, “Sniper” by Ali Ghaffari and “Song of the Wind” by Sudabeh Beizai.

This section also features “With the Wind” by Mohammad Tabarsa, “A Childless Village” by Reza Jamali, “Wind of Change” by Abbas Rafei, “The Wind That Shakes the Sugar Canes” Ebrahim Ashrafpur and “Mamma Makhmal” by Amir-Hossein Khalilzadeh.

“Urgent Cut Off” by Maryam Bahrololumi has been selected to be screened in the Woman Filmmaker category, while “Surviving Fortress” by Farshad Fadaian will be competing in the Spiritual Film section.

The Children’s Film competition will screen “Between the Cliffs” by Mokhtar Abdollahi, “Ziba’s Wish” by Ali Qavitan, “Ticket” by Morteza Rahimi and “Water, Wind, Dust, Bread” by Mehdi Zamanpur Kiasari.

“Typesetter” by Nasim Forugh will be screened in the Short and Independent category. /T.T/

Iranian short film “Adjustment” directed by Mehrdad Hassani has been selected as the best movie at the Barcelona Human Rights Film Festival. Produced by Hassan Mohammadi, the short piece narrates the story of ‘Shahrokh’, a 9-year-old effeminate boy humiliated and pushed away by his family and friends, who makes up his mind to assume a new identity and comes out to the people of his village. Having been through a series of ordeals, Shahrokh, dressed in girl’s clothes, shows up at school and confronts his classmates.

The film has previously won the Grand Prix at the Busan International Short Film Festival in South Korea.

Mansour Nassiri, Fatemeh Moradi, Maryam Goldouz, and Jamshid Bahadori are among the cast of the film.

The Human Rights Film Festival, with the central headquarter in Barcelona, is the oldest independent Human Rights Film Festival and one of the most important festivals on Human Rights in all of Spain and one of Spain’s most important and widely internationally established festival on Human Rights. /MNA/

Four countries signed memorandums of understanding, announcing their readiness for buying Iranian-made medical equipment at the 4th National and the 15th International Reverse Expo, which was held in Tehran on December 10-13.

Representatives from Uzbekistan, Armenia, Turkey, and Bosnia signed 40 memorandums of understanding with Iranian knowledge-based companies during the 3-day event.

In addition to the international sector, government agencies such as the Ministry of Energy, Ministry of Industry, Mining and Trade have also presented their technological needs, in general, 600 technological needs were announced.

The TESTA exhibition is held internationally with the aim of using the capacity of universities, research institutes, parks, and knowledge-based companies to meet the needs of research and technology, and is host to delegations from five countries, Venezuela, Armenia, Uzbekistan, Iraq, and Afghanistan.

Iranian knowledge-based companies marketed 70 countries

Iranian knowledge-based companies marketed their products in 70 countries, and in some global markets have overtaken European and American companies, Siavash Maleki, deputy head of the Innovation and Prosperity Fund, said.

Iranian companies producing medical equipment export their products to 54 countries across the world.In the last two days, the number of knowledge-based companies has exceeded 6,800, he stated, emphasizing that half of them are active in the field of electronics and electricity.

Last year, knowledge-based companies gained about $800 million in revenue from export, and in the current year (started March 21), it seems to reach over $1 billion, he noted.

Medical equipment global market share

Iran holds a share of one percent (about $5 billion) in the global market for medical equipment of approximately $500 billion, but the country has the potential to increase the share, according to the statistics of the Ministry of Health.

In 2018, the National Medical Device Directorate reported that the Iranian medical equipment market was worth $2.5 billion, 30 percent of which belonged to over 1,000 domestic firms.

On a global scale, 56 percent of 500,000 medical equipment items available in the world market have Iranian versions. In pharmaceuticals, around 70 percent of Iran’s $4.5 billion markets are domestic products and, in 2018, 97 percent of pharmaceuticals consumed in the country were manufactured locally.

In 2018, 67 percent of the active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) used to produce drugs in Iran were made locally.

A total of 227 knowledge-based firms are supplying medical equipment for health centers across the country, according to the Vice Presidency for Science and Technology.

Iranian companies producing medical equipment export their products to 54 countries across the world. /T.T/

U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) in a recent report has put Iran’s oil revenues earned in the first seven months of 2022 at $34 billion, only five billion less than Iran’s total oil revenue in 2021.

Based on the EIA report, Iran’s average monthly income from oil sales in January-July has been $4.85 billion, 49 percent more than the average monthly income in the previous year which was $3.25 billion.

Iran’s oil revenue in the said seven months is twice the whole income in 2020, indicating that the impacts of the U.S. sanctions against Iran are weakening.

Iran earned $17 billion in oil revenue in 2020 and $39 billion in 2021, and according to EIA, the Islamic Republic’s oil revenue will reach $58 billion in 2022.

EIA has put the total oil income of 13 OPEC members in the mentioned months at $500 billion.

Based on the report, OPEC’s income in the first seven months of this year is only $70 billion less than the $570 billion recorded for this organization in the previous year. The members of the organization sold $500 billion of oil in January-July 2022.

Iran has been ramping up its oil production and exports over the past year as the country has been implementing new strategies to overcome U.S. sanctions.

The Islamic Republic’s oil revenues increased by eight times in the first five months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21-August 22) with respect to the same period of the previous year, according to official statistics.

Earlier in November, Iranian Oil Minister Javad Oji said the country reached the highest record of oil, gas condensate, and petrochemical exports since 2017 (when the U.S. started re-imposing sanctions on Iran’s oil industry) in the eighth Iranian calendar month of Aban (October 23-November 21).

“Iran’s oil industry is now at the forefront of the economic war and the toughest sanctions have been imposed on this industry,” he said, noting that the industry has thrived despite the mentioned pressures. / T.T/

Yalda night (Shab-e Chelleh), one of the most celebrated Persian traditional events which marks the longest night of the year, made it onto the United Nation’s cultural heritage list on Wednesday.

Yalda/Chella was added as the new inscription on UNESCO’s list of intangible cultural heritage jointly for Iran and Afghanistan, adding another chapter in the age-old friendship between two ancient neighboring civilizations.

The decision was taken in the Moroccan capital of Rabat on Wednesday where the 17th session of the Intangible Cultural Heritage Committee of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) was held.

According to the UN cultural body, the ancient feast refers to a traditional celebration of the sun and the warmth of life. Practiced in Iran and Afghanistan, the event takes place on the last night of autumn, when families gather at the houses of elders and sit around a table adorned with a series of symbolic objects and foods: a lamp to symbolize light, water to represent cleanliness, and red fruits such as pomegranates, watermelons, beetroots, jujube and grapes to symbolize warmth.

Broth, sweets, dried fruits and nuts that are used specifically for the occasion are also set on the table and consumed during the gathering. Activities range from reciting poetry and storytelling to playing games and music and giving gifts to new in-laws, brides and children. The event celebrates cultural identity, nature, respect for women, friendship, hospitality, cultural diversity and peaceful coexistence. It is transmitted informally within families, although radio and television programs, publications, social media and educational materials have also played an important role in transmitting the practice in recent years. Events, conferences, trainings, workshops and awareness-raising activities carried out by research centers, NGOs, cultural organizations and educational institutes have also had a significant impact on the proper transmission of the element to future generations.

On that graceful night the winter chill is vanquished and the warmth of love embraces the entire family. It’s a time for pleasant family reunions that entails laughter, merriment and good cheer. Hearts move closer to one another in the company of loved ones on Yalda.

The last evening of autumn and the beginning of winter is a ceremonious, auspicious time for Iranians and lovers of Iranian traditions everywhere on earth. Though it is not even an official holiday, Yalda still stands head and shoulders above some other ancient traditions. By the way, television and radio programs fully cater to it by airing special programs. The reason is that it revolves around the rich, genuine Persian traditions. That’s why families are still eager to seize the moment and become fully engaged, putting their cell phones and other distractions aside.

Of all the ancient Persian festivals, only two are celebrated by Iranians worldwide — Yalda Night (the birth of a new sun) and Noruz or Persian New Year (the birth of a new day). Nationally called “Shab-e Yalda” or “Shab-e-Chelleh”, it literally means the night of the forty. This refers to the first forty days of winter that are often the coldest and toughest to bear.

The story of Yalda may perhaps be interpreted as a tale of courage and effort during darkness, a triumph of light and human warmth that ultimately causes the spring to bloom in hearts.

People on Yalda Night are usually served with fresh fruits and colorful Ajil (a mixture of dry fruits, seeds and nuts) in floral bowls. To Iranians, fruits are reminders of abundance in summer. Watermelon and pomegranates, as symbols of bounty, are the traditional fresh fruits of this night. It is believed that eating watermelon before the arrival of winter can immunize the body against illness.

Following a hot dinner, many people often recite poetry, narrate stories, chant, play musical instruments or just chat cozily until midnight or so.

Facts to know

– Yalda Night is celebrated on the last day of Azar (the last month of autumn in the Iranian calendar year) and before the first day of Dey (the first month of winter).

– Watermelon and pomegranate are amongst the most characteristic features of Yalda Night so that a few days prior to Yalda, their prices usually soar.

– Yalda, though not very common, is a female Persian name.

– In the ancient Iranian calendar, winter is divided into two parts, Chelleh Bozorg (literary meaning the bigger forty) from 22nd of December to 30th of January and Chelleh Koochak (the smaller forty), which starts from 30th January to 10th of March.

– The word Yalda, meaning birth, was imported from Syriac into the Persian language by the Syriac Christians.

– Narratives say that Yalda Night marks the birth of winter and the eventual triumph of the sun as the days grow longer.

– Ancient Iranians assumed Naneh Sarma begins to descend on earth by Yalda Night. Literally meaning “coldness grandma”, Naneh Sarma is a folklore character who brings in the cold of winter but also the promises of spring ahead. /T.T/

Sericulture and traditional production of silk for weaving has gained UNESCO status jointly for Iran, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Turkey, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.

The inscription secured approval at the 17th session of the Intangible Cultural Heritage Committee of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) held in the Moroccan capital of Rabat on Wednesday.

In sericulture and the traditional production of silk for weaving, farmers care for the silkworms through their entire lifecycle, growing the mulberry trees that provide leaves upon which the worms feed and produce silkworm eggs.

As mentioned by the UN cultural body, the fibers are reeled from the cocoons, spun into silk threads, cleaned, and dyed. The threads are then used to create various types of craft products, including fabrics, carpets, rugs, and curtains.

Silk products are highly valued by all social and cultural classes, and people use them for special occasions such as weddings, funerals, and family gatherings. Deeply rooted in the traditions of the Great Silk Road, the practice is an expression of cultural identity and centuries-old traditions. It is also viewed as a symbol of social cohesion, as the silk trade contributed to the exchange of culture and science within and across the countries concerned.

Iran has long been home to silk makers, mainly in the regions of Gilan and Khorasan. For more than three millennia, silk thread produced in Iran has been used to make clothing fabric and for weaving Persian rugs.

The Silk Road was a well-connected network of routes that, according to ancient maps, began in China and passed through central Asia before ending in Syria. It served as an important trade route connecting the Mediterranean Sea and China. /T.T/

Some 160,000 housing units will be provided to people with disabilities over the next three years, the head of the Welfare Organization has said.

Currently, 160,000 people with disabilities in the country cannot afford a residential unit, so the provision of housing for this community is on agenda, IRNA quoted Ali-Mohammad Ghaderi as saying on Saturday.

The Welfare Organization had previously announced that a memorandum of understanding for the construction of 4,000 housing units for a family with two disabled children had been signed with Mostazafan Foundation.

According to Ghaderi, 2,500 housing units out of a total of 14,300 have so far been completed, and 3,300 others will also be completed in the near future.

According to the statistics of the Welfare Organization, there are 1,710,475 disabled people in Iran.

President Ebrahim Raisi urged all institutions to support persons with disabilities in the commemoration ceremony of the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, which was held on Friday in Tehran.

Law on rights of persons with disabilities

Majlis [the Iranian parliament] approved both general outlines and details of a bill on the rights of persons with disabilities in January 2018. Development of disability-friendly cities, free transportation, health insurance, free education, job creation, housing loans, and fewer working hours are some of the articles of the law.

Since the approval of the law, education for students with disabilities has been provided in Azad universities, subsidies for patients with spinal cord injury as well as disability care centers have been increased, in addition to residential units for families having members with disabilities.

Asghar Shirzadi, chairman of the board of the Iranian association of the disabled, said in December 2020 that it still seems that the related organizations are not very willing to implement the law.

According to the national document on improving accessibility in cities for persons with disabilities, fifty-five cities, five villages, and three metropolitan areas should be considered as pilots until the Iranian calendar year 1402 (March 2023-March 2024).

The national document includes a five-year action plan which analyzes the country’s weaknesses and strengths in being accessible for the people physically challenged, with the participation of representatives of the country’s responsible bodies and NGOs.

The document describes strategies and plans to construct all buildings accessible to people with disabilities, and the country’s headquarters for increasing the cities’ accessibilities will follow up the strategies and regulations. /T.T/

Iranian rowers claimed five medals at the 2022 Asian Rowing Championships underway in Ban Chang, Thailand.

Iran’s Nazanin Malaei won a gold medal in the women’s single sculls. Yu Wen of China and Kazakhstan’s Svetlana Germanovich won silver and bronze, respectively.

In the women’s double sculls, Mahsa Javar and Nazanin Malaei claimed a gold, followed by China and Vietnam.

Shakiba Voghoufi, Kimia Zareei, Zeinab Norouzi and Maryam Omidi Parsa also bagged a bronze at the women’s lightweight quadruple sculls. Gold and Silver medals went to Vietnam and Thailand.

Amir Hossein Mahmoudpour won a bronze medal at the men’s single sculls. Chan Chi Fung of Hong Kong and Thailand’s Prem Nampratueng bagged a gold and a silver medal, respectively.

Hamidreza Rezvani and Shirzad Ghaderi also took a bronze at the men’s double sculls. Indonesia and India won gold and silver, respectively./ T.T/

“Zari” by Iranian director Arman Qolipur Dashtaki has been selected as best short documentary at the 42nd VGIK International Student Festival in Moscow, Russia.

Qolipur, a student at the Art University of Isfahan, follows Zari, a rural woman who lives in Western Iran. When she was at the age of 11, her parents forced her to marry a 25-year-old man – the beginning of her challenging life. She is different from other rural women as she drives a pickup truck and distributes gas cylinders to 16,000 villagers.

The VGIK festival is supported by the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation, the Presidential Grants Fund, and the National Fund of Right Holders.

“Don’t Breathe” by Iranian director Milad Nasim-Sobhan won a special diploma from the professional jury “for professional skills in cinematography”.

Nasim-Sobhan is from the University of Arts.

The story of the film is set in a fantasy world. To exert more tyranny and suppression, the ruling power has done something to its dissenters that they exhale smoke when they breathe, and the agents must take into custody such people wherever they find them. Unaware of the law, a man meets one of the dissidents and it changes the course of his life, until he decides to immigrate to a better land with the dissident for a better life.

The Grand Prix was given to “Bebia, Babua, Anzorik, Me and Mom” by Raul Geydarov from Russia.

The best short fiction film prize went to “The Horse from Heaven” by Maharshi Kashyap and Satyajit Ray from the Film and Television Institute, India.

“The Visionary” by Russian director Vsevolod Bulavkin won the best short animation film prize.

The VGIK student festival’s main goal is the recognition and encouragement of young talents. The winners of the early editions are now among the iconic figures of the film industry world. Among them are Andrei Konchalovsky, Andrei Tarkovsky, Vasily Shukshin, Nikita Mikhalkov, Vadim Abdrashitov, Pyotr Buslov, Boris Akopov and Alexander Khant.

The festival is held in two stages, the first of which was organized from October 17 to 28, and the second stage was held from November 14 to 18.

Films by students from Great Britain, Italy, USA, France, Germany, China, Brazil, Argentina and several other countries were presented during the festival./T.T/

The University of Tehran University, with a score of 189, and the Sharif University of Technology, with a score of 179, are among the top universities in the Hirsch Index released by Web of Science.

The h-index was developed by J.E. Hirsch and published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America in 2005, which reflects the productivity of authors based on their publication and citation records.

It is based on a list of publications ranked in descending order by the Times Cited. The value of h is equal to the number of papers (N) in the list that has N or more citations. This metric is useful because it discounts the disproportionate weight of highly cited papers or papers that have not yet been cited.

The h-index reflects the productivity of authors based on their publication and citation records.There are 58 Iranian universities on the list, among which, Tehran University and the Sharif University of Technology placed first and second, followed by Tarbiat Modares University.

The index shows the quality of scientific outputs and research productivity at the level of universities and research and technology institutions of the country.

Also, according to the 2022 list of Highly Cited Researchers revealed by Clarivate, 12 Iranian researchers are among the most cited researchers.

Earlier in November, the Essential Science Indicators (ESI) database listed 841 Iranian researchers among the top one percent of most cited researchers in the world.

The highest number of researchers were included in the engineering category amounting to 229 scientists, followed by clinical medicine with 140, and the multidisciplinary category with 150 people.

On October 26, Stanford University listed 1,870 Iranian researchers among the top 2 percent of the most-cited scientists in the world, which has grown significantly compared to past years.

Despite U.S. sanctions, the international activities of Iranian scientists have increased year by year, so that more than 35 percent of Iranian articles in Scopus have been multi-national projects, the deputy science minister, Peyman Salehi, has said.

Science diplomacy is the use of scientific collaborations among nations to address common problems and build constructive international partnerships.

In 2021, Iranian scientists published more than 77,000 scientific articles in the Scopus database, ranking 15th worldwide.

The country also ranked 15th and 16th in the world in terms of scientific references. /T.T/