Persianesque: Iranian Magazine

Against the tumultuous backdrop of Iran’s 1953 CIA-backed coup d’état, the destinies of four women converge in a beautiful orchard garden, where they find independence, solace and companionship.

Neshat delves into the social and psychological dimensions of her characters, as a British and American backed coup topples a democratically elected government.

With subtlety and poetry, Women Without Men reveals the impact of historical and religious forces on females across the spectrum of Iranian society.

Shirin Neshat’s award winning film “Women Without Men” opens in NYC onMay 14th. 

Opening weekend followed by Q&A with Director Shirin Neshat.

Click here for more info about the film.

Click here to buy your tickets now!

The Glass House by Hamid Rahmanian--Nazila

Habitually, when it comes to Iranian documentaries, we’re quick to judge the cinematography and tend to have a bias for Tehran imagery. And well, our latest film for review, The Glass House, directed by Hamid Rahmanian had us at the first few scenes. 

The Fictionville Studio movie is a powerful and rare look into the daily lives of a few Iranian girls, who come from troubled backgrounds, and their mentally-cleansing journey at the Omid-e-Mehr Foundation–where the girls are provided with counseling, education, and beyond. The Glass House can comfortably be watched without sound yet still, understood; you don’t even have to understand the Persian language (or bother reading the subtitles) to feel the permeating emotional distress and psychological burden these growing, young women face. We felt it right through the glass monitor. 

Hamid Rahmanian’s lens follows and lucidly depicts the girls’ sometimes-shocking stories–delicately portraying the often-unpleasant aftereffects of what a lack of attention paid to women’s rights and issues can lead to–despite the difficulty usually involved in shooting in Iran and features philanthropist and Omid-e-Mehr Foundation founder, the UK-based Psychotherapist Marjaneh Halati on one of her many visits back to Tehran and the center.

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L to R: Big Bad Boo Studios Founders; Aly Jetha and Shabnam Rezaei

Washington, DC–The 1979 revolution resulted in a clear and massive brain drain for Iran and created an estimated annual financial loss comparative to the  yearly cost of the Iran-Iraq War: Causing Iran to miss out on the power of its people’s collective intelligence. However, the flip side is: Iranians live all over the world now and some have had a chance to spread their reach over the last 30-plus years–unceasingly growing; with healthy force, and in hypersonic form.

Persianesque Magazine’s Iranian-American Woman of the Year for 2009, Tehran-born super-entrepreneur Shabnam Rezaei is a classic example. It takes a lot to be featured as our Iranian-American woman of the year, but Shabnam Rezaei has more than enough accomplishments to put even the most eager shaagerd avval (top student) to shame.

Chosen by “a panel of independent judges to participate in the Ernst & Young Entrepreneurial Winning Women“, as well as being selected as one of Business in Vancouver’s “40 under 40″, Shabnam, also won an accolade  at the sixth annual Stevie Awards for Women in Business in New York, last November.

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Shohreh Aghdashloo @ 61st Emmy Awards - Original Image: CBS

Iranian actress Shohreh Aghdashloo walked off the stage at the 61st annual Emmy Awards, a green-wristband-wearing winner for her nomination in the “Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or Movie” category Sunday night in Los Angeles, which makes her the first Iranian to win an Emmy Award for her grouping.

We had predicted that the baritone-voiced actress would get at least an Emmy nod for her role as Sajida in HBO’s House of Saddam, but we hadn’t considered the fact that she would be joining the ranks of previous winners like, Anne Bancroft, Mary Tyler Moore, and Judy Davis.

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