Iran

Soon You Will Be Able to Play a Video Game About Salman Rushdie’s Fatwa

By Emily Temple on Jun 28, 2012 12:02pm

If you know anything about Salman Rushdie (besides his dating history), you probably know that the author was the target of a fatwa requiring his execution issued by the Supreme Leader of Iran some 23 years ago, in response to his controversial novel The Satanic Verses. You may not have known that Iranian… Read More

News

The Morning's Top 5 Pop Culture Stories

By Caroline Stanley on Mar 12, 2012 10:00am

1. Iranian authorities have canceled a ceremony planned in honor of the country’s Academy Award-winning director Asghar Farhadi; while an official reason was not given, apparently many conservatives were upset with A Separation’s frank presentation of the troubles plaguing Iranian society, calling it liberal propaganda. [via ArtsBeat]

2. AMC Theaters will be holding… Read More

Photography

Photo Gallery: Iran Before the Chador

By Judy Berman on May 30, 2011 3:00pm

[Editor's note: While your editors take the day off, Flavorwire will be counting down some of our most popular features of 2011 so far. This post originally ran on March 25th. Enjoy your Memorial Day!] By now, hopefully, we all know something about the Iranian Revolution (and America’s lamentable role in it), whether we learned about it at school or in the pages of Persepolis. Still, it’s difficult to grasp the extent of the Ayatollah Khomeini regime’s impact on secular society without having a sense of what Iran was like in the years immediately preceding the revolution. That is precisely why the images from R&R Gallery‘s Before the Chador, a show curated by LA-based rapper Malkovich Music and comprised of 30 photos of an Iranian family before the conflict, feel so rare, valuable, and ultimately bittersweet. In one shot set at the beach, a bathing beauty leans against a classic ’60s car; in another, the entire clan clusters around the hookah at an evening gathering. One question lingers: What happened to this family after the revolution?

Angelenos can visit the show in person tomorrow night (March 26th), from 7pm-midnight. For a preview of Before the Chador, click through the gallery after the jump. … Read More

Daily Dose

Daily Dose Pick: Women Without Men

By Mindy Bond on Feb 11, 2011 2:30pm

Loosely based on Shahrnush Parsipur’s magic-realist novel, Shirin Neshat’s debut feature uses Iran’s 1953 CIA-backed coup d’etat as a backdrop for examining the anatomy of the country’s patriarchal society.

Over the course of several days, Women Without Men follows four women of varying social class and age as their lives converge in a haunting metaphorical orchard. All are at points of transition: Munis, the political activist; Zarin, the young prostitute; Fakhri, the unhappily married middle-aged upper cruster; and Faezeh, the innocent. Together, they struggle to find themselves amid the political and social turmoil of the time. … Read More

Daily Dose

Daily Dose Pick: No One Knows About Persian Cats

By Chris Kompanek on Apr 23, 2010 2:52pm

Bahman Ghobadi’s heartfelt new film charts the adventures of Iranian youths struggling to put on an indie-rock show within a repressive regime that has outlawed Western music.

The strict Islamic law of Tehran starkly contrasts with the boundless energy of these twentysomething rebel musicians. Gathering in clandestine underground spaces, they share new songs and dreams of escaping to London, where they’ve managed to book a gig. However, obtaining passports and visas proves more difficult and expensive than expected, and their wills are continuously tested. Despite the intense subject matter, the film pulses with dynamic DIY music and a biting, punk-infused sense of humor. … Read More

Politics

Video of the Day: The Daily Show Gets a Journalist Jailed

By Caroline Stanley on Dec 1, 2009 2:05pm

The wildest part of Jon Stewart’s interview with Maziar Bahari, the Newsweek reporter jailed by the Iranian government after appearing in a Daily Show segment where Jason Jones was pretending to be a spy? Aside from his incredible sense of humor about the whole thing (he was blindfolded and tortured), the fact that Bahari’s interrogator was obsessed with New Jersey. “For him New Jersey sounded like the most American place that you can be. He thought that New Jersey is paradise on earth — that New Jersey is a place where people drink all the time, they have sex all the time, and there are no Jews.”

Watch Bahari discuss his 118 days in captivity after the… Read More

Art

Pooneh Maghazehe: One of 56 Reasons to See Iran Inside Out at the Chelsea Museum

By Leila Darabi on Jul 6, 2009 11:35am

Tampons soaked in colorful paints, supermarket steaks wrapped in plastic, and Amish dresses procured off of eBay — these are just some of the materials employed by Brooklyn-based artist Pooneh Maghazehe’s sculpture and performance art. This summer, Maghazehe is one of 56 artists whose work is on display in the Chelsea Museum’s seminal Iran Inside Out exhibition, a comprehensive and — given ongoing events in Iran — extremely timely expo of contemporary art from Iran and the Iranian diaspora. … Read More

Art

Pic of the Day: Check Out Iran Inside Out

By Caroline Stanley on Jun 26, 2009 1:11pm

Opening today, the Chelsea Museum presents what has to be one of the timeliest exhibitions in its history: Iran Inside Out. Hit the museum’s roof deck tomorrow night for Iranian indie rock by Tehran-based Hypernova. Special programming continues throughout the summer, including collabs with Rooftop Films, ArteEast, and the Cedar Lake Ballet. Flavorpill is a… Read More

Design

Furniture Fail: UK Store Uses Iran to Sell Things You Can’t Afford

By Caroline Stanley on Jun 24, 2009 10:37am

While we’re sure this has been happening across the board, the BBC reports that Habitat (the European furnishings franchise founded by Terence Conran in the ’60s, now part of the IKANO Group) added fake hashtags to tweets — like “Iran” and “Tehran” — so that more people would see information about their spring… Read More

Politics

Cat Power Happy Hour #38

By Andy Phillips on Jun 23, 2009 4:00pm

Lunch is long gone; it’s 4 p.m., Ed McMahon is entertaining in the great beyond, the DC metro is obsolete, Perez Hilton is still around, Iran is still insane, and work just won’t end. There’s only one way to make it out of this day alive: THE CAT POWER HAPPY HOUR, a daily pick-me-up from your friends at Flavorpill. After the jump, a picture so cute it’ll turn your cubicle into a den of pure cuddle. (Check back tomorrow, same time, same place for more unhinged adorability.) … Read More