Movie & TV News

[Rasputin]

Hoot (2006)

When a Montana boy moves to Florida and unearths a disturbing threat to a local population of endangered owls, three middle-schoolers take on greedy land developers, corrupt politicians, and clueless cops. Determined to protect his new environment, the boy and his friends fight to prevent the adults from making a big mistake.

Genres: Comedy, Kids/Family, Thriller and Adaptation

Release Date: May 5th, 2006 (wide)

MPAA Rating: PG for mild bullying and brief language.

Cast and Credits

Starring: Luke Wilson, Logan Lerman, Brie Larson, Tim Blake Nelson, Cody Linley
Directed by: Wil Shriner

[Rasputin]

مسئولان جشنواره فيلم کن، هفته گذشته فهرست فيلمهای پذيرفته در بخشهای اصلی پنجاه و نهمين دوره اين جشنواره را منتشر کردند که برخلاف دوره های اخير، نماينده ای از سينمای ايران در اين فهرست ديده نمی شود.
هيئت انتخاب اين دوره جشنواره فيلم کن هيچکدام از فيلمهای ايرانی پيشنهاد شده را که بيش از 40 عنوان فيلم کوتاه و بلند بوده اند، شايسته حضور و نمايش در بخشهای مسابقه و خارج از مسابقه جشنواره امسال ندانست.

در سالهای اخير سينمای ايران با حضور پر رنگ خود در جشنواره های مختلف، به ويژه جشنواره کن، جايگاه در خور توجه ای را در سينمای جهان بدست آورده بود.

اين نخستين بار در طول ده سال گذشته است که ايران هيچ نماينده ای در اين جشنواره ندارد.

بنا به گزارشی از خبرگزاری دانشجويان ايران، ايسنا، امير اسفندياری مدير بخش بين الملل بنياد سينمايی فارابی که مسئوليت معرفی فيلمهای ايرانی را به جشنواره های خارجی برعهده دارد گفته است که توجه به کيفيت فيلمهای ارائه شده، جشنواره کن "متضرر اصلی" غياب نماينده ای از سينمای ايران در جشنواره خواهد بود.

وی معتقد است که فيلمهای ايرانی ارائه شده با معيارهای سياستگذاران جشنواره کن تناسب نداشته است

[Rasputin]

بله برون



کارگردان : داوود موثقي
نويسنده: قربان محمدپور
بازنويسي فيلمنامه : بهمن زرين پور- داوود موثقي
تهيهكننده: خسرواميرصادقي
بازيگران: جمشيد مشايخي ، ثريا قاسمي، فتحعلي اويسي ، سيروس گرجستاني ، امير خسرو ، شراره درشتي ، رامش صفايي ، حسن رضياني ، محمود بهرامي ، بهزاد رحيم خاني ، مريم بخشي ، شيما ساداتي ، رمضان صابري ، ابراهيم تفرشي ، سارا جهرمي زاده


خلاصه داستان:

اينفيلم از فضايي كمدي و شاد برخوردار است وداستان يك خانواده ثروتمند ميباشد كه سهداماد دارند. اين سه داماد هر يك قصد دارند بهنوعي از اموال پدرزن خود سوء استفاده كنند.تهيهكنندگي «بلهبرون» بر عهده خسرواميرصادقي است

[Rasputin]

Babak & Friends nominated for Golden Lioness by sara sefeed
Budapest, April 2006 – Earlier this month, The World Academy of Arts, Literature, and Media - WAALM® announced the nomination of Dustin Ellis in the category of Dramatic Arts ( Best Directing of Animated film), for the film “Babak & Friends – A First Norooz”. WAALM®, based in Budapest, is a young organization aiming to support, develop, and promotes the dramatic and fine arts, creative writing and poetry, as well as professional journalism and media productions by identifying and rewarding excellence, inspiring practitioners, and benefiting the public.

Dustin Ellis, the director of this heartwarming holiday special, said, “While I am honored to receive this award, the real credit should go to my team and the talented people who have brought this project together. My producers Aly Jetha, Shabnam Rezaei, and my dear wife Mastaneh Moghadam are the reason we were able to bring this film to market. With their continued commitment, we will be able to drive the mission of Norooz Productions, which is to entertain children while teaching them a little about their culture and heritage.”

Mr. Ellis has been in the field of animation for over 12 years, having worked alongside Brad Bird ("The Incredibles") on the "Iron Giant". He also worked on many classic cartoons and favorites such as “The Woody Woodpecker Show”, “The Rugrats Movie”, “Jimmy Neutron” and “Scooby Doo”.

The 2nd Annual Persian Golden Lioness Awards® will be held in Budapest in October of 2006. The Persian Golden Lioness Awards® will be conferred out in three major categories including the Arts (Dramatic Arts, Fine Arts, and Music), Literature (Novels, Short stories, Poetry, Lyrics, and Play-writing) and Media (News TVs, Radios, Websites, Magazines, Media Productions). Last year's award recipients included agencies such as Voice of America – VOA® and BBC® as well as legends such as Houshmand Aghili, Muhammad Heidari, Akbar Golpayegani, Sattar, Behrouz Vossoughi and Masoud Assadolahi were honored.

[Rasputin]

An Inconvenient Truth (2006)

Al Gore has traveled the world delivering a presentation on the global climate change, proving that humankind must confront global warming now or face devastating consequences--this film captures his journey as a worldwide environmental champion.

Genres: Documentary

Running Time: 100 min.

Release Date: May 24th, 2006 (limited)

MPAA Rating: PG for mild thematic elements.

Distributors: Paramount Classics

Cast and Credits

Directed by: Davis Guggenheim
Produced by: Al Gore, Laurie David, Lawrence Bender

[Rasputin]

تارا و تب توت فرنگي



طراح چهره پردازي: عبدالله اسكندري
طراح صحنه و لباس: ژيلا مهرجويي
صدابردار: بهمن حيدري
عكس: محمد فوقاني
شروع فيلمبرداري: اواسط شهريور 1382 كارگردان: سعيد سهيلي
فيلمنامه: سعيد سهيلي، مجيد مولايي
مدير فيلمبرداري: حسين ملكي
تدوين: كاوه حميدي ايماني
مدير توليد: ابراهيم اصغري



بازيگران: كتايون رياحي، لادن مستوفي، پژمان بازغي، فرهاد قائميان، لادن طباطبايي، رامبد شكرابي، مريم سلطاني، بابك پناهي، پريسا فرخ نژاد، بابك حبيبي فر، فاطمه اميريان، فخري خوروش


خلاصه داستان:
سه زن، سه داستان، سه سرنوشت. تارا نمي خواهد به سرنوشت از پيش رقم خورده خود تمكين كند. او در دوراهي يك انتخاب مسير سبزي را بر مي گزيند كه در ادامه خرمن وجودش را به آتش مي كشد. شبي در اين آتشكده ضيافتي برپا مي دارد تا دوستان سابقش را در اين تجربه ناب شريك گرداند اما حادثه اي شوم مهماني را برهم مي زند. ترانه دوست سابق او در پي يافتن راز آن حادثه جرعه اي از آن شهد ناب را سر مي كشد.

يادداشت فيلم:
«تارا »، پس از فيلمهاي « مردي شبيه باران » (1375)، « مردي از جنس بلور » (1377)، « سهراب » (137، « شب برهنه » (1380) و « غوغا » ششمين فيلم بلند سعيد سهيلي است.

[Rasputin]

Russian Dolls (2006)

Xavier and Wendy have to gather all their friends from Barcelona for the wedding of Wendy's brother to a beautiful Russian. Xavier is still looking for the perfect woman.

Genres: Art/Foreign and Sequel

Running Time: 128 min.

Release Date: May 10th, 2006 (limited)

MPAA Rating: Not Rated

Cast and Credits

Starring: Romain Duris, Cecile De France, Audrey Tautou, Kelly Reilly, Kevin Bishop
Directed by: Cedric Klapisch

[Rasputin]

Goal! The Dream Begins (2006)

As an underprivileged Mexican-American immigrant growing up in the poor section of Los Angeles, Santiago Munez seemed destined to follow his father's path in life: laboring at menial jobs to earn just enough money to support his family. Naturally gifted, his amazing talent on the soccer field was wasted in recreation league games while he could only dream of playing on the world stage of professional.

Genres: Action/Adventure and Drama

Running Time: 1 hr. 57 min.

Release Date: May 12th, 2006 (wide)

MPAA Rating: PG-13 for some sexual content, language and a brief drug reference.

Cast and Credits

Starring: Kuno Becker, Stephen Dillane, Anna Friel, Marcel Iures, Sean Pertwee
Directed by: Danny Cannon

[Rasputin]

The terminology Nouvelle Vague or New Wave referred first and foremost to the young generation of film critics of the late 50's and early 60's who reacted to what they considered as a stagnation of their national cinema. They therefore decided to make their own films. Amongst them were François Truffaut, Jean-Luc Goddard, Claude Chabrol and Eric Rohmer or future Hollywood director Barbet Shroeder (Interestingly born in Tehran, Iran in 1941 where his German geologist Father was on assignment). Truffaut launches the manifesto for his mouvement in an article entitled Une certaine tendance du cinéma français published in the Cahiers issue of 1954. The New wave also proved to be technically innovative as a new film trend that defies the traditional cinema narrative and provokes the viewer. The movie freeze scenes, the abrupt change of speed, false film cuts or long shots are a few of such techniques brilliantly illustrated in films such as Godard A Bout de Souffle . The pioneers of the Nouvelle Vague believed in making what they considered as new works aimed to be equally personal and ambitious. They did not always achieve or meet their audience but they did have an enormous impact on the way this new artform was percieved by film critics and the industry. Interestingly the Iranian Cinema has gained International fame with the works of Abbas Kiarostami or the Makhmalbaf father and daughter in the last decade and a half under a similar denomination: The New Wave. A closer look at the history of the French Nouvelle Vague will nevertheless show that interactions between Iranian and French Cinema have existed from an early age and often due to surprising coincidences that may have escaped the filmmaking pioneers intentions. Indeed the French New Wave Cinema as well as its less known cinematographic siblings of France's post 68 years were to benefit from the contributions of Iranian artists and creators …

Comment Peut -on être Persan? (**) Seems to ask Montesquieu in the first lines of Les Lettres Persanes aka the Persian Letters published in 1721. Iranians, particularly the intelligensia have had a love affair with France and the French long before the United States became a super and a regional power in the Middle East. Persian Kings had already established diplomatic relations with French Kings such as Louis XIV (related in French film Angélique et le Roi with Sami Frey as Persian Ambassador Mohamed Reza Bakhtiari Bey ) and subsequently with the presidents of the French Republic. In fact one French president Marie François Sadi Carnot was the son of an admirer of Persian Poet Sa'adi of Shiraz. He named the future President in tribute to the author of the Golestân. Mozzaferedin Shah's visit to Contrexeville in 1900 is still considered today as one of the highlights of historical visits to the French town by Foreign dignitaries. Emperor Napoleon (read by Iradj Amini: Napoleon and Persia ) and President Charles De Gaulle in turn extended diplomatic and cultural ties between France and Persia/Iran often to the irritation of their British counterparts. French schools such as Razi or Jeanne D'Arc were to take root in the Iranian capital Tehran before the second World War and Iranian writers have always considered France as the country of enlightment and inspiration. The works of, Montesquieu (author of Les Lettres Persanes), Voltaire (Zadig), Rousseau, Victor Hugo, Alexander Dumas or Jules Vernes were long translated into Persian before the works of Shakespeare, James Joyce or Mark Twain and even under the pro American Dynasty of the Pahlavi Shah's, French culture and Art de Vivre were considered with great respect, partly because of Mohamed Reza Shah's French education in the Swiss school Rosay but also because the subsequent Pahlavi Queens Fawzia, Soraya or Farah were all french educated and encouraged French cultural centers and exhibitions in Iran throughout their reigns. Mohammed Mossadegh spoke fluent French and defended in the language of Molière the case of the nationalisation of Iranian Oil at the United Nations and later in The Hague. Paradoxically the Islamic Revolution of 1979 was also to take ground in France, where Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeiny's presence at Neuphle Château continues to haunt memories…

[Rasputin]

Throughout the first half of the 20th century France was also the major destination for Iranian students who could not afford going to the United States or wished to start their university education in a European country where political ideas and free thinking were probably more tolerated. The last Prime Minister of the former Shah, Chapour Bakhtiar was also married to a French and during his youth courageously fought the Nazi Occupation in the French Resistance. Many future diplomats were also to receive a French education in Belgium or former French colonies or protectorates like Lebanon, Algiers or Morocco. This was the case of future ambassador to the United Nations Fereydoun Hoveyda (brother of the ill-fated prime minister Amir-Abbas (See student years in Paris ). Interestingly Fereydoun Hoveyda was also to play a major role in French cultural scene and particularly in the field of Cinema for he was the protégé of François Truffaut whome he befriended and with whome he helped create the now prestigious and incisive film magazine Les Cahiers du Cinéma that spearheaded the French Nouvelle Vague or New Wave Cinema. He was also to work closely with Italian filmmaker Roberto Rossilini on several film scripts during that era. Fereydoun Hoveyda was not the only Iranian of his generation to play an active role in promoting the French Cinéma d'Auteur as opposed to the more popular American Cinema defended by another Iranian film critic Cyrus Ghani (Author of the recently published My favorite films ).

[Rasputin]

Youssef Ishaghpour born in Tehran in 1940 lives in Paris since 1958. He studied Cinema at l'École Louis Lumière and l'IDHEC) and has written extensively on Films and the Nouvelle Vague pioneers which he befriended and followed the works. He has since become a respected specialist of the director/actor of Citizen Kane with a prized anthology on the Legendary Orson Welles who shot several of his films in Paris such as the famous adaptation of Kafka's Trial with Truffaut's égérie Jeanne Moreau and one of Hitchcock's favorite actors Anthony Perkins (Psycho). In later years, thanks to connections with Iranians producers in Paris, Welles was to produce several films unfortunately not always to his best advantage. Welles never got to edit in its definitive version his last testimonial film The other Side of the Wind , shot over a periode of ten years. The whereabouts of most of the rushes remains a mystery and seem to have been lost after the Islamic Revolution of 1979.

Iranian students in the Paris of the 1950's and 1960's were either divided politically between leftist, nationalists or royalists or seeking new ideals. Most were studying Engineering or Medicine for whom politics was mostly a passtime, except for future diplomats and or future revolutionaries. Often fiancé to fellow French girlfriends or boyfriends, Iranian students loved spending time in the Parisian Café des Flores or Des Deux Magots at Saint Germain Des Près, often bumping into celebrities and sharing the intellectual preoccupations of the existentialist poets and philosophers of post WW II France. Such was the case of Shusha Guppy Singer (Listen to songs ) , writer and future filmmaker . A friend of Jacques Prévert , she recalls with humour and nostalgia in her autobiography A Girl in Paris how she refused a galant rendez-vous with the handsom Albert Camus but was seduced by Sydney Bechet. She was hired to sing at L'Ecluse before the legendary Barbara. Preferring the writings of Albert Cossery to those of the American Paris Lover and controversial author of Jours tranquilles à Clichy Henry Miller, which she reduces to: quote « verbal constipation, obscenities, sexist and pompous ». She confesses that she was leftist like everyone at the time. Guppy was to evoke her childhood souvenirs in Iran with nostalgia in another critically acclaimed book The Blindfold Horse: Memories of a Persian childhood. Her tendency of being called Persian and not Iranian are at times irritating as if there is a real difference to this assessment? Her style however does hint a resemblance to those of Russian writer Tchekhov. In many ways the description of her generation, is touching and revealing on the one that was divided between Western and Oriental values but wished to contribute to the enhancement and progress of their country while searching intellectual and social fulfilment in Western philosophy and cultural emancipation.

[Rasputin]

Later settled in Great Britain another favorite destination for Anglophone students, Guppy was to show interest in films and upon returning to Iran in the 70's was to produce a film on the yearly migration of Bakhtiary Tribesmen in Iran. The film was to be nominated as best documentary for the Oscars of 1976. A tribute to the 1925 Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack's (creators of classic film King Kong) first documentary on the subject called Grass : A Nations Battle for Life.

During the Saint Gérmain years, rising French Star Daniel Gélin was also to befriend Iranians amongst which the Shah's twin Sister Princess Ashraf. Ironically Gélin was to play the role of the Shah years later in a French Canadian co-production on the Hostage crisis of 1979.
However the most interesting and significative contribution to the French New Wave cinema is that of Serge Rezvani an Iranian poet born in Tehran in 1928 to an Iranian Father and Russian Mother. Today he has become an acknowledged French writer, painter and Art critic. He was to play a major role as music composer of both François Truffaut Jules et Jim and Jean Luc Godard Pierrot le Fou, considered as land marks of French New Wave Cinema. He is credited as Cyrus Bassiak for he was not sure to want to undertake a music carreer.

Jeanne Moreau was to immortalize Truffaut's film with her interpretation of Le Tourbillon , which became such a hit forcing Rezvani to continue a parallel carreer as songwriter for several years. Amusingly Truffaut made him play the cameo role of a musician in Jules et Jim.

[Rasputin]

Truffaut was to say about his film « If the film is a success, It is because it resembles the book that inspired it and therefore is a tribute to Love, maybe even a tribute to Life »

To this day it certainly remains Truffaut's most appreciated movie.

The Iranian Queen's lives and fate were also to have their share of influence on the Arts in France.
Soraya Bakhtiary Esfandiary the Shah's second wife was to make headlines as the Princess with Sad Eyes after her divorce for failing to give a heir to the Peacock Throne. The tragic destiny of Soraya (who was also to attempt a short-lived film career) was to inspire a poem to French writer Françoise Mallet Joris as Je veux pleurer comme Soraya that was later put into music by Marie Paul Belle in the 1970's.

In 1959 a shy and unknown Art student Farah Diba was to be noticed at the Iranian Embassy in Paris by the Shah of Iran who had recently divorced from Soraya. The future Queen who was studying at the Beaux Arts became the focus of attention and the French Press was to see her as the new Persian Cinderella. Christian Dior and Yves Saint Laurent were chosen to dress the new Queen for her marriage and later her coronation in 1967.
The Empress' Art studies in Paris were determinant in her intense activities in the field of Arts (See Empress of the Arts )such as creating the Kanoon Va Parvaresh Institute for the Intellectual Development of Children, the film department of which was to discover future film talents as the then unknown Abbas Kiarostami, she was also to create the Shiraz International Arts Festival which hosted the works of Choreographer Maurice Béjart .

Empress Farah was also to become one of the rare foreign dignitaries to become a permanent member of the French Academie des Beaux Arts . A position that during her reign encouraged French Arts and particularly French Films to be showcased in Iran and allowed several French co-production such as Jacques Perrin's Le Desert des Tartars aka The Tartars Desert to be shot in Bam in the Mid 70's.

I was lucky to meet actor and director Robert Hossein a few years ago in Paris with his friend and colleague director Roman Polanski. The son of Hossein the late Russian-Iranian composer Aminollah (Andr&#233 Hossein told me that his father had converted to Zoroastrianism and had found some inner peace and serenity in this faith. His father composed several symphonies among them, "Persian Miniature", "I Love My Country", "Symphony Persepolis" and "Scheherezade" (Shahrzad), which was choreographed by George Skibine, one of Diaghilev's dancers . Some of this music was recently used to showcase the British Museum exhibition Forgotten Empire and the DVD of the event narrated by actor Omid Djalilli

[Rasputin]

Born in Paris on December 30th 1927, Robert Hosseinov (he changed his name subsequently to Hossein ) started his acting carreer with his French Armenian friend Chahnour Varinag Aznavourian ( better known as the famed crooner Charles Aznavour) in the mid fifties essentially type casted as " Mr. Tough Guy ". However he attained international fame in the early Sixties particularily in Europe, Russia and Asia as the mysterious " Jeoffrey, Comte de Peyrac " lover of the lovely Michèle Mercier in the soft erotic-adventure film series of Angélique Marquise des Anges . In the seventies and eighties he was to play opposite Jean Paul Belmondo in police thrillers like The Professional . Hossein became particularily known for being a talented theater director and his taste for popular historical vehicles involving large sets and numerous actors. He continues to be active and is to deliver a much-expected spectacle Ben Hur this year at the Stade de France (See Ben Hur ) . He also paid a rare tribute to his own father Aminollah in his autobiography Nostalge who composed many of the music scores of his movies, some of which include Franco-Italian Western Spaghettis.

The political upheaval of May 1968 that failed to overthrow President Charles De Gaulle and the French institutions was yet to have a deep cultural impact and particularly in films. The French New Wave pioneers had already expressed their solidarity with the Workers mouvement during the Cannes Film festival , which they virtually paralysed. However Truffaut, and Goddard were by then joined by newcomers such as Claude Lelouche, Alain Robbe-Grillet, or Claude Berri. The sexual content in films were to become more explicit and graphically detailed as opposed to most conventional films and particularly Hollywood productions. Amongst the égeries of this era, Anicée Shahmanesh became known as the only sex bomb to rival Brigitte Bardot or Claudia Cardinal. She reached stardom under the screen name Anicée Alvina, playing a French girl in a British film hit called Friends , the music score of which propelled British Pop Star Elton John. A story on two young lovers who decide to bring up their baby against social prejudices and conventions the film became emblematic for a whole generation. The film was followed by a sequel under the title Paul and Michelle with equal success bringing the attention of French directors on the new French Star. It was under the direction of Alain Robbe-Grillet that Anicée was to become the new sex icon of the 70's in such films as Glissements Progressifs du Désir or Le Jeu avec le Feu which unfortunately typecast her in one dimensional role's taking advantage of her undeniable physical beauty but which subsequently hurt her carreer. She was also to take on a courageous Lesbian role in the screen adaptation of Françoise Mallet-Joris' novel Le Rempart des Béguines .
She also played opposite Hollywood Star Robert Stack in the directorial début of Claude Chabrol's emblematic actor Gérard Blain ( Le beau Serge ) with Un Second Souffle in what seemed like a title tribute to Goddard's A Bout de Souffle aka Breathless .



Two major documentaries were produced in these post-68 years by respectively Agnès Varda and the duo Claude Lelouche-Claude Pinoteau.

Agnès Varda who first to revealed young actor Gérard Depardieu in her 1970 film Nausicaa , was to direct a love story set in Isfahan between a French women (Valérie Mairesse) visiting Iran as a tourist and her guide an Iranian Man (Ali Raffi). The film was entitled Plaisir D'Amour en Iran. The romantic film was shot on location in The Masjed Shah in 1976.

[Pesar_IroonI]

i watched ScaryMovie 4 it was Hilarious..

berid bebinidesh!