March 29, 2014

www.farhang.org

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SPECIAL THANKS & ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

2014 NOWRUZ PROGRAM AT A GLANCE

OUR SPONSORS FRIENDS OF FARHANG OUR VOLUNTEERSMiriam AminiParvin AminiradDori BankiFarshad DaneshvarPayam FarrokhiFarzaneh HorriatOmid KoohiParastoo MoradmouriMojan  RezvanRoshanak Varjavand

Aava DentalAmeriClerkship Medical SocietyCalifornia Bank & TrustCalifornia Zoroastrian CenterPort TheatreRadisson Newport BeachStratham Group

11:30 A.M. – 5:00 p.m.

11:30 A.M. - 4:00 P.M.

NOON - 3:00 P.M.

1:00 P.M. & 4:00 P.M.

2:30 P.M. - 3:30 P.M.

Haft-Sîn Display

Children’s Program by Khayam Persian School Foundation Saaz o Dohol Musicians + Traditional Persian Dancers

Puppet Show by Vida Ghahremani

Musical Performance by Nowruz Ensemble (Samueli Theater)Featuring Guest Vocalist Mamak KhademFREE ticket required

Screening of the Top 6 Films2014 Farhang Short Film Festival (Samueli Theater)Open to all, limited seating, no tickets required.

NOWRUZ CELEBRATION

Bank of GuamCorporate PrintingValley Oil Company

NOWRUZ COMMITTEE  Orange County CouncilAssad Kazeminy – ChairBizhan (BJ) FazeliShazad Ghanbari –TrusteeGilda Gilak - SecretaryFariba HezarMona Karimpour

Sharo KhastooParmis KhatibiTannaz MazareiPedram MizaniAnoosheh M. Oskouian – TrusteeDariush Rachedi

GILDA GILAK for her positive energy and dedication to the Orange County Council’s activities and programs.KHAYAM PERSIAN SCHOOL FOUNDATION for coordinating the children and youth activities.VIDA GHAHREMANI for her masterful puppetry and creative characters.ELEGANT SOFREH DESIGN for creating the beautiful Haft-Sîn display.

March 29, 2014

FILM FESTIVAL COMMITTEE CHAIR:  Mark Amin - TrusteeEXECUTIVE DIRECTOR: Bita MilanianPROGRAMS MANAGER: Sanam Zahir

Designed by Adroit Business Solutions, LLC. Sam Anvari | www.myadroit.com

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Afsoon Riazi, a graphic designer based in Vancouver, Canada has created this year’s winning design, at the heart of which is a red apple. Signifying health and beauty, a red apple is traditionally among the seven essential items that are featured in the Haft-Sîn, one of the centerpieces of Nowruz where each article symbolically corresponds to some aspect of life, nature, or creation.

Nowruz Banner Design WINNER

AFSOON RIAZI

Nowruz always invokes bright, inspiring and cordial memories that delightfully resonate in all of my Nowruz-related projects,” said Afsoon Riazi. “Its festivities gracefully represent the renewal of the Earth that occurs with the arrival of spring. This idea inspired me to create a symbolic illustration that embodies a new beginning in both eastern and western culture, through the use of the well-recog-nized motif of the Persian paisley (boteh jeghe) and the apple tree to reflect health and beauty in the renewal of the Earth.

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Afsoon Riazi

Children & Youth Program

11:30 A.M. - 4:00 P.M.Children’s Program by Khayam Persian School FoundationPuppet Show for Youth by Vida Gharemani

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Mamak KhademvocalCalled “...one of the wonders of world trance music”, by The Los Angeles Times, Mamak Khadem captivates audiences by blending her roots in the ancient poetry and music of the Persian masters with a bold and rev-olutionary new sound. By nature, she is a nomad, one who thrives on open spaces. By occupation, she is a bridge, one that connects geography to lore. In music, she is open to cultural influences, but she has chosen the classical Persian style as her base. Formerly of the sensational cross-cultural fusion ensemble AXIOM OF CHOICE, Mamak weaves a canopy, both simple and rich, for a stunningly emotional and spiritual musical expe-rience that inspires new listeners to embrace cultural diversity and an awareness and appreciation of Persian arts and culture through a blending of old and new.www.mamak-khadem.com

Sahba MotallebitarSahba Motallebi was born in 1978 in Tehran, Iran, and started playing traditional Persian music very early on. She is a graduate of Tehran Conservatory where she mastered playing Tar and Setar (traditional Persian in-struments) under the instructions of master Fariborz Azizi. In 2000 she joined the Iranian National Orchestra and since then she has been traveling around the world to present Persian music. Sahba has recorded several CDs and composed numerous theatrical pieces. Cur-rently she is a resident of Southern California where she spends most of her time teaching Tar and Setar to her students. www.sahbamotallebi.com

Pezhham AkhavasstonbakPezhham Akhavass is a percussionist/musi-cian and modern day master of the Tombak. Pezhham was born in 1980 and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in music from Sureh University of Tehran. With the support of his renowned artist father Mostafa, Pezhham began studying the Tombak at the age of five with the guidance of Naser Farhangh-far. From 1989-1991, he continued studying Tombak with Saeid Roudbary. While in col-lege, Pezhham also studied the Setar with Hamid Sokoti and Masoud Shaari. Pezhham also plays the Oud and Tanbour. In addition to the Tombak, Pezhham has studied other percussion instruments: daf, Indian tabla, kanjira and gatam. His unique approach to rhythm and style have resulted in him being termed one of the most distinguished tom-bak players of his generation.

Mehdi BagherikamanchehMehdi was born in Kermanshah in 1980, and started his musical endeavors by learning to play the Tonbak by Ramin Tafazoli. He then started learning other instruments in order to familiarize himself even further with Iranian music and composing. These included the Setar and Kamanche; he finallychose Kamanche as his main instrument. He learned playing the Kamancheh by Maestro Ardeshir Kamkar, and studied drama at the university at the same time. He graduated from the Theater Faculty in 2003, holding a BA degree. Mehdi has held several concerts across the world and has gone on stage in a variety of credible festivals and halls.

Hamidreza MalekisanturHamidreza Maleki is a sound engineer and a music producer living in New York with eight years of experience creating music and sound for albums, soundtracks, and various other projects. Hamidreza has managed and co-produced international concert tours, and set up, run, and mixed live shows. He also has more than two decades of experi-ence as a musician and has performed on stage with many master musicians.

with guest vocalist Mamak Khadem

SATURDAYMARCH 29, 20141 p.m. and 4 p.m.Samueli Theater

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In its sixth consecutive year, the 2014 Farhang Foundation Short Film Festival officially opened to the community at large on October 15, 2013. We called upon the public to submit short films visualizing some aspect of Iranian art, history, culture, craft , geography, cuisine, or lifestyle that would inspire and spark the audience’s interest in learning more about Iranian art, history, and culture.Competing for $10,000 (first prize), $5,000 (second prize), and $3,000 (third prize), he top submissions will be screened at 2:30 - 3:30 p.m. today in the Samueli Theater.Thank you to this year’s participants. Your creativity and passion for Iranian heritage and the cinematic arts inspire us all!Special gratitude to this year’s Film Festival Jury Committee for their dedication to Farhang Short Film Festival:

Mark Amin - ChairNazanin Boniadi

Hassan IldariHamid Nafic

Navid NegahbanMahnaz Newman

NOTE: All submitted films were judged by the Jury Committee based on the film’s artistic merits only. Views expressed by the filmmakers do not represent those of Farhang Foundation or its Board Members and Management. Top six films listed in alphabetical order.

The 2014 Farhang Foundation Short Film Festival received over 110 submissions from all over the globe, including the United States, Iran, Canada, Italy and the United Kingdom to name a few. We are proud to announce that Farhang Foundation has selected the above 6 submissions as the finalists, based on their originality, creativity, storytelling, production value, and visualization of Iranian heritage.

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Cyrus Cylinder ExhibitionIn 2013, for the first time in history, the Cyrus Cylinder, one of the ancient world’s most celebrated artifacts of freedom and human rights, traveled to 5 major U.S. cities in an exhibition titled The Cyrus Cylinder & Ancient Persia: A New Beginning. Accompanied by sixteen objects, the exhibition showcased the innovations initiated by Persian rule in the Ancient Near East (550 BC-331 BC), when the Per-sian Empire was then the largest the world had known. Farhang Foundation is proud to have been the sole financial and community sponsor of the tour’s final stop, Los Angeles, home to the largest Iranian community outside Iran, and worked closely with the Getty museum to ensure a successful exhibition at the Getty Villa from October 2 – December 8, 2013. The Cyrus Cylinder and Ancient Persia: A New Beginning, with just less than 75,000 visitors, became the number one exhibit based on weekly attendance average, in the history of the Getty Villa! During the weeks leading to and following this historic exhibition, Farhang Foundation sponsored over 15 pro-grams including a series of academic conferences, film screenings, books, lectures and educational opportuni-ties in collaboration with notable institutions such as the Getty, LACMA, USC, UCLA, UC Irvine, UC San Diego, and the PBS SoCal broadcast of Recreating Pasargadae: Cyrus the Great’s Paradise, to promote the ideals behind the Cyrus Cylinder. Through these programs Cyrus the Great and his ideals were introduced to over 55,000 additional attendees and viewers. Additionally, the launch of the Farhang Community and Education Outreach (CEO)

Committee allowed students a rare opportunity to learn about our culture through objects like the Cyrus Cylinder that is an enduring symbol of universal human rights, religious diversity and freedom. The CEO Committee helped facilitate field trips for over 160 schools and 10,000 students who would not have had the chance otherwise and provided “Cyrus Workshops” to several schools, reaching hundreds of teachers and students in Los Angeles and Orange County. CEO will continue its efforts to build bridges to more schools in our community in the future, giving more of our community-at-large the opportunity to learn about Iranian art and culture. The success of this exhibition and its supporting programs is due to the generosity and support of many of our community leaders and patrons. Even though the exhibition is now over, thanks to the generosity of our supporters, its message will resonate for years to come. To assure that, Farhang Foundation is planning an inter-national competition for the design and installation of a permanent piece of public urban art titled, “Freedom: A Shared Dream”. This large-scale project will celebrate the ideals of Cyrus the great that resonate with all hu-manity, with winning submission to be built and gifted to the City of Los Angeles, by Farhang Foundation on behalf of the Iranian American community. The Cyrus Cylinder national tour was organized by the British Museum in partnership with the Iran Heritage Foundation and the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution.

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Hormoz AmeriMark AminDar Gabbay Shazad GhanbariAhmad Gramian - Vice Chairman

Darioush KhalediFasha MahjoorRon MavaddatAria MehrabiFarhad Mohit - Vice Chairman

Shulamit NazarianAnoosheh M. OskouianHooshang PakAli C. Razi – ChairmanShidan Taslimi

Management TeamBita Milanian - Executive DirectorHassan Izad - Chief Financial OfficerSanam Zahir – Programs ManagerShahram Soleimani - Secretary

Eric Anvari - Deputy SecretaryDavid W. Newman - Legal Counsel (Pro Bono)Haydeh Shirmohammadi - Special Projects Director

Advisory CommitteeJanet Afary - University of California Santa BarbaraElizabeth Carter - University of California Los AngelesFereshteh Daftari - Independent Scholar and CuratorTouraj Daryaee - University of California Irvine - Academic CoordinatorLayla Diba – Independent Scholar and CuratorArash Khazeni - Pomona CollegeLinda Komaroff - Los Angeles County Museum of ArtAfshin Matin-Asgari - California State University Los AngelesSheida Mohamadi - Poet-in Residence at Maryland UniversityAli Mousavi - Los Angeles County Museum of ArtShirin Neshat - Modern ArtNasrin Rahimieh - University of California IrvineShardad Rohani - COTA Symphony Orchestra - Los AngelesKourosh Taghavi - Namâd Ensemble

Board of Trustees

Fine Arts CouncilRoshi Rahnama – ChairFirouzeh Ameri Amir Angha Ladan Behnia Azadeh Dadgostar Shahrzad Farhadi Ati FarmaniShazad Ghanbari – TrusteeShahpar Khaledi Homa Mahmoudi Shulamit Nazarian –TrusteeMaryam Pak Anousheh Razi Mehrzad Roshan Katy Saei

Patron CouncilAbdi Rais – ChairPouria Abbassi Nazfar Afshar Farhad Bahar Ahmad Gramian –TrusteeSaid JabbariAfshin KatebReza MomeniHadi Morshed

UCLA CouncilMark Amin – TrusteeFarhad Mohit – TrusteeAli C. Razi – Trustee

Generations CouncilAmir Hemmat – ChairAli Elahi Ali FakhariFarhad Mohit – Co-Chair, TrusteeSara PakSheila ParsaNaseem Sagati

Orange County CouncilAssad Kazeminy – Chair Bijan FazeliShazad Ghanbari –TrusteeGilda Gilak - SecretaryFariba Hezar Mona Karimpour Sharo Khastoo Parmis Khatibi Tannaz Mazarei Pedram Mizani Anoosheh M. Oskouian – TrusteeDariush Rachedi

Iranian Studies CouncilHaleh Emrani – ChairAmir Aalam Mehrdad Amanat Akbar Azad Houshang Dadgostar Ahmad Gramian – TrusteeHassan Izad –CFORon Mavaddat –TrusteeMichael Saei Sussan Sharifian Farrok Yazdi