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The Cultural Frontline: Iran Through the Eyes of its Artists

Magazines & Reviews

Fashion, film and finding freedom in Iran

23/02/2019 GMT

Iran Through the Eyes of its Artists

BBC World Service - The Cultural Frontline, Iran Through the Eyes of its Artists

Forty years after the 1979 Iranian Revolution, how has Iran changed culturally?

Forty years after the 1979 Iranian Revolution, we hear from artists inside and outside of the country to find out how Iran has changed culturally

This month marks the 40th anniversary of the 1979 Iranian Revolution which toppled the Shah of Iran and brought in an Islamic Republic. The seismic changes which swept the country included strict Islamic dress codes for women in public and censorship of music and the arts. But 40 years on, how has Iran changed culturally?  

Tina speaks to two designers inside and outside of Iran about how Iranian wardrobes mix modesty with modernity. Iranian designer and stylist Shadi Parand has dedicated her long career to reviving the rich heritage of Persian textiles and embroidery with a contemporary twist. While as a designer and the founding editor of the Tehran Times blog, Araz Fazaeli has a dual perspective on how the street and the social media screen inspire young Iranians.

You’ve heard of a pub crawl, but what about a gallery crawl? We hear from Haleh Anvari, an arts reporter based in Tehran and Salman Matinfar, who owns one of the leading galleries for modern art in the capital, on the growing trend for ‘gallery hopping’ amongst the young and the blossoming arts scene in the country.  

Iran has produced some of the world’s most celebrated films and directors over the last 40 years, including masters like Abbas Kiarostami, Mohsen Makhmalbaf and more recently the Oscar winning Asghar Farhadi. But how are the new generation of Iranian film makers making their mark and how do they navigate the red lines of censorship? We hear from one of those young film makers, Ali Jaberansari, whose film Tehran City of Love featured in the London Film Festival and Dr Saeed Zeydabadi, an expert on Iranian cinema from the School of Oriental and African Studies in London.  

And has a book, a song or a film ever changed the way you think about life? The acclaimed singer-songwriter Gola shares the story of the film that changed her life, inspiring her to overcome the obstacles she has faced as Iranian female musician and giving her the confidence to express herself fully as an artist.

Presented by Tina Daheley


Image: photo exhibition by Iranian photographer Newsha Tavakolian in Ab-Anbar Art Gallery in Tehran, Iran. Credit: Kaveh Kazemi/Getty Images

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