از شما دعوت میکنیم که به گفتگوی امینا ماهر و مینا خانی ملحق بشوید. امینا، فیلمساز زن ترنس ایرانی، از مسیر هنری خودش با مینا صحبت خواهد کرد.
 

Amina Maher, b. 1992, 

Based in Berlin, Germany

Amina Maher (b. Tehran, 1992) is an Iranian queer filmmaker whose works deal with themes of social taboos and gender-identity in relation to violence and power structure. She began her cinematic activity as the main protagonist in Abbas Kiarostami's "Ten” which featured the real-life relationship between Amina and her mother. Her first short film was Sweet Gin and Cold Wine, followed by Orange. Her multi-awarded short film, Letter to my mother, was part of the competition at numerous international film festivals such as 36th Kasseler Dokfest, 35th Lovers Film Festival, 34th Mix Milano Film Festival and 26th Cheries Cheris, LGBTQIA+ Film Festival, Paris. Among numerous reviews, the film was described as a means for survival, a way to stand up and to understand – a fearless and strong examination that touches upon the centre of the pain and dares to look precisely. َAmina currently studies her MA in directing at Babelsberg University Konrad Wolf.

مینا خانی

رقصنده، تحلیلگر اجتماعی و فمینیست است. او در سالهای  ۲۰۱۰، ۲۰۱۱ و ۲۰۱۷ در نمایش‌های پرتقال کوکی، ضیافت و جنگ مقدس به کارگردانی رضا جعفری بازی کرده است و خود نیز رقص، مونولگ و نمایشی ۴۵ دقیقه با نام «از میان سایه‌ها» را در فستیوال‌های مختلف تئاتر هنری روی صحنه برده است. او سالهاست در نشریات مختلف فارسی و آلمانی مقالاتی در مورد مسایل سیاسی و اجتماعی از زاویه فمینیستی می‌نویسد و از سال ۲۰۱۸ در شبکه شش‌رنگ ـ شبکه لزبین‌ها و ترنسجندرهای ایرانی ـ مشغول به کارست.

دکتر نغمه ثمینی

نغمه ثمینی– نمایشنامه‌نویس، فیلمنامه نویس و پژوهشگر تئاتر- در تهران به دنیا می‌آید، او تحصیلات دانشگاهی خود را در سال ۱۳۷۰ در رشته ادبیات نمایشی آغاز می‌کند و سپس در رشته سینما -در مقطع کار‌شناسی ارشد- و پژوهش هنر -در مقطع دکترا- ادامه می‌دهد.

ثمینی با آثاری چون: «راز‌ها و دروغ‌ها»، «افسون معبد سوخته»، «خواب در فنجان خالی»، «شکلک» و «اسب‌های آسمان خاکستر می‌بارد»، یکی از مطرح‌ترین نمایشنامه‌نویسان معاصر ایران است.

وی  علاوه بر نمايشنامه نويسي  و تاليف كتاب هاي پژوهشي ، در فیلمنامه‌نویسی نیز دست به قلم برده است و در نشریاتی چون فصلنامه هنر، کتاب ماه هنر، کارنامه، خیال و هنرهای زیبا مقالات متعددی منتشر کرده است. او هم اکنون استاد دانشگاه است و در دانشگاه واشنگتن به عنوان عضو وابسته حضور دارد.

وي در ايران ، مالزي، انگلستان ، امريكا و ژاپن وورك شاپ هاي نمايشنامه نويسي برگزار كرده است. همچنين بيش از بيست نمايشنامه از وي در ايران، آلمان، فرانسه، امريكا و كشورهاي ديگر روي صحنه رفته است

Please join us for a friendly zoom gap with Pooya Mohseni and Jackie Cox on Apr 17th at 2 pm (ET). In this conversation, we will listen to Pooya’s experience as an Iranian-American actor, writer, filmmaker & Transgender activist in New York City, as Jackie tells us about their journey as a Canadian drag queen performer based in New York City.

Pooya Mohseni is an Iranian-American actor, writer, filmmaker & Transgender activist. She's co-producer/star/writer of "Transit ", a short film about love between a trans woman and a cis man, coming out in 2021.

Her stage performances include "She, He, Me" by Raphael Aime Khouri, for National Queer Theater, dir Sivan Battat, “Our Town” in Pride Plays, dir Jenna Worsham, “Hamlet" in Play On Shakespeare festival, dir Ellen McLaughlin, an award-winning one-woman show "One Woman", in United Solo at The Theatre Row, dir Joan Kane, "Galatea", dir Mo Zhou for the WP Pipeline festival and "The Good Muslim" dir William Carden at EST.

She has guest-starred on “Law & Order: SVU “ dir Mariska Hargitay, “Falling Water" on the USA, “Madam Secretary” and a recurring guest star on the drama "Big Dogs" on Amazon Prime. Her newest feature film "See You Then" dir Mari Walker will make its premiere at SXSW, Atlanta Film Festival, and others this year. She is a member of the advisory council for Ackerman Institute's Gender and Family Project.

JACKIE COX is best known as one of the Top 4 contestants from Season 12 of RuPaul’s Drag Race and was the first queen of Iranian descent to appear on the show, making Drag Race “her-story” when she wore a hijab on the runway. In her hometown of NYC, Jackie has long been a feature of the theatrical cabaret scene, performing her own original shows at the famed Laurie Beechman Theater. Prior to Drag Race, Jackie appeared on TV in ABC's "What Would You Do?", in Fusion's "Shade: Queens of NYC", as well as numerous appearances on Bravo's "Watch What Happens Live", winning the title of "Real Queen of Beverly Hills" for her impersonation of TV personality and Depends on undergarment spokeswoman, Lisa Rinna.

Please join us in welcoming the founders of Project 13 - An experimental program of virtual art exhibitions initiated by five female Iranian artists based in California. In this conversation, Shaghayegh Cyrous, BSisters, Mobina Nouri, and Mehregan Pezeshki will tell us about the past, present, and future of Project 13. 

Shaghayegh Cyrous

is Iranian-American multimedia and social practice artist and curator based in  Oakland. She creates poetic installations and interactive performances focusing on cross-cultural  communication and translation strategies, addressing predicaments of estrangement and distance  caused by political and cultural power dynamics. Cyrous received her BA in Visual Art from Science and  Culture University in Tehran and her MFA in Social Practice from California College of the Arts in San  Francisco. She has exhibited and performed internationally at venues including Tehran Museum of  Contemporary Art, Asian Art Museum in San Francisco, Jane Addams Hull-House Museum in Chicago,  British Museum in London, and Anchorage Museum in Alaska. 

Cyrous's curatorial and programming passion led her to also work as the Programming Associate at  Aggregate Space Gallery in Oakland, researcher and production assistant of Jim Campbell for the Day For  Night project at Salesforce Tower, as well as working on many Social Practice projects as Civic and  Community Engagement Coordinator at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. She is on the Advisory board of  directors of the Clarion Alley Mural Project in San Francisco and has been on the jury panel of several  national and international exhibitions and grants, including the California Art Council's Local Impact.  Cyrous additionally works as an independent curator in Tehran, London, and the bay area. 

BSisters 

Behnaz and Baharak Khaleghi are multimedia artists and collaborators originating from Iran who  currently live in the Bay Area where Behnaz pursued her MFA at the University of California Berkeley,  and Baharak pursued hers at San Jose State University. In their practice, deploying an array of  mediums, they seek alternative ways of making feminist art in a Middle Eastern context, usually  paying attention to the potentials of humor and pleasure while simultaneously embracing the  aesthetics of disgust and push against taste to develop new categories for beauty; what is  pleasurable and libidinous for women as defined by women, offensive to male taste and its  ownership. 

Behnaz's work has been acclaimed and chosen among Bay Area emerging artists as part of the  Murphy and Cadogan Contemporary Art Awards program and has been exhibited in spaces such as  the De Young Museum and the Berkeley Art Museum. Baharak's work has been exhibited in spaces  such as the De Young Museum and Root Division Gallery in San Francisco. 

Mobina Nouri

Mobina Nouri is an Iranian Multi-disciplinary artist based in San Francisco whose practice reflects her personal history as a female immigrant. Nouri received her BA in Performance art and MA in Art and Design from Tehran Art University, Iran and her PhD in Creativity from City University London, UK. Working across a variety of media, the artist mines her country’s tradition of storytelling, often turning to Persia’s philosophies and mysticism to contemplate and reconsider the complexities which she bears witness to in the contemporary moment. Explorations of the body, the self, gender, unity and collective approaches are central to her practice which she approaches through a reimagining of linguistic and social schemas.

Mobina has exhibited internationally across a range of group exhibitions in Iran, United Kingdom and the United States. Her work is included in private collections and recently exhibited in de Young Museum San Francisco, and has been featured in local and international publications. Nouri received 2020 special mention artists from MOZAIK Future art award, 2020 Juror’s Choice in “Art Saves Humanity” Competition Including Jerry Saltz, Marine Tanguy, Christine Cuan and Poppy Simpson and 2019 Juror’s choice, San Francisco Women Artists Gallery. She is one of the five female founders of Project13 Exhibition.

Mehregan Pezeshki 

Mehregan Pezeshki is an Iranian-American multidisciplinary artist based in the United State who concentrates mostly on photography, video and performance art. Her artwork is often autobiographical, unraveling the traumatic memories of her youth while growing up as a free spirited young girl in the socially restrictive Islamic Republic of Iran. 

Pezeshki uses photography to uncover hidden behavior, privacy and deeply rooted traditions, which affect our daily lives. She asks us to consider the ramifications of our innermost desires and invites the audience to rethink how they interact with others. She employs an unconventional angle that challenges the viewer to step out of his/her comfort zone and observe human behaviors from a new perspective. 

Pezeshki holds a Bachelor of Arts in Historical Conservation and Preservation from the Cultural Heritage University of Tehran and a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Texas at Austin. She currently continuing her MFA at California Institutes of The Arts.

Please join us for a zoom conversation about Female Bodies and their narratives in Iranian cinema and theatre with Behnaz Jafari, Bahar Katouzi, and Samaneh Zandinejad. This conversation has been curated and moderated by Diana Fathi.

Bio’s

Please join us for this intimate zoom conversation with the Founder/Creative Director/Designer of DORIAN WHO. We will chat with Dorian about her work and journey as an Iranian designer based in Toronto. this conversation will be in English.

Dorian Who

Dorian Rahimzadeh is a Toronto-based Iranian Canadian designer featured by Elle Canada, Business of Fashion, Haber Turk, Women’s Sense, Nouvelle, Toronto Life, Beautiful Blood, and Fashion Magazine. Dorian started DORIAN WHO in 2018, a slow-made, season-less, Avant-garde streetwear brand inspired by her heritage and her love for culture. Growing up in Iran, fashion was always a gateway for her to freely express herself in a restricted environment. Dorian studied fashion design at Lasalle College in Istanbul, Turkey and moved to Toronto in 2015 shortly after graduating. Life in Canada gave her freedom of expression and many opportunities, ultimately inspiring her to start her own clothing line. Dorian’s dream is to break all the rules and boundaries, to encourage people to style themselves for WHO they are and bring the runways to the streets.

Please join us for a zoom conversation with four Iranian Female Filmmakers, Negar Azarbaijani, Zeinab Tabrizy, Rojin Shafiei, and Sahar Mosayebi Around the topic of the Female Body in Iran's Cinema and their observation and experience around the issue. This conversation is facilitated by Iranian film critic Nozhat Badi and curated in collaboration with Garineh Nazarian.

Negar Azarbaijani (FACING MIRRORS, the story of an Iranian trans woman) 

Director, Script Writer was born in February 1974.  She has a BA degree in cinema from the Art University of Tehran-Iran.  She also has an MA degree in visual media arts from Emerson College in Boston-US.

She started her career in pictures by acting in a few television series and also worked as the assistant editor on the movie "Sheyda" (directed by Kamal Tabrizi).  In 2000 and after acting in "Afflicted Generation" (directed by Rasool Molagholipour), she moved to the United States to continue her studies.   She was involved in writing and translating scripts and trade articles during and after her graduate program in the United states.   She also directed a number of Shorts and Animations in the US as well as in Iran.  Among her short subjects are "Safe Corner", "Roya" and also "Virtual Truth" which won the critic's special award from Tehran film festival in 2007. She started writing scripts for feature films in 2007 and directed her first feature in 2011. Her first feature "Facing Mirrors"   won several awards in the International Fajr Film Festival, Iranian Critics Film Festival, International Urban (Shahr) film festival & KHNEH CINEMA ( the alliance of professional guilds of cinema). It also has attended in more than 150 international film festivals around the world and has won more than 50 awards including Circle Award from Washington DC, International Film Festival – 2012. “Season of Narges” is her second feature.

Sahar Mosayebi (PLATFORM, the story of three Iranian Wushu female fighters)
Sahar Mosayebi was born in Iran in 1975. She studied Theater Arts at School of Art in Tehran and received her bachelor’s degree in 1998. Very soon after her graduation, Sahar started working as Script Supervisor in the Iranian film industry, and soon she became one of the busiest script supervisors of the Iranian cinema. She stayed in this role for over a decade, and she worked closely with some of the most famous directors, including Alireza Davoodnejad, Kiumars Pourahmad, Alireza Reisian, Mani Haghighi, Maziar Miri, and Manijeh Hekmat. 

During her time working in the Iranian mainstream cinema, Sahar also worked as first assistant director and production manager, two very hard-hitting positions to be taken by Iranian women in a male-dominated industry. 

Before turning completely to directing and working on feature films, Sahar directed numbers of shorts and documentaries. PLATFORM (Farsi: AZ SAKOO TA SEFR) is Sahar’s first feature film, co-produced by award winning actress Mahtab Keramati and longtime producer and production manager Tahoora Abolghasemi. A ROCKY-esque tale of determination and grit, PLATFOMR follows of three Iranian sisters as they compete to become international champions of Wushu, a Chinese martial art. The sisters thrilling underdog story explores not only their dedicated training, but also their surprising place in society as they challenge traditional gender roles on the path to success.

PLATFORM went on to play on numbers of film festivals around the world and it won the best Discovery Award at Raindance Film Festival in London in 2019. PLATFORM was the first feature documentary that was released theatrically nationwide in Iran and became the number one selling documentary of all time in the country. 

After the success of PLATFORM, Sahar directed another documentary focusing on female sports, this time football, in Iran. Her feature fiction, in post-production, is also portraying another female athlete, who has marked the Guinness record for swimming the longest distance with her hands tied. ORCA is also co-produced by Mahtab Keramti and Tahoora Abolghasemi, in which internationally known Taraneh Alidoosti (THE SALESMAN) plays Elham. 

Rojin Shafiei (visual arts and filmmaker worked on the female body in various aspects)

(b.1993)  is an Iranian interdisciplinary artist/filmmaker living and working in Toronto. In her works, art is a vehicle for the translation of cultural messages and is used to present diverse feminine subjectivities. She presents these themes both through a literal documentary style and as symbols. Rojin received her BFA in Intermedia from Concordia University in 2017 and currently, she is an MFA candidate in Film Production at York University.  She has screened her work internationally in various festivals such as les Rendez-Vous du Cinéma Québécois (Canada), Festival International de Vidéo de Casablanca (Morocco), Limited Access Video Festival (Tehran) and Instant Vidéo Numériques et Poétiques (France). In 2019 she was the Venice Lands Art Prize candidate in Treviso, Italy and she won the grand prize of Startupfest/Artupfest section in July 2018 for her piece "I wait for the time."

Zeinab Tabrizy (ALL THAT’S MISSING, the story of a woman battling with breast cancer)

Join us for a celebration of Iranian female composers’ solo works, performed by talented Iranian women in the diaspora. This online concert will be followed by a zoom reception. Flourishing Moments  It’s a co-presentation of Himeh Cultural House and Emruz Festival featuring the following pieces and artists:

The voice- Performer Saba Yousefi , Composer: Atefeh Einali

A Sketch- Performer: Anoush Taba’i, Composer: Mercedeh Gholami

Veiled - Performer: Kimia Hesabi, Composer: Niloufar Nourbakhsh 

Looking For You - Performer: Taraneh Pouryousef, Composer: Shabnam Amiri

Running out of mind- Performer: Niloufar Sohi, Composer: Zola Saadi-Klein

Composers:

Atefeh Einali

https://www.atefeheinali.com/

 Atefeh Einali currently resides in Manchester, UK. She has completed her master’s degree in composition at the University of Manchester. As graduate of the Art University of Tehran, she is also an active Santoor player and she has performed in the UK, Netherlands and Iran. Recently, she finished her piece in the Composing for Sitar scheme in Psappha. Currently, she is selected by international Guitar foundation (IGF) to write a piece for solo Guitar.

Also, she was one of the winners in SIMF (ACIMIC= The Association of Iranian Contemporary Music Composers) competition in France in November 2018. Moreover, her pieces have been performed by Jae-Won in Zutphen, the Netherlands in Bach festival, Alternance Ensemble in France, Trio Atem ensemble, Danel quartet and Eskandari quartet and Psappha ensemble at the University of Manchester. In addition, one of her pieces (The voice) has been published in volume 23 of Women and music: A Journal of Gender and Culture (WAM Journal), the USA. Now, a unique collaboration (Avazad fusion ensemble) is formed by her and Eliorah Goodman in Manchester. She has performed in Avazad fusion ensemble on numerous occasions; programming a combination of traditional music alongside experimental compositions they have created themselves.

Mercedeh Gholami

Mercedeh is an Iranian composer and Setar player born and raised in Tehran.

She first encountered music at the age of nine, playing Setar (an Iranian chordophone played by plucking the strings with a finger) and learning the fundamentals of Iranian music with Mohammad-Reza Bayat. In 2012, she entered Tehran University of Art, College of Music, and received her bachelor’s degree in composition with the final project “Passacaglia for Orchestra” in 2016. She has studied composition with Karen Keyhani and Mohammad Reza Tafazzoli, as well as participating in the "International Summer Academy of mdw" under the supervision of Yann Robin. Inspired by Iranian classical music, ingrained in her since childhood, and Contemporary music, she tries to make a connection between the two to achieve her style. Mercedeh’s pieces have been performed in isa Festival of mdw, 2nd Tehran International Contemporary Music Festival, 10th NED Ensemble Festival, 1st Alfred Schnittke International Composers’ Forum, etc.

Niloufar Nourbakhsh 

Described as “stark” by WNPR and “darkly lyrical” by the New York Times, a winner of the Second International Hildegard commission award and a 2019 recipient of Opera America’s Discovery Grant, Niloufar Nourbakhsh’s music has been performed at numerous festivals and venues including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, and the Kennedy Center. A founding member and co-director of Iranian Female Composers Association, Nourbakhsh is a strong advocate of music education and equal opportunities. She is currently a Teaching Artist at Brooklyn Music School, an adjunct faculty at Molloy College, and a co-director of Peabody Conservatory Laptop Ensemble, while finishing her doctorate at Stony Brook University.

Shabnam Amiri

Born in 1999, I have started learning music with the instrument Daf when I was 11 and then learning Settar and Piano. I am a composer student and I am learning improvisation with Negin Zomorodi and film music with Fardin Khalaatbari

Zola Saadi-Klein

Zola Saadi-Klein is an 18-year-old composer, vocalist and violinist from Los Angeles.

She received the 2020 ASCAP Foundation Irving Berlin Scholarship Award. Zola has been a Fellow in the LA Phil Nancy and Barry Sanders Composer Fellowship Program since 2019 under the mentorship of Andrew Norman, Sarah Gibson, and Thomas Kotcheff. She studies composition with Dr. Ian Krouse, Co-Head of Composition at UCLA’s Herb Alpert School of Music. She is also a Fellow in the 2020-2021 Luna Composition Lab, which mentors and gives performance opportunities to female-identifying, non-binary or gender non-conforming young composers. Currently, she is writing a percussion quartet under the mentorship of inspiring composer, Gity Razaz.

A senior at Los Angeles County High School for the Arts (LACHSA), she plays violin with the LACHSA Symphony Orchestra, string and chamber ensembles, and was part of the LACHSA Opera Company.

Zola’s piece The Vixen Hunts for solo clarinet was performed at Sunset Chamberfest in June 2020. She was selected to participate in the Walden Young Musicians Experience, where her piece for solo viola, Running Out of Mind, was premiered by Tawnya Popoff.

For inspiration, Zola enjoys hiking in the Santa Monica Mountains and painting watercolor abstractions.

Performers 

Saba Yousefi

Being a passionate performer and pedagogue, Saba Yousefi graduated from University of Toronto where she received both of her Master of Violin Performance and Bachelor of Violin Performance degrees. Saba started playing Violin at the age of seven in Tehran-Iran. She attended the Tehran Conservatory of Music and graduated with a Diploma in Music. Saba had the role of Concertmaster in the Austrian Embassy Orchestra in Tehran and assistant concertmaster at the Tehran Philharmonic Orchestra. Saba won the first prize in Tehran classical music competition as a soloist. She immigrated to Canada in order to expand her Musical journey. Saba has studied with the members of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, Vancouver Symphony orchestra, and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. Her past teachers have included Jaques Israelievitch, Khachik Babayan, Erika Raum, and Mark Fewer. She has performed in solo and chamber music master classes for Barry Shiffman, Jonathan Crow, Andrew Wan, Timothy Ying, Yehonathan Berick, and Gryphon Trio, St. Lawrence string quartet, and the New Orford String Quartet. Saba currently is a member of the Ontario Philharmonic, and one of the Co-founders at LyreIran.

Anoush Taba’i

Iranian-born clarinetist Anoush Taba’i, graduated from University of Toronto’s Faculty of Music with Artistic Diploma in Clarinet Performance, found her own way into Western classical music.  Her music studies began in Tehran with Tombak under Siamak Bana’i.  After immigrating to Toronto, she picked up clarinet as her second instrument.   After receiving a degree in Software Engineering, her fascination with Western music and the vast range of moods and emotions captured by it made her pursue clarinet performance as a new area of study, first under Shalom Bard, Max Christie, and later Joseph Orlowski.  Over the last couple of years, Anoush has continuously work with various composers on pieces that blend Iranian and Western music. She is a founding member of Charsu Quartet. Charsu had their debut concert at Aga Khan Museum in Nov 2019.

Kimia Hesabi

Dr. Kimia Hesabi is a violist and an educator based in the Washington D.C area. An active chamber musician, Ms. Hesabi is the founder of Yasna Ensemble. This ensemble performs contemporary compositions and arrangements that are inspired by Middle Eastern classical and folk music. In her DMA dissertation project, “Viola from Iran: Continuing and Expanding the Trajectory of a Rich Cultural History,” Ms. Hesabi has performed, researched, and recorded an album of several commissioned and premiered works for viola by Iranian composers. In addition to performing, Ms. Hesabi is an active teacher and clinician in the Washington, DC metropolitan area and is currently on the string faculty at the International School of Music in Bethesda, Maryland. Recent clinics include a workshop, masterclass and performance on Iranian contemporary music at the American University, Katzen Art Center. As a new leadership team member of District New Music Coalition, Ms. Hesabi will work with DNMC to promote the performance and appreciation of contemporary music by connecting performers, composers, institutions, and audiences located in the Washington, D.C area through concerts, conferences, and active community building. Ms. Hesabi is the recipient of the prestigious Thomas Fellowship from the University of Tennessee and the Dean’s Fellowship for Academic Excellence from the University of Maryland and holds degrees from University of Tehran, Iran and the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

Taraneh Pouryousef 

Taraneh Pouryousef, an Iranian classical flute player based in Amsterdam.

She was a quite active flute player in Iran. she has cooperated with “Iran symphony Orchestra”, “Iran National Orchestra”, “Ara Nova big band” and several other ensembles.

She has moved to Netherlands on 2017 to study music in “Prins Claus Conservatorium”.

She has her own duo for flute and piano together with her friend Greta Gutuleac called “Hofduo” and they have their own projects and concerts throughout the Netherlands.

She also cooperates with some other collectives and Orchestras in Amsterdam like “Marmoucha Collective”.

Niloofar Sohi

Niloofar Sohi is an Iranian musician who started her music career at the age of 8 and was enrolled in music school by the age of 12. She plays the Viola and has studied with great teachers of Iranian and American backgrounds, such as Korey Konkol, Setareh Beheshti, and Taha Abedian. She ranked first among all students while studying music and performance at Tehran University. She also distinguished as an Elite student in National Elite Foundation and won the first award of the University to continue her studies for a master’s degree in Performing Arts. Niloofar is now studying DMA viola performance at the University of Minnesota.

Niloofar has the experience of working with various American and Iranian orchestras. She has been part of international projects such as Le Vie Dell’Amicizia Ravenna-Tehran with Riccardo Muti (Italy), Internava Ensembles (Europe and Iran), and FeminEast festivals’ concerts (Sweden). She is a former violist of the Shahrzad Ensemble, and she has worked with great Iranian musicians such as Homayoun Shajarian, Pournazeri Brothers, and Houshyar Khayam.

She is also an award winner of the National Youth Music Festival and Fajr festivals and has performed in many concerts in Asia, Europe, and The United States.

Niloofar has also recorded different CD’s such as “The Other Side” by Houshyar Khayam, “Unspoken Grievances” by Amin Honarmand; and worked with numerous composers for recording projects like Peyman Yazdanian, Bardia Kiaras, and conductors, Shahrdad Rohani, Nasir Heydarian, Riccardo Muti and Mark Stevenson, Mark Russel Smith, and Osmo Vänskä.

Please join us for a master class, and Q & A session with Sheila Vand. Sheila will work with 2 - 3 actors on their craft of acting and after that, we will have a Q& A open to all.

Sheila Vand (born April 27, 1985) is an Iranian-American actress and performance artist. Vand was born in Los Angeles. She is a second-generation Iranian-American. She graduated from the UCLA School of Theater, Film, and Television where she studied acting and directing

Vand’s resume is loaded with many outstanding credits including A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night, The Rental, and the big debut of Snowpiercer. She has been the star of Shirin Neshat’s latest movie, Land of Dreams. Also, she performed in many exceptional theatre productions such as Hamlet, Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo, and many more.

Please join us for this conversation as we explore the gender issues in Iran’s post-revolutionary music scene. This session will be recorded interviews with our artists: Sima Bina, Masoumeh Mehrali, Samin Ghorbani, Maedeh Tabatabaei, and Peyman Soltani.

The Webinar Series “Iranian Womxn in Music” is a research collaboration between (IFCA) Iranian Female Composers Association and Female Voice of Iran curated by ethnomusicologist Yalda Yazdani.

This research will be in the form of online discussions, panels, and interviews with ethnomusicologists, instrumentalists, composers, and singers in different regions of Iran and abroad, focusing on gender Issues in post-revolutionary Iran’s music scene.

For the first webinar, we are so honored to have the invitation from Emruz Festival, co-curated by Niloufar Nourbakhsh and Shadi Ghaheri with Development and Production Director, Kazem Ghouchani to present three days of a symposium on 6, 7, and 8th March 2021.

Please join us for this conversation as we explore the gender issues in Iran’s western classical music scene. This session will be an online webinar over zoom with our artists: Sheida Gharachedaghi, Ariana Barkeshli, Martyna Kosecka, Golnar Shahyar, and Alireza Banaei.

The Webinar Series “Iranian Womxn in Music” is a research collaboration between (IFCA) Iranian Female Composers Association and Female Voice of Iran curated by ethnomusicologist Yalda Yazdani.

This research will be in the form of online discussions, panels, and interviews with ethnomusicologists, instrumentalists, composers, and singers in different regions of Iran and abroad, focusing on gender Issues in post-revolutionary Iran’s music scene.

For the first webinar, we are so honored to have the invitation from Emruz Festival, co-curated by Niloufar Nourbakhsh and Shadi Ghaheri with Development and Production Director, Kazem Ghouchani to present three days of a symposium on 6, 7, and 8th March 2021.

Please join us for this conversation as we explore the gender issues in Iran’s post-revolutionary music scene. This session will be recorded interviews with our artists: Mahboubeh Golzari, Sarang Seyfizadeh, Madmazel, Shaghayesgh Bagheri, Sahar Lotfi, Amir Eslami

The Webinar Series “Iranian Womxn in Music” is a research collaboration between (IFCA) Iranian Female Composers Association and Female Voice of Iran curated by ethnomusicologist Yalda Yazdani.

This research will be in the form of online discussions, panels, and interviews with ethnomusicologists, instrumentalists, composers, and singers in different regions of Iran and abroad, focusing on gender Issues in post-revolutionary Iran’s music scene.

For the first webinar, we are so honored to have the invitation from Emruz Festival, co-curated by Niloufar Nourbakhsh and Shadi Ghaheri with Development and Production Director, Kazem Ghouchani to present three days of a symposium on 6, 7, and 8th March 2021.