The Sevens by Ali Attar Wins Farhang Foundation Short Film Festival’s First Prize

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MEDIA CONTACT:       
Bita Milanian
(310) 746-5429
bita@farhang.org

The Sevens by Ali Attar Wins
Farhang Foundation Short Film Festival’s First Prize

LOS ANGELES, CA, March 5, 2009— Farhang Foundation, a recently established non-profit organization focused on celebrating Iranian art and culture in Southern California announced today that the short film The Sevens by Ali Attar from Iran has won first prize in the 2009 Farhang Foundation Short Film Festival online competition.

For the Farhang Foundation Short Film Festival, filmmakers from all walks of life, Iranian and non-Iranian, were invited to create and submit a short, five to eight minute movie, of any genre and style, visualizing their unique take on Iranian Heritage. Farhang Foundation defines Iranian Heritage as a way of life and culture that has been passed from one generation to the next in an Iranian influenced environment and is not limited to geographical borders.  The film may have included elements from the past and present of Iranian arts, literature, music and history.

Judging for the film prize was done by selected people from SoCiArts Productions’ and Farhang’s Board of Trustees, who decided among films that they judged to have been innovative and empowering, exploring the ancient and contemporary components of Iranian Heritage through a visual medium, sparking the audience's interest in learning more about the culture and history of Iran.  The winning film was judged best for overall creativity, quality, originality and most importantly by level of inspiration.

The final selection included five other submitted films, in addition to the winning film, which are:

·                     Az Farsh ta Arsh by Hamideh Razavi, Iran

·                     Isfahan by Cristobal Vila, Spain

·                     My Identity by Gobi M. Rahimi, USA

·                     Naghsh-e-Farsh by Gelareh Kiazand, Iran

·                     The Tower of Stars by Mohammad Arzhang, Iran

Mr. Attar will receive a $5,000USD cash prize and an official award certificate, while featuring his winning short film at the Foundation’s private reception on March 14, 2009 in celebration of Nowruz (Persian New Year), at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

All submitted films are available for public viewing at www.sociarts.com/farhangfilmfest.

More details about the Farhang Foundation Nowruz Celebration at LACMA please visit www.farhang.org. 

About Farhang Foundation
Farhang Foundation is a non-religious, non-political and not-for-profit foundation established in 2008 to celebrate the art and culture of Iranian-Americans in its widest extent. The foundation supports academic activities in Southern California by funding university programs, publications and conferences. The foundation also supports cultural programs such as celebration of Nowruz and Mehregan, theater, dance performances, films screenings and poetry reading in Southern California. Farhang Foundation, in cooperation with various cultural and academic institutions plans major programs and exhibitions about Iran and its culture. For more info visit: www.farhang.org.  

About SoCiArts.com
SoCiArts.com is a grassroots, virtual community dedicated to artists from around the globe to share their work, blog their ideas and send their message out to a broader audiences. SoCiArts.com believes that artists are architects of life; they know how to break the old conservative boundaries and build remarkable new ideas. SoCiArts.com encourages artists to create a positive impact in the world through art by sharing their work in this forum and elevate their society, community, family and audience to a higher level of consciousness.  For more info visit: www.sociarts.com.