Twin Cities Iranian Culture Collective

film: THE PERSIAN VERSION
2024-01-12 19:00 - 21:00 (America/Chicago) | The Main Cinema, 115 S.E. Main St., Minneapolis, 55414
Coming from two countries at odds with each other, Iranian-American Leila (Layla Mohammadi) strives to find balance and embrace her opposing cultures, while boldly challenging the labels society is so quick to project upon her. When her family reunites in New York City for her father’s heart transplant, Leila navigates her relationships at arm’s length in an effort to keep her “real” life separate from her family life. However, when her secret is unceremoniously revealed, so are the distinct parallels between her life and that of her mother Shireen (Niousha Noor). Punctuated by a bright color palette, snappy comedic relief, and vibrant dance numbers, The Persian Version delivers an honest portrayal of a woman who remains unapologetically herself, blended seamlessly into a heartfelt story about family, belonging, and the undeniable influence of pop music.
Winning both the Audience Award and the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award in the U.S. Dramatic Competition at last year’s Sundance Film Festival, writer-director-producer Maryam Keshavarz delivers a universal and timely story of the Iranian and the Iranian-American experience.

2023/24 MSP Iranian Film Fest
2024-01-12 17:00 - 2024-01-14 21:00 (America/Chicago) | The Main Cinema, 115 S.E. Main St., Minneapolis, 55414
Note new dates: The 2023 MSP Iranian Film Showcase has been postponed, and will be presented in partnership with the MSP Film Society, January 12-14 2024 at The Main Cinema – 115 SE Main St, Minneapolis. More details coming soon!

Twin Cities Mehregan Fall Iranian Culture Festival
2023-10-07 10:00 - 20:00 (America/Chicago) | 526 Selby Ave. , St. Paul, MN, 526 Selby Ave., St. Paul, MN, 55102
We are excited to announce the lineup for our 2023 Fall Iranian Culture Festival, “Mehregan: A Persian Celebration of Love, Kindness and Hope, to be held October 7 at the new 526 Selby Ave., St. Paul event space. (Enter next to salon.)

The doors will open at: 11:00 a.m. with:

a display of Iranian tapestry, embroidery and silver works, from the collections of Niccu Tafarrodi.
a chaikhaneh (tea house) featuring Iranian tea served from traditional Iranian samovars, and sweets provided by the Southdale’s Luminous Cafe.

Lunch items will be available for purchase from 12:00 to 1:30 p.m. , including chicken or lamb skewers (koobideh) with flat bread. Cooked on an outdoor grill by master chef Alireza.
The afternoon program kicks off at 1:15 p.m. with a welcome by TCICC board chair Hossein Jalali.
1:30 – 2:30 A special appearance by singer-songwriter-artist Marjan Farsad, before she begins her national tour. She’s performing in the Twin Cities on November 5!
2:30 – 3:30 Pianist Faraz Ghassemi performs a program of music inspired by his Iranian heritage, including classical melodies, pop favorites and original compositions.
3:30 – 4:30 – the poetry of Omar Khayyam, set to music like you have never heard it before! Setar master Dan Rein sings and plays the setar, dotar, and dotar banjo, accompanied by Mikkel Beckman on washboard, Sean Egan on bass clarinet and percussion, and Matt Cartier (from the popular Americana / Roots band Pert Near Sandstone) on banjo.
4:30-5:30 Classical Persian Dancer Parisa Naini and the Shirzan Dance Ensemble performing traditional Iranian folk dances. Just back from their appearance at the San Antonio, Texas Mehregan festival!
5:30 – 7:00 – light dinner fare for purchase, including aush reshteh (barley noodle soup), meat cutlet sandwiches and kuku sabzi (Iranian veggie quiche).
7:00 – Music on the cutting edge – a “telematic electronic ambient jazz composition with visual arts,” performed by guitarist composer Niayesh Shababi on stage, with Mohamad Nikpour connecting remotely from Quebec.
8:00 p.m. – 9:30: dancing to Persian pop with DJ Mohammad Sargazi.

Persian / Farsi Conversation Group
2023-08-20 13:30 - 15:00 (America/Chicago) | Luminous Cafe, Southdale Center, Edinas
Our next Persian / Farsi Conversation group gathering will be 1:30 PM on Sunday August 20 at the Luminous Cafe in the Southdale Center, Edina. Persian pastries and maybe ash reshte (noodle soup) will be available for purchase. Let us know if you can join us!

Persian Inspirations Concert
2023-06-11 18:00 - 20:00 (America/Chicago) | Rog Amphitheater, Roseville, MN
Music and dance from the Persian world presented by the TC Iranian Culture Collective, in Roseville’s Central Park! This year’s concert features singer Sear Azizi, singing popular songs in Farsi, Dari and Tajik, accompanied by Rachel Molloy, percussion, and Milan Ebrahimi, guitar. Plus a dance performance by Parisa Naini and the Shirzan Dance Collective.
Bring blankets, lawn chairs, picnic baskets, grab a spot and enjoy the sights and sounds at this free event, part of the Creative Crossroads series that features a different world region each Sunday evening.

SEE YOU FRIDAY, ROBINSON
2023-04-16 11:00 - 13:00 (America/Chicago) | The Main Cinema, 115 S.E. Main St., Minneapolis, 55414
This film will be shown again on Thursday, April 20 at 1:40 pm.
Faced with a setback on one of her own films, Mitra Farahani works as a sort-of cinematic matchmaker, orchestrating a correspondence between beloved Iranian filmmaker Ebrahim Golestan and the legendary Jean-Luc Godard.
Through persistence, talent, and luck, Farahani brings the initially reluctant filmmakers together through emails, photos, videos and letters.

WORLD WAR III
2023-04-14 21:50 - 23:50 (America/Chicago) | The Main Cinema, 115 S.E. Main St., Minneapolis, 55414
This film will be shown again on Wednesday, April 19 at 1:30 pm, and Wednesday, April 26 at 9:40 pm.
Houman Seyedi’s World War III, a searing social critique, captivated audiences at the 2022 La Biennale di Venezia, and was Iran’s surprise entry to this year’s Academy Awards.
Shakib (Mohsen Tanabandeh) is a homeless man with a tragic past. He spends most of his time as a day worker, taking any job he can get to earn enough money to spend time with a prostitute he has come to love. His most recent job is at a construction site, which turns out to be the set of a film production about Nazi atrocities. Shakib and many of his co-workers are coerced into being extras in the film, and then, by way of an accident, Shakib is cast against his will as Adoph Hitler, sending him down a fateful and treacherous path.

Being an Iranian Jew in the Islamic Republic: Pivoting against a double erasure
2023-03-29 12:00 - 2023-04-16 13:00 (America/Chicago) | 325 Nicholson Hall, University of Minnesota, 216 Pillsbury DR SE, Minneapolis, MN, 55455
This talk will explore the ways Iranian Jews get to assert their place. With the establishment of the Islamic Republic, Muslim identity became almost synonymous with the possibility of identifying as Iranian. Yet, religious minorities exist in Iran today and are on a constant journey and struggle to find their voice and agency in the country. The pressures Iranian Jews face are unique but comparable to the ones faced by Armenians and Zoroastrians. This talk will offer ways to read the Jewish and other minorities in the context of contemporary Iranian society.
Lior Sternfeld is an associate professor of history and Jewish Studies at Penn State Unversity, and the author of “Between Iran and Zion: Jewish Histories of Twentieth-Century Iran,” (Stanford University Press, 2018).

Nowruz Concert and Community Gathering
2023-03-25 17:00 - 21:00 (America/Chicago) | MN
In observance of Nowruz, the Iranian New Year, the Twin Cities Iranian Culture Collective cordially invites you to “United For Freedom: An Iranian Nowruz Concert and Community Gathering,” to be held Saturday, March 25, 5-9 p.m. in the theater of the Hopkins Center for the Arts, 1111 Mainstreet, Hopkins, MN. The evening will feature performances by award-winning composer, vocalist, and setar virtuoso Fared Shafinury; and classical Persian dancer Parisa Naini and the Shirzan Dance Collective. Light Iranian hors d’oeuvres will be provided by Hemisphere Restaurants Catering, with Persian sweets by Luminous Cafe. Buy tickets at bit.ly/NowruzMN2023.

2022 Twin Cities Iranian Film Festival
2022-08-17 11:00 - 2022-08-19 20:00 UTC | MN
The 2022 Twin Cities Iranian Film Festival will be presented in partnership with the MSP Film Society, August 17-19 at MSP Film at The Main – 115 SE Main St, Minneapolis. More details coming soon!

Juan Cole on his new translation of The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam
2020-09-16 17:30 - 18:30 UTC | MN
https://bit.ly/3h57MoP

Author reading and talk by Juan Cole, Professor of History at the University of Michigan.“’To read Juan Cole’s deft, plain-spoken translation of the Rubáiyát is to find companionship, to rejoin a thousand-year human conversation about how to endure, enjoy, and find a fleeting beauty in everlastingly dire times. The lucid, cogent and mind-opening Epilogue is a kind of grace, a gift freely given, from one of our most astonishing and generous intellects.’”― Michael Chabon, Pulitzer Prize winner and author of Moonglow (2017)The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyam: A New Translation from the Persian is available through your local bookstore or Amazon.com.

Classical setar music of Iran with Dan Rein and Chris Gray
2020-09-15 19:30 - 20:30 UTC | MN
Zoom link: https://bit.ly/3ax29NH

Shakopee native Dan Rein,master of the Persian setar, accompanied by percussionist Chris Gray, will play improvisations based on the forms and structure of traditional Iranian music . Dan is the recipient of grants from the Minnesota State Arts Board and the Jerome

Niloofar Hadi Sohi performs new works by young Iranian composers
2020-09-12 19:30 - 20:30 UTC | Online
Zoom link: https://bit.ly/3kTJwIp
Niloofar Hadi Sohi principal violist with the St. Cloud Symphony Orchestra, formerly with the Tehran Symphony Orchestra, performs new works for viola and piano by young Iranian composers, accompanied by pianist Jordan Buchholtz.The compositions include:From one land to the other/از دیاری به دیاری دیگر (Setareh Shafii Tabatabai)Enticing (Pouria Khadem)A Persian illumination (Pedram Babaei)Shour Afarin/ شور آفرین (Ali Akbar Ghorbani)
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Prof. Shaherzad Ahmadi on the History of Iranian Cinema
2020-09-10 17:30 - 18:30 UTC | Online
Zoom link: https://bit.ly/3iSVwZ1
Shaherzad Ahmadi is an assistant professor of history at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, MN. Professor Ahmadi’s talk will offer a history of Iranian cinema, beginning with the first talkie, ”The Lor Girl.” I will examine the themes that animated Iranian cinema in the Pahlavi period as well as the transformation of the medium in the post-revolutionary period. The lecture asks, ”How did film express Iran’s national aspirations, gender roles, and class tensions?” ”Why did film become such an important art form in the post-revolutionary period?” and ”How did Iranians challenge Hollywood’s dominance in the industry?

Pardees Azodanloo on Architecture For/By Iranian Women
2020-09-08 17:30 - 18:30 UTC | MN
Zoom link:https://bit.ly/3kP7wMZ

Pardees Azodanloo holds an Master of Architecture degree from the University of Minnesota and currently works for DES Architects and Engineers in San Mateo, CA. She will talk about some famous and successful female architects who are working in Iran and internationally, and show some of their projects. Her talk will also go into more in depth on some specific projects such as the rehabilitation of Tehran’s Main Bazaar, that were not only designed by female architects, but also have had a positive impact on women’s experience in that space.
