Pars Arts

Shirin Neshat: Women Without Men (Trailer)

Persian Cooking Videos

A few weeks ago I spent some time with a reporter writing about Persian food in LA for a really big national publication. And lately I’ve been noticing Persian food popping up more in blogs and media. Is our awesome cuisine finally going mainstream?

Either way, I am pleased to share these really lovely and to-the-point “Persian Food Tutorials” from Cyrus Dowlatshahi’s Fatty Productions. Cyrus has done a great job condensing Persian recipes into how-to videos that are under two minutes long. And he’s working on more of these, which I’m really looking forward to seeing!

Here’s one on how to prepare jujeh kabob (i.e., chicken kabob):

And one on how to prepare mast-o-khiar (cucumber yogurt):

You may remember Cyrus from our post on the film Kabob Guy. Check out more of his work at the Fatty Productions Vimeo page.

Cyrus Dowlatshahi’s “Kabob Guy”

Enjoy this sweet, heartfelt, thorough, and delicious family docudramareality film by aspiring auteur Cyrus Dowlatshahi. It’s all about Majid, a kababi, the guy who shows up to your Perzhian party to make kabob, capturing him in his element at a real mehmooni. Highlights from the video include: baby’s first taste of kashk-e bademjoon (at 2:30), an authentic Persian dad’s description of noon-e zir-e kabab (at 4:27), and any shot of the kababi. Noosh-e-jaan!

Khoda – Reza Dolatabadi

Reza Dolatabadi is director/art director of “Khoda,” a five-minute student film comprised of more than 6000 paintings produced over two years.

Khoda from Reza Dolatabadi

Director/art director: Reza Dolatabadi
Written by Reza Dolatabadi & Mark Szalos Farkas
Animation by Adam Thomson
Music by Hamed Mafakheri

Nasim Pedrad

Every dorky Iranian girl will relate to this great stand-up bit by comic and actor Nasim Pedrad, who has appeared on ER and performed at the Upright Citizens Brigade. Also check out her fairly accurate mockumentary about the A.I.B. – aggressive Iranian bachelor:

(via Iranian.com)

Iran: A Nation of Bloggers

Iran: A nation of bloggers from Mr.Aaron on Vimeo.

(Via Boing Boing - thanks for the heads-up, Xeni!)

Esha Momeni, Iranian-American Activist

MobLogic covers the arrest of Iranian-American women’s rights activist Esha Momeni (click her name for ways to help her). She was working on her graduate thesis in Iran and got pulled over and taken to prison when she was driving alone in Tehran.

Kaj Kolah Khan

This video of Googoosh singing “Kaj Kolah Khan” is a great way to start the day. Thanks, YouTube!

Belog

Tiffany Malakooti is an LA-based artist whose blog, Belog (get it?), is a visual encyclopedia of awesome Iranian art and randomness. Heavy on visuals, a recent post highlights this charming UNICEF PSA by Noureddin Zarrinkelk:

Demokrasi Video by the Abjeez

The latest Abjeez video, for the song “Demokrasi,” went live on YouTube this Saturday, and like their other videos, it’s pretty brilliant. Demokrasi has the sisters posing as TV reporters – they sing the entire song with vapid news-anchor faces, and at the bottom of the screen, the scrolling news ticker is a translation of the lyrics they’re singing. (A side note: the song is spelled “DemoKracy” on YouTube but “Demokrasi” on their album – but they don’t spell “imminent” correctly in the video either, so who knows?) This song is by far the most political on their album, and their delivery here gives it extra sting.

To see their other videos, check out the Abjeez YouTube channel, and see this post in the Pars Arts archives for more on the Abjeez.