Houston, January 2006 – Later this month,
the 13th Iranian Film Festival will be taking place at the
Museum of Fine
Arts in Houston and the Rice Cinema at Rice University. As part of the program,
the organizers will be screening Babak and Friends – A First Norooz, a
30-minute animated movie about a little Iranian boy in search of his identity.
The film, which showcases the talents of Iranians like Oscar nominee Shohreh
Aghdashloo and JAG's Catherine Bell, will be featured at the Children's
Museum of
Houston. Bunmi Gaidi, Art Educator at the Museum, says, "We are very
proud to be a part of the Iranian Film Festival. It is by embracing and learning
about our differences that we are able to celebrate our likeness." The
film will screen multiple times over three days, in Persian and in English.
"It's so great that they will show both versions so that a wider audience can
enjoy the film. Grandparents can bring their kids, or teachers can bring their students. It's an educational
opportunity but it's also going to be a fun time!" says Dustin Ellis, writer and
director of the film.
The film festival also
includes screenings of Bahram Beyzaie's Killing Mad Dogs (Sagkoshi), Mohammad Rasoulof's Iron Island
(Jazireh ahani), and Tahmineh Milani's The
Unwanted Woman (Zaneh Ziyadi). Marian
Luntz, Curator of Film and Video at the Museum of Fine
Arts in Houston, says, "For our 13th Annual
Houston Iranian Film Festival, we were delighted to discover the engaging
animated short, Babak and Friends –A First Norooz. This makes an
entertaining and informative addition to this always-popular event. By
partnering with the Children's Museum of Houston, we have been able to add another
venue to the festival and further develop the audience."
This is the fourth museum screening
for Babak and Friends – A First Norooz, since its debut in 2005. So far
the film has screened at New York's Asia
Society, the British Museum, and the San Diego Museum of Man.
Norooz Productions is excited about the 13th Iranian Film Festival.
"Children around the world have shown great interest in all things Persian
because of Babak! We will now have a chance to connect with the kids at a local
level in Houston," says Aly Jetha, executive producer of
the film. According to Jetha, one American mother called asking where she could
purchase "Noon-Panir", a traditional meal of goat cheese and bread featured in
the cartoon as a typical Persian breakfast.
Babak will be making more stops at
museums in the coming year, including a screening at the prestigious Smithsonian
Institution in Washington
DC on January 29th. This is part of
the Iranian Film Festival taking place at the Freer Gallery. According to the
producers, there are more events in the works such as the Chicago Children's
Museum, and the Louvre Museum in Paris. The company was invited to all the Apple
stores around the US and
Canada, and will also be
showcasing their art at the Apple Store in London later this year.
For more news and events
information, visit their website www.babakandfriends.com
The Children's
Museum of
Houston Screening Schedule:
13th Iranian Film Festival
Babak and Friends – A
First Norooz
Thursday, January 19:
5 p.m. (Persian)
6:30 p.m. (English)
7:15 p.m. (Persian)
Saturday, January 21:
11:15 a.m.
(Persian)
12:15 a.m. (English)
1:15 p.m.
(Persian)
2:15 p.m.
(English)
3:15 p.m. (Persian)
4:15 p.m.
(English)
Sunday, January
22: 3:15
p.m. (English)
4:15 p.m. (Persian)
Babak with his mother Layla, as she tells him
that his cousins are
coming.
About The Museum of
Fine Arts, Houston
The Museum of Fine
Arts, Houston, is the largest art
museum in America south of Chicago, west of Washington,
D.C., and east of Los Angeles. A total of
300,000 square feet of space is dedicated to the display of art and more than
2.5 million people visit the MFAH each year. The collection contains more than
51,000 artworks, which date from antiquity to the present. The major civilizations of Europe, Asia, North and
South America, and Africa are represented.
The
MFAH has published more than forty scholarly books in the last decade. For more
information visit http://www.mfah.org/
About the
13th Annual Iranian Film Festival
This popular annual
showcase expands in 2006 to include a new venue—the Children´s Museum of
Houston—and two new cosponsors: Asia Society Texas and Voices Breaking Boundaries. As
always, Rice Cinema presents additional films. Rice professor Hamid Naficy
introduces selected MFAH screenings. For more information, visit
http://www.mfah.org/main.asp?target=films&par1=1&par2=325.
About The
Children's Museum
of Houston
Serving more than
660,000 people annually, The Children's Museum of Houston is the highest-attended youth
museum in the country for its size and is dedicated to transforming communities
through innovative, child-centered learning by providing hands-on exhibitions in
the areas of science and technology, history and culture, health and human
development, and the arts. For more information, visit http://www.cmhouston.org/.
About Norooz Productions
Norooz
Productions develops products to entertain and teach children about different
cultures. Norooz believes that entertainment can be educational and effective
for learning new cultures and languages. High quality products include
animation movies, storybooks and language learning tools. With this mission, Norooz hopes to
create a more diverse and understanding society.
Babak and Friends is
the brand focused on promoting the larger Persian culture. The first products
include Babak's adventures in an animated film: Babak and Friends – A First
Norooz and two storybooks: Babak and Friends – A Visit from Maman
Bozorg. For more go to
www.babakandfriends.com.
