Beyond Persia hosts "Fall for Iran", week-long celebration of contemporary Iranian Art, Film, Comedy, and Music.

October 4, 2008

Event Report by: Bruce Bahmani

October 4, 2008 - San Francisco - Beyond Persia successfully wound up it's fall activities with their annual fall celebration, this year's being entitled "Fall for Iran" a week(s) long celebration of contemporary Iranian art. Last year Beyond Persia's event was "Solh Fest" a play on words using the persian word for Peace of Solh, an alignment with the English word "Soul".

From September 30th through October 4th, the festivities went into full swing, once again, at Theater Artaud on Florida St., as the space was taken over for a week long art show featuring noted Iranian artists such as Shiva Pakdel, Ahmad Shafai, Lila Salamat, and local favorite Amir Salamat each of whom challenge the view of "Persian Art" and it's traditional rendition, in favor of various forms of artistic fusion.

Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday a small but powerful film festival, in collaboration with the LA Noor Film Festival, provided festival-goers with a unique insight into some of the best contemporary Iranian films of the day. Included in this year's line up were the award winning "Bam 6.6", and the much anticipated animated short "Rostam".

Friday night featured 3 of the best Iranian-American stand up comics as "The Sharp edge of Iranian Comedy" brought K-von, Elham Jazzab, and featured headliner, Max Amini to the Artaud stage. K-von recently was featured on a special for Showtime, and has performed with the Second City, Elham Jazzab is known as the funniest Iranian Woman, and Max Amini has been seen on The hit series "Heroes", as well as guest spots on "The Mind of Mencia".

The week rounded out with a encore performance as Mohsen Namjoo, at the end of his debut US Tour, bid farewell to the Bay Area, America, and newfound friends and now lifelong fans, Beyond Persia. Local favorites, Kiosk's Arash Sobhani, Ardalan Payvar and friends sat in with Namjoo as the audience enjoyed a rare blend of Namjoo and Kiosk as they performed on each others' hits.