Five Plaques Adorn Celebrity Homes. Five plaques, commendation tablets, were installed at the residences of contemporary artists and literati on Monday in Tehran. The front wall of the late Iranian filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami was adorned with the plaque, Mehr News Agency reported.
An initiative of Iran’s Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization (ICHHTO), the plaque is an ornamental tablet, typically of metal, porcelain, or wood, fixed to the wall in commemoration of a person or event to celebrate cultural and natural heritage, including intangible heritage. The tablet bears the names of the personality, their profession and other particulars.
Kiarostami’s plaque was placed in the presence of his nephew, Hamid Qaderi. “Kiarostami was a great director and Iran cinema owes him a lot (but) this initiative is valuable since the tablets are positioned on the front wall of the living elites of art of culture, and thus, honors the celebrities during their lifetime,” Qaderi said.
Kiarostami (1940-2016) was an auteur, screenwriter, photographer, film producer, poet and painter. He was involved in over forty films, including features, shorts and documentaries. His ‘Taste of Cherry’ (1997) was awarded the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival that year.
Veteran Actor
Actor Sirous Ebrahimzadeh, 80, was another figure whose house was adorned with the special plaque.
Appreciating efforts by the ICHHTO, Ebrahimzadeh said, “it is a worthwhile move. However, it would be more valuable and worthy if it started from other cities, because in many of them there are great artists who need to be commended more than those in the capital.”
Ebrahimzadeh is a TV, theater and cinema actor who holds a master’s degree in theater from England. He has over 50 performances in plays, movies and TV series in his artistic resume.
Folkloric Art Researcher, National Arts Master
Author and researcher on folkloric art Hadi Seif also received the plaque.
Calling the program a commendable and humanitarian work, he hoped that “the next move would be organizing friendly meetings between art and cultural figures and the pubic”.
Seif has been involved in the folkloric art for over three decades and is the author of 73 books.
Another plaque ornamented the wall of master of national arts, Manouchehr Tariqi’s house.
“Artists are respectable people and paying attention to them is in fact respecting the culture and art of the country,” he said.
Late Kurdish Author, Translator
Ibrahim Younesi (1926-2012), the late Kurdish author and translator, was the last person whose house was adorned with a plaque in the presence of his wife and daughter-in-law.
He is the author of more than 15 books and 60 translations in diverse fields including literature, linguistics, novel, short story, history and politics, and is considered one of Iran’s distinguished contemporary writers.
‘Don Quixote’, ‘Great Expectations’, ‘Spartacus’ and ‘Three Friends’ are some of his many translations that made him one of the best translators in Iran.
He was the first governor of Kurdistan Province during the transitional government following the demise of the Pahlavi dynasty in Iran in 1979.
The plaque program is being implemented in the framework of the UNESCO 2003 Convention for safeguarding intangible cultural heritage.
It appreciates the living cultural treasures and seeks to identify and introduce contemporary figures who have contributed to the art and culture of their respective countries.
The houses marked with the plaques will be easier to spot among other residential units. More cultural figures have been identified in Tehran as well as other cities and their houses are to be adorned with the plaques by the end of the year.
So far celebrated figures have received the plaque including poet, writer, literary and art critic Javad Mojabi, 77; surrealist painter Iran Darroudi, 80; and Nasser Masoudi, 82, the oldest known living singer of Gilaki, a branch of the Caspian language.
Source: Financial Tribune