How ‘Nasrin’ Songwriters Found the Personal Heart of an Iranian Movement for Women’s Rights

From the early stages of crafting his debut featureThe Night, Kourosh Aharienvisioned a tale of fear, loss and discovery that anyone from any part of the world could relate to.

Kourosh Ahari's debut feature proves an accomplished psychological chiller that impresses far beyond its historic status as a U.S. production featuring primarily Iranian or Iranian-American talent.

Alissa Simon Film CriticAlthough this year’s Middle Eastern/North African Oscar submissions have yet to generate a strong buzz, there are titles among the 10 films that could be contenders for the international feature short list.Chief among them is “Sun Children” from veteran Iranian helmer Majid Majidi, whose 1997 “Children of Heaven” landed a foreign-language film nomination.

EXCLUSIVE: Apple TV+ has renewed its first non-English language original series, Israeli espionage thriller drama Tehran, for a second season.

The 11th annual Youth Diversity Film Festival will open this weekend, featuring panel discussions and more than 60 films by young filmmakers from the U.S. and 13 other countries, including the UK, Kenya, Russia, Brazil, Bangladesh, South Korea, Iran and India. Presented by the Black Hollywood Education and Resource Center, the online festival runs January 16-31.

“I think this story should be told all the time, especially now,” director Vadim Perelman says of his historical drama Persian Lessons. The film, set during the Holocaust, chronicles how a young Belgian man avoids execution in a concentration camp by pretending he can speak Persian, teaching a made-up language to a camp prison officer.

Manori Ravindran International EditorVadim Perelman’s “Persian Lessons” has been disqualified from the international feature film Oscar race, where the acclaimed WWII drama was representing Belarus.As part of the international feature film submission process, a country’s selection committee is required to provide a list of credits in key creative positions, both above and below the line.

The Pentagon deployed more B-52H bombers to the Middle East in another demonstration of the U.S. military commitment to the region, according to a U.S.

Leaders, officials and critics from America’s adversaries are taking aim at the U.S.

Jazz Tangcay Artisans EditorGrammy winner Angélique Kidjo has released the music video for “How Can I Tell You?” from the new documentary “Nasrin.” The song is written by Lynn Ahrens with music by Stephen Flaherty. The film chronicles the life of activist Nasrin Sotoudeh, who fought for women’s rights in Iran, as well as the rights of children and journalists, and was arrested in June 2018.

Saudi Arabia and its allies are expected to sign a deal Tuesday officially ending a feud with Qatar in an agreement negotiated by White House senior adviser Jared Kushner, a government official confirmed Monday. The détente — designed to further isolate Iran — follows a slew of historic Middle East peace deals brokered by the Trump White House in recent months normalizing relations between Israel and some of its Arab neighbors.

Cynthia Littleton Business EditorBroadcast journalist Ashleigh Banfield made her mark in cable news during 9/11 and its aftermath. She’s reported from Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Syria and other far-flung hot spots.

EXCLUSIVE: NBCU streamer Peacock is growing its slate of stand-up specials with a new laugher from A Simple Wedding and Superior Donuts star Maz Jobrani.

Shahab Hosseini (The Salesman) is set to star as Iranian-American physicist and inventor Ali Javan in an upcoming biopic to be written and directed by Kourosh Ahari (The Night). Javan firstproposed the concept of the gas laser in 1959 at the Bell Telephone Laboratories.A successful prototype, constructed by him in collaboration with W.