BBC Persian
With Iran’s new president, cautious optimism
By Jim Treadway The election of cleric Hassan Rouhani to Iran’s presidency last week has Iranians and the world turning their heads to wonder: is the Islamic Republic changing direction? Will Rouhani’s promised pragmatism and reform replace the hardline conservatism of incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad? An expert panel convened at the Frontline Club on 26 June, […]
Interested in the Iranian election? Make sure you’re at the Frontline Club in June
On 14 June Iranians will go to to the polls to vote for a new president. The last presidential election in 2009 saw mass protest on the streets, resulting in a violent crackdown. Throughout June, in association with BBC Persian, we will be joined by experts, journalists and commentators to make sure you are up […]
Iran After Ahmadinejad
Following the presidential election in Iran, we will be bringing together a panel of experts to deliberate the results and what they mean for the future of the country. In association with BBC Persian Service, we will be taking an in-depth look at Iran’s new president, Hassan Rouhani, exploring his affiliations and policies at home and internationally.
THIRD PARTY SCREENING: Facing the Music – Eurovision in Azerbaijan
It’s one of the most corrupt countries in the world and widely criticised for its human rights record but this year Azerbaijan is hosting Eurovision – one of the most glitzy TV music competitions in the world.
The Trouble With Girls – raising daughters as sons in Afghanistan
By Ivana Davidovic “Why do we need to give a girl a boy’s face to give her freedom?” That is the question asked by Azita Rafhat, a former member of the Afghan parliament, who opted for a radical decision to raise one of her four daughters as a boy, having succumbed to the still prevailing […]
THIRD PARTY SCREENING: The Trouble with Girls
There’s a long tradition in Afghanistan of families with no sons choosing to bring up one of their daughters as a boy. For the girls this means growing up dressed in boy’s clothes, answering to a boy’s name and being allowed the freedoms and privileges Afghan boys enjoy both within the family and outside.
Tahir Qadiry’s film looks at the issue from a number of different perspectives. He spends time with a girl currently growing up as a boy, talks to a young woman who’s still coming to terms with her experience being raised as a boy, seeks the opinion of a mullah and hears from a human rights activist.
BBC Screening:The Ayatollah’s Seal
by Rosie Scammell In the wake of intimidation of BBC Persian journalists by the Iranian authorities, last night saw the screening of ‘The Ayatollah’s Seal’ – the first documentary to be made about the country’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei. Refused access to Iran by the Ministry of Culture (there were more important topics for the […]
THIRD PARTY SCREENING: The Ayatollah’s Seal
BBC Persian’s ground-breaking documentary, The Ayatollah’s Seal, charts the Ayatollah’s reign and, through a number of interviews with relatives, biographers and politicians, builds a profile of Iran’s most powerful man.
American Muslim: Freedom, Faith and Fear
By Alan Selby A lot has changed in the years since 9/11. The date itself has become emblematic of a change in attitudes towards Islam, perhaps most notably in the country which bore witness to the infamous attacks that day. Popular opinion has shifted, and the land of the free has become an increasingly […]
THIRD PARTY SCREENING: American Muslim: Freedom, Faith and Fear
ORGANISED BY BBC PERSIAN
THIS EVENT IS OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
Ten years after 9/11 and a year before what are likely to prove deeply divisive Presidential elections, BBC Global News sent a combined team from BBC Persian and BBC Arabic TV on an epic road trip across the USA to find out what it is like to be a Muslim in America today. America’s complicated relationship with Islam is examined through the eyes of two reporters – Karen Zarindast who grew up in Iran and Samir Farah who grew up in Lebanon.
THIRD PARTY: Screening – The Baha’is of Iran
Organised by BBC Persian
Followed by a Q&A.
In 2010, BBC Persian’s Kasra Naji and Rozita Riazati setout to focus attention on the plight of Baha’is in Iran; their goal was to help Iranians understand the Faith and to shed light on the extent of persecution suffered by its members in Iran. On 30 June 2010, the day the BBC Persian documentary Baha’is in Iran was first broadcast, 50 houses owned by Baha’is were demolished in a village northeast of Tehran – driving home the stark reality of the persecution suffered by Iranian Baha’is.
Looking ahead to the week’s screenings and talks at Frontline Club
Monday’s screening Defusing Human Bombs takes us into Pakistan’s Sabaoon School, where young boys are rehabilitated and helped back into normal life after years of indoctrination at the hands of theTaliban and grooming for suicide missions. A year on from the first broadcast of The Baha’is of Iran, which coincided with further persecution of the community, BBC Persian will screening […]