On Sunday, December 12, 2010, at 6:30 PM, the Film Society of Los Angeles, as part of its 100th program, presented Bahman Maghsoudlou’s Iran Darroudi: The Painter of Ethereal Moments.
Mr. Hassan Fayyad, the president of the Film Society, opened the night with a short introduction celebrating the seven years during which he has arranged one hundred programs and how this task was achieved.
Then a message from Ms. Iran Darroudi was broadcast from Tehran. She could not come to LA but happily welcomed the enthusiastic audience and thanked them for their presence at a screening of the first feature documentary about her life and works. Ms. Sholeh Shams, the editor-in-chief of Rahavard magazine, followed that with a talk about the artist, after which Ms. Sara Abedin read a biography of the film’s director/producer, Bahman Maghsoudlou. Mr. Maghsoudlou then came to the podium and spoke for a few minutes before the screening.
Not only was a full house in attendance, for the first time the management of the Film Society had to add almost 50 seats to its capacity to accommodate the crowd that came to see the film. And even then, some audience members were forced to stand.
After the screening, which ended to tremendous applause, Mr. Maghsoudlou participated in a Q&A session along with Mr. Fayyad for almost an hour.
Most of the premier journalists, writers and artists who live in Los Angeles were in attendance, including Mr. Farhang Farrahi, Mr. Ali Limounadi, Ms. Homa Sarshar, Mr. Kikhosro Behrozi, Ms. Homa Partovi, Mr. Mehdi Zokaei, Dr.Komran Jabbari, Dr. Ata Montazeri, Mr. Yousef Shahab, Parviz Nazerian, Dr. Nasser Engheta, Mr. Hassan Khayyatbashi, Mr. Majid Rowshangar ,Mr. Afshin Javadi , Majid Niroumand ,Mr. Bahman Fathi, Mr. Habashi ,Mr.Nader Saleh Ms.Sholeh Shams,Ms.Pari Amini ,Ms. Simin Tabatabai Mr. Hossein Hejazi Mr. Majid Naficy ,Ms. Helen Afshan and many more.
Mr. Maghsoudlou has been a guest speaker and has presented his films at the Film Society numerous times during the last seven years since its inception. His last presentation was on Sunday, January 24th, 2010 in its 91st program, when he gave a lecture/book signing for his latest book Grass: Untold Stories, including a screening of an unforgettable, newly digitized print of the film Grass: A Nation’s Battle for Life, the subject of the book.
A reporter from Voice of America covered the night, interviewing Mr. Maghsoudlou at the end of the program and using that and footage shot of the event to produce a ten-minute segment that was aired two weeks later as part of the programs Shabahang and Zane Emruz.
Photos by: Simin Tabatabi
