Gary Jules Aguirre Jr. is an American singer-songwriter, known primarily for his cover version of the Tears for Fears song "Mad World", which he recorded with his friend Michael Andrews for the film Donnie Darko. It became the UK Christmas number-one single of 2003.
"Dominique" is a 1963 French language popular song, written and performed by the Belgian female singer Jeannine Deckers, better known as Sœur Sourire or The Singing Nun. The song is about Saint Dominic, a Spanish-born priest and founder of the Dominican Order, of which she was a member. The English-version lyrics of the song were written by Noël Regney. In addition to French and English, Deckers recorded versions in Dutch, German, Hebrew, Japanese, Korean, and Portuguese.
The cinema of Iran, or of Persia, refers to the film industries in Iran and their productions. Iranian art films have garnered international fame and enjoy a global following. Iranian films are usually written and spoken in the Persian language.
Bahman Ghobadi is an Iranian Kurdish film director, producer and writer. He belongs to the "new wave" of Iranian cinema.
"I Don't Blame You" is a song by the American singer-songwriter Cat Power, also known as Chan Marshall. It is the first song on her sixth album, You Are Free, released in February 2003.
Marooned in Iraq is a 2002 Iranian (Kurdish/Persian) film directed by Bahman Ghobadi and produced in Iran. It was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival.
Hamed Behdad is an Iranian actor and singer. He has received various accolades, including a Crystal Simorgh, a Hafez Award, an Iran Cinema Celebration Award and two Iran's Film Critics and Writers Association Awards. He has won the Golden Goblet Award for Best Actor at the 2019 Shanghai International Film Festival for his role in Castle of Dreams (2019).
Iranian New Wave refers to a movement in Iranian cinema. It started in 1964 with Hajir Darioush's second film Serpent's Skin, which was based on D.H. Lawrence's Lady Chatterley's Lover featuring Fakhri Khorvash and Jamshid Mashayekhi. Darioush's two important early social documentaries But Problems Arose in 1965, dealing with the cultural alienation of the Iranian youth, and Face 75, a critical look at the westernization of the rural culture, which was a prizewinner at the 1965 Berlin Film Festival, also contributed significantly to the establishment of the New Wave. In 1968, after the release of Shohare Ahoo Khanoom directed by Davoud Mollapour, The Cow directed by Dariush Mehrjui followed by Masoud Kimiai's Qeysar in 1969, Nasser Taqvai's Tranquility in the Presence of Others, and immediately followed by Bahram Beyzai's Downpour, the New Wave became well established as a prominent cultural, dynamic and intellectual trend. The Iranian viewer became discriminating, encouraging the new trend to prosper and develop.
Mahdyar Aghajani is a musician, record producer and composer born and raised in Tehran, Iran. He raised the standard of Iranian underground music, using Persian traditional instruments in electronic and hip hop music.
Nazanin Boniadi is a British actress and activist. Born in Tehran and raised in London, Boniadi went to university in the United States, where she landed her first major acting role as Leyla Mir in the medical drama General Hospital (2007–2009) and its spin-off General Hospital: Night Shift (2007). Since then, she has played Nora in the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother (2011), Fara Sherazi in the Showtime spy thriller series Homeland (2013–2014), Esther in the historical drama film Ben-Hur (2016), Clare Quayle in the Starz sci-fi thriller series Counterpart (2017–2018), Zahra Kashani in the action thriller film Hotel Mumbai (2018), and Bronwyn in the Prime Video fantasy series The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (2022–present).
Soroush Lashkari, known professionally as Hichkas, is an Iranian rapper, singer, and songwriter. Credited with popularizing Persian hip hop to the Iranian people and other Persian-speaking countries such as Afghanistan and Tajikistan, Hichkas's national success and acclaimed works are widely regarded as having broken the barriers that were in place by the Islamic regime for the acceptance of rappers in popular music. Hichkas is considered one of the pioneers of Iranian hip hop and is nicknamed "Father of Persian Rap" by his fans. He became a representation of the Iranian underclass and reflected the angst of the young Iranians. He has been influential for many artists of various genres and is often cited as one of the greatest rappers of Iranian hip hop.
No One Knows About Persian Cats is a 2009 Iranian film directed by Bahman Ghobadi produced by Wild Bunch. The film offers the perspective of Iran as it explores its underground rock scene. It won the Special Jury Prize Ex-aequo in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival.
Joy is the second studio album released by Canadian singer-songwriter Fefe Dobson, and third studio album to be recorded. It was released on November 22, 2010 on Island Records in Canada and November 30, 2010 on 21 Music in the United States after taking almost four years to complete. It candidly follows Dobson's evolution as an artist as well as transition from the indie type of music she originally put together for Joy, to the mainstream pop hits. The album was preceded by the release of the two buzz singles "Watch Me Move" and "I Want You", which were then followed-up by the three top 20 official singles "Ghost", "Stuttering" and "Can't Breathe", all of which have at least one music video.
Rana Farhan is an Iranian musician and singer of jazz and blues. After graduating from Tehran University, she left Iran in 1989, and has been living in New York since then.
The Yellow Dogs were an Iranian-American rock band, formed in 2006. The band was formed in Tehran, and is now based in Brooklyn, New York.
Ashkan Kooshanejad, also known as Ash Koosha, is a British-Iranian technology entrepreneur, multidisciplinary artist, futurist and innovator. He is known to use computer software such as artificial intelligence and virtual reality in his work. He is the CEO and co-founder of Oorbit Inc. and one of the founders of Auxuman Inc. He played the lead role in an Iranian-Cannes jury prize winner docufiction film by director Bahman Ghobadi called No One Knows About Persian Cats, which follows his band's story scouring the Iranian underground music scene trying to find musicians to play in a festival in the UK.
Touraj Keshtkar, known professionally as Tooji, is a Norwegian singer, painter, model and television host. He represented Norway in the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 in Baku, Azerbaijan and finished 26th (last) in the final. Beginning with his single "Cocktail", he also started using the kanji characters 冬至 in his artistic identity.
Mehmet Aktaş is a Kurdish filmmaker, producer, author and journalist born in Turkey but living in Germany. He is founder and chief executive of the film production and distribution company Mîtosfilm in Berlin.
Hossein Mortezaeian Abkenar is an Iranian writer and screenwriter.
Sevda Alizadeh, known professionally as Sevdaliza, is an Iranian-Dutch singer, songwriter, record producer, visual artist, and director. In 2015, she released two EPs, The Suspended Kid and Children of Silk. While her music is typically in English, she released her first Persian-language song, "Bebin", in early 2017 in protest of Executive Order 13769. Her debut album, ISON, was published on 26 April 2017 via her record label, Twisted Elegance. In 2018, she released a third EP, The Calling, followed by her second studio album, Shabrang, in 2020.
