IRANIAN FILM FESTIVAL AT MFA-HOUSTON

Shaun Toub, the Iranian-born, Hollywood actor, will present No One Knows About Persian Cats at the MFAH 8 p.m. on Friday, January 22 as part of the Iranian Film Festival. The film (which was banned in Iran) is a pre-release screening courtesy of IFC Films and will be followed by a reception, free and open to the film-going public, sponsored by the Society of Iranian American Women for Education.


Toub’s extensive film credits include Iron Man, Crash, and The Kite Runner (bio and headshot attached). Toub also has a featured role in The Last Airbender (http://www.thelastairbendermovie.com/), coming summer 2010, and is busily preparing for the Golden Globes (as a newlywed, he has been out dress shopping with his wife over the last several days).

The film that Toub will introduce--Bahman Ghobadi’s youthfully exuberant film, No One Knows About Persian Cats-- follows two intelligent and determined Persian teens as they jump through hoops doing what in many other countries is relatively simple: forming a rock band. As they comb Tehran’s basements, recording studios, and even cattle ranches for other fellow rockers, they begin to understand the difficulty of attaining artistic freedom in a highly restrictive society. IFC’s press notes are attached, and here is a link to a New York Times article about Iranian filmmakers who cannot be censored: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/04/world/middleeast/04iranfilms.html?ref=movies