Kanoon Institute - Empress Farah Pahlavi

Acknowledgement to Darius Kadivar for having brought this to attention.

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Shahbanou Farah speaks about the activities of the Kanoon Institute and the people who contributed to it's enhancements including Mrs. Lili Amir Arjomand one of the directors of the Institute for Intellectual development of Children.

Documentary on Kanoon (1965)

A documentary film about the early years of Iran's Institute for the Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults (better known as Kanoon) Founded by Shahbanou Farah Pahlavi in 1965. Language: English and Persian, Voice Over: Manoutchehr Anvar.

About Kanoon: Institute for the Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adult:

Official Website Here

In consequence of about four decades of active presence in the field of production of cultural commodities such as books, audio tapes, films and toys, IIDCYA is regarded by Iranian schoolchildren, teachers and parents as a trustworthy name; the brand of "Kanoon" is a guarantee of quality of the product. IIDCYA's official status and its numerous branches all over the country, along with the production of attractive, healthy and relevant products for all age groups, have caused these products to be well-received in educational and family circles.

From the time of its founding in 1961, by Shabanou Farah Pahlavi through production of artistic works, and organizing festivals, discussion panels, competitions and various conferences, as well as a variety of practical measures and consulting services, IIDCYA has answered an extensive part of the cultural and developmental needs of the children and young adults of our country. All this has been carried out in two main directions: activities "for children" addressing children and young adults directly, and activities "about children" with the purpose of promoting the knowledge of adults about the peculiarities of world of children. With a high average annual statistics in the fields of production of books, tapes and toys and a considerable investment in the fields of recreational and literary activities, these colossal task of culture-making and consolidation of cultural infrastructure is being pursued. 519 libraries and cultural centers with more than 2000 tutors throughout the country help to realize these goals.

Cinematic Affairs of IIDCYA is one of the main departments of the organization. Its brilliant achievements in the field of production ofanimation, documentary and fiction films, is such that not only in Iran, but also on international level, the look of "Kanoon" is recognized. The high international prestige of Iranian cinema today is indebted to filmmakers who started their work and grew in Kanoon or made some of their best works there: Such as Abbas Kiarostami, Bahram Beyzai or Majid Majidi.

The success of Children of Heaven in many International festivals and its candidacy for the Best Foreign Language Film of academy awards(Oscar) in 1999, was a significant achievement for Kanoon productions.

Because of this outstanding background and unrelented production of animation films in "Kanoon", its name has been on the top of the list of independent producers of excellent and unforgettable animation works. Since 1970, when first animations of "Kanoon" were produced, 180 animation films have been produced there and almost all of them have regarded artistic and noteworthy works of art in internal and international festivals. This, and also the need to exhibit and independently analyze the animation films produced by other state and private producers throughout the country in a systematic manner, holding of an international animation festival became part of the agenda of "Kanoon". The inaugural festival was held in February 1999 and it is scheduled to be held biennially afterwards.

300 The Movie

The movie "300" is a film adaptation of the graphic novel "300" by Frank Miller about the Battle of Thermopylae. Now from what i've understood the movie is not supposed to be a "historically accurate" movie but rather something more "fantasy/fictional like". Now my bewilderment is if it's supposed to be "fantasy/fictional like" then why is there a "Greek" and a "Persian" army in the movie as these armies sure aren't "fantasy characters" that do not exist.

If the movie is not supposed to be historically accurate and is supposed to be more of a "fantasy" movie then why have the directors of the movie not make it into something like the "Lord of the Rings" movie with fictional "people" fighting each other. As it is now they have made a movie where they portray one group of people (Greeks) superior/civilized and another (Persians) inferior/savages - how can this be interpreted as fantasy/fiction?? This is nothing but distorting history and demonizing an entire group of people. This is the same old story as in the movie "Alexander" in which Persians where depicted as savages! The Persian Queen was played by an African-American which came as a shock to any Iranian who watched that movie! In this recent movie the Persian King is presented as an Africanized/Gay individual with body piercings all over! Now how humiliating is that! It's wrong to mis-portray people in this way which will only increase the already existing mis-perceptions about peoples which westerners might know little of!

It's a real shame how the media and film companies like Warner Bros can distort history and portray such a noble and glorious Empire like the Persian Empire as one inhabited by monstrous, blood-thirsty, savages!

This below criticism found on wikipedia pretty much covers the controversy over how the movie portrays Persians leaving aside other historical in-accuracies such as the ludicrous claims of "1 million Persians against 300 Spartans"! Even other "historical" estimates of 100,000's is far-fetched as nobody could possibly have estimated the size of such a force thousands of years ago!

Much respect to the Greek critic below who has kept his objectivity intact:

The film has attracted controversy over the portrayal of the Persians. Greek critic Dimitris Danikas claimed the film showed Persians as "bloodthirsty, underdeveloped zombies," and went on to say, "They are stroking (sic) racist instincts in Europe and America." The president of Iran's Art Affairs Advisory also expressed strong condemnation over the movie which he said insulted the Persian civilization. Javad Shamqadri, who is also a filmmaker, said the film specifically had racist intentions but called the film's effort fruitless however, saying, "values in Iranian culture are too strongly seated to be damaged by such plans."

As in the graphic novel, the Persians are depicted as a barbaric and demonic horde. The androgynous depiction of the Persian emissary and King Xerxes is meant to stand in stark contrast to the masculinity of the Spartan army. Xerxes is presented as an Africanized “God-king”, an allusion to the status of ancient Egyptian pharaohs. The ancient Persian kings did not present themselves as deities.

The outfits and headgear of the Persian infantry lend themselves more to the stereotypical garments of medieval Arabian and Islamic attire than to the ancient garb of the Persian army, while the elite Immortals have been given an East Asian guise.

Along with references to slavery, mysticism and depictions of hyper-sexuality, the Persians become the vehicle for an anachronistic cross-section of Western stereotypes of Asian and African cultures.

This site : "300 the movie info" is trying to compile an art project featuring "Ancient Persia" to counter the terribly inaccurate depiction made by this so-called fictional movie that will surely contribute in widening existing mis-understandings and lack of knowledge amongst non-Iranians!

Lastly to have an accurate picture of how Persian forces looked like at the time of the Achamenid Empire you can have a look at my photobucket page on ancient Iranian soldiers (although this page has soldiers covering all of Iran's dynasties and is not limited to the Achamenid period)

Achamenian soldiers:




UPDATE 1: An official of the terrorist Islamic Republic occupying Iran has "lashed out at the Hollywood Movie "300" for insulting Persian Civilization" ; now someone should tell this Islamist filth that what is an even greater to "Persian Civilization" is him and his barbaric and anti-Iranian "Islamic Republic" occupying Iran! How this monkey can go public and complain about this movie with no shame is beyond me...