CafeLitt 68: Concept of love in Persian literature

Subject: Concept of love in Persian literature

Presented by: Mohammad Larijani
Date & Time: Thursday, April 24, 2008, 8:00 pm

CafeLitt 67: Persian Classical and Traditional Music

Subject: Persian Classical and Traditional Music
Date: Thursday 17th April 2008
Presented by: Shahin Fayyaz and Saeed Kamjoo

Cinémathèque IV: War Photographer (2001)

Movie: War Photographer (2001) (96min.)
Director: Christian Frei.
Genre: Documentary
Date: 15:00 Sunday 13th April 2008 at MEKIC
Presented by: Hanieh Ziaei

CafeLitt 65:Theoretical and applied sciences, Euclidean geometry and Non-Euclidean geometry

Subject: "Theoretical and applied sciences, Euclidean geometry and Non-Euclidean geometry."
Presented by: Mr. Ali Shadpour
Date: Thurseday 10th of April

CafeLitt 64:"The 1960's intellectual movement and the roots of Iranian revolution in 1979 "

Subject:"The 1960's intellectual movement and the roots of Iranian revolution in 1979 "
Presented by: Dr. Ata Hoodashtian
Date: Thursday 3rd of April 2008

CafeLitt 63: Evolution & Darwin

Subject: Evolution & Darwin
Date: 27 March 2008
Presented by: Pasha Javadi

Charles Darwin's theory of evolution generated scientific debate and discussion not only in Darwin's own time, but for decades afterward. Biological evolution is not simply a matter of change over time. Lots of things change over time: trees lose their leaves, mountain ranges rise and erode, but they aren't examples of biological evolution because they don't involve descent through genetic inheritance. The central idea of biological evolution is that all life on Earth shares a common ancestor, just as you and your cousins share a common grandmother.Through the process of descent with modification, the common ancestor of life on Earth gave rise to the fantastic diversity that we see documented in the fossil record and around us today. Evolution means that we're all distant cousins: humans and oak trees, hummingbirds and whales.

CafeLitt 62: Nowrooz

نوروزتان پیروز

Subject: Nowrooz
Presented by: Reza Assasi
Date: 20th March 2008

"Norooz (Nowruz) marks the first day of spring and the beginning of the Iranian year. In this session Reza started with an introduction about Mythological and Historical roots of Norooz and continued to analyze the roots of different beleifs and traditions related to Norooz from India to Europe.
The session continued with an interesting discussion about the confrontation of Iranian culture with Islam and also some criticisms about Nationalism and Internationalism.
Also a discussion about introducing Iranian culture to the international context as a culture which respects Nature and Human being was another issue and can be continued here on Comment box."

Cinémathèque III : Werckmeister Harmonies

Movie: Werckmeister Harmonies (2000)
Director: Béla Tarr
Date: 14:30 Sunday 16th March 2008
presented by: Alireza Tajali

Written by László Krasznahorkai
Starring Lars Rudolph, Peter Fitz,Hanna Schygulla
Music by Mihály Vig
Running time 145 min.
Country Hungary/Italy/Germany/France
Language Hungarian

CafeLit 61: JD Salinger

Subject: JD Salinger , The Catcher in the Rye
Date: 13 March 2008
Presented by: Mehdi Keshtkar

CafeLit 60:Iran election, To vote or not to vote?

Subject: Iran election, To vote or not to vote?
Date: 6 March 2008
A free debate by CafeLit.

CafeLit 59: Cosmology: Story of the Cosmos and other tales

Subject: "Cosmology: Story of the Cosmos and other tales"
Presented By: Omid Saremi
Date: 28 Feb. 2008

Theoretical physics over the past century has drastically shifted the way we perceive the physical world. Physicists seem to be a few steps closer to a convincing answer to a few longstanding-some as old as humanity itself-questions about the universe. Was there a beginning or will there be an end for our universe? Or our universe is Eternal? In order to
answer questions like above, modern physicists have invented a new theory called "string theory". In string theory electrons and other particles in nature are not point like objects rather they are little vibrating strings.

Cafe Lit 58: Iranian feminism

Subject: Iranian feminism
Present by: Mona Tajali
Date: 21 Feb. 2008

The presentation was divided into two periods of women's movements before and after the Iranian Revolution of 1979. It was analyzed that Iranian feminism rose in the frameworks of nationalism and modernity, which tended to be elitist. However such discourse transformed after the revolution, and demand for enhanced women's rights was taken up by the common women/men, many of them in the framework of Islam, with particular emphasis on reform of discriminatory laws and mass-education.

Cafe Lit 57: Samad Behrangy

Subject: Samad Behrangy, ( The Little black fish, Olduz and the story teller doll)
Presented by: Sara Fadaee
Date: 14 Feb. 2008

Samad Behrangi was born in the city of Tabriz, Azerbaijan province. He received his early education in Tabriz and graduated from high school in 1957. After that, for eleven years, he taught in the rural districts of Azerbaijan, familiarizing villagers, especially children and youth, to books and libraries. Behrangi wrote for children. Behrangi believed that children should be confronted with the realities of their own lives. "The Little Black Fish" (1968) is his most well-known work.

Cinematheque II: Annie Hall by Woody Allen

Annie Hall by Woody Allen

Introduction by: Hesam Ghasemi
Date: Sunday 10th Feb. 2008
Time: 15:00

Annie Hall is an Academy Award-winning, 1977 romantic comedy film directed by Woody Allen from a script he co-wrote with Marshall Brickman. It is one of Allen's most popular films: it won numerous awards at the time of its release, and in 2002 Roger Ebert referred to it as "just about everyone's favorite Woody Allen movie".^[1] Allen had previously been known as a maker of zany comedies; the director has described Annie Hall as "a major turning point", as it brought a new level of seriousness to his work, in addition to consolidating his signature cinematic style, which includes long, realistically written scenes of conversation, often shot in uninterrupted takes, and an equal thematic investment in both hilarity and heartbreak.

Cafe Lit 56: Fire in Iranian Myths - Persepolis

Subject: "Fire in Iranian Mythology" + The movie "Persepolis"by "Marjan Satrapy"
Date: 7 Feb. 2008
Presentation by : Reza Assasi

Reza starts the session with an interesting introduction on fire on Iranian Mythology and mentioned some poems of Shahnameh about the discovery of the fire by Hooshang and talked about the symbolism of fire and SADEH celebration.

The session continued with a hot discussion on the movie Persepolis and many questions on the advantages and disadvantages of the movie for Iranian nation outside of their country.
We can continue the discussion here on Comment box.

Cafe Lit 55: All the Shah's Men II

Subject : All the Shah's Men : An American Coup and the Roots of Middle East Terror written by Stephen Kinzer

Presented by: Iman dayarian
Date: 31 Jan 2008

we continued the book of previous session more focused on Nationalization of the Oil. The discussion were whole the subject of Mosaddegh and if he have made any mistake.

Cafe Lit. 54: All the Shah's men I

Subject : All the Shah's Men : An American Coup and the Roots of Middle East Terror written by Stephen Kinzer

Presented by: Iman dayarian
Date: 24 Jan 2008

Iman have talked about the history of oil in Iran and
and he continued till the beginning of Mossadegh prime ministry.
Because of the lack of time we will continue the subject next week.

Cafe Lit 53 (1st. ANNIVERSARY)

Subject: Café Littéraire (ANNIVERSARY )
Date: 17 Jan 2008
Presented by :Café Littéraire


In our first anniversary of Café Littéraire we have talked about the History and origin of such a Cafes in the World and
Iran and have discussed about the weaknesses and strengths of our group. We continued the celebration session in a Bar.

Cinémathèque I: A Woman Under the Influence

A Woman Under the Influence (1974 ) by John Cassavetes

Introduction by: Khatereh Khodaei
Date: Sunday 13th Jan. 2008
Time: 14:30

A Woman Under the Influence (1974) is a film written and directed by John Cassavetes. It tells the story of a young wife and mother's uninhibited, erratic, psychotic behavior which leads her violent, confused husband to commit her for psychiatric treatment, leaving the family even more dysfunctional than before. The film stars Peter Falk, Gena Rowlands, Fred Draper, Lady Rowlands, Katherine Cassavetes, Matthew Laborteaux, Matthew Cassel and Christina Grisanti.

Cafe Lit 52: Michel Foucault

Subject: Michel Foucault
Date: Thursday 10 Jan 2008
Presented by: Khatereh Khodaei

Khatereh talked about Foucault biography and she explained one his famous terms, Biopower, and we discussed about the concept afterward.

Cafe Lit 51:"The history of Islamic school of thought"

Subject: "The history of Islamic school of thought"
Presented by : Ali Shirazi
Date: Thursday , 3 Jan 2008

He gave a very short presentation on the origin of this school and its main characteristics and influences on other schools of thought, following with only naming some icons of the Islamic school of thought including, Al Kindi, Farabi, Ibn Sina, Ibn Roshd, Ibn Bajjah, Suhrewardy, Ibn Arabi and Sadredine Shirazi (Molla Sadra).

Cafe Lit. 50: Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Subject: Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Date: 27 Dec. 2007 (Thursday)
Presented by: Mehdi Keshtkar
This session Marquez's biography and his works were reviewed.
The novel, "Memories of My Melancholy Whores" of Marquez were discussed.

Cafe Lit. 49: Yalda Night

Subject : Yalda Night
Presented by: Reza Assasi
Date: 20 Dec. 2007 (Thursday)


We celebrated Yalda together by introducing the myth of Yalda and its origin and reading Hafiz.

Cafe Lit. 48: Short Story

Subject: Short Story
Date: 13 Dec. 2007 (Thursday)
Presented by: Cafe Litteraire

Khatereh Khodayi read the poem "Apple" by Hamid Mosadegh.
Pasha Javadi read a short story called pink-cloud written by Alireza Mahmoudi Iranmehr.
Also Mehdi Keshtkar read the "story of my glasses" by Rasoul Parvizi.
The session finished by two poems of Ahmad shmalou whose birthday was 83 years ago the day before our session.

Cafe Lit. 47: Intellectual lacks in Iran constitutional revolution

Subject:Intellectual lacks in Iran constitutional revolution

Presented by: Dr. Ata Hoodashtian

Date: Thursday 6 Dec. 2007