IRNA: From among the cultural projects you have launched here, there is one called “From Tehran to Rome. A Journey through Art”, focusing on Iranian and Italian artists who have worked and been trained in any of these two countries, what was the main idea behind the project? And what made you do it?
Ambassador Giuseppe Perrone: Yes. That's the project about fine arts and it is about 7 selected Iranian and Italian painters and sculptors and artists who have a mixed background – Iranian and Italian at the same time. They are either Italians who worked in Iran or Iranians who worked in Italy, and they act as a bridge between the two cultures, a bridge that connects their past and present in the eyes of artists. The last episode is about the works of Bahman Mohassess who lived in Italy for many years and died in Rome (2010). So the concept of this initiative is that we wanted to highlight this artistic connection between the two countries because there are so many artists who acted as a bridge between the two countries; they are very important, famous, and valuable artists. They are internationally recognized. We have 7 episodes of this documentary and the 4th episode is about Mohassess.
IRNA: You have launched 3 video series, 2 of which feature documentaries about fine arts, as well as architecture and design, and one is about theatre (Domus Eyes on Iran, From Tehran to Rome and 8 1/2 Theatre Clips about how Covid-19 has changed our lives). Do you have any initiative about literature? As you know Iranian and Italian writers' cultural exchanges have been vast and various and many Italian writers are known here via the translation of their works.
Ambassador Giuseppe Perrone: We have actually had some projects in literature; we had a commemorative event of the 700th anniversary of Dante Alighieri’s death a couple of weeks ago with the reading of Italian and Farsi excerpts of his work. On October 18, we will also hold a special lecture about Leonardo Sciascia, a contemporary Italian writer, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of his birth. We have also awards for translations which we are going to announce soon. This is to support Farsi translations of Italian works. We have had good cooperation with Bukhara Magazine on several Italian authors.
IRNA: What about inviting some Italian writers to Iran or facilitating a trip of some Iranian writers to Italy?
Ambassador Giuseppe Perrone: During the Covid-19 pandemic, the exchange part of our relations with Iran has somehow been slowed down. But we have never stopped our activities here; for example, we have had 4 events one after the other only this week, as there are countless connections between Iran and Italy in the cultural field.
IRNA: The documentaries you have produced have been all broadcast via social media. How was the feedback? And is there any chance that you compose or edit them in one episode to be ready for screening at the cinema?
Ambassador Giuseppe Perrone: Yes. The reception was extremely good, especially for the series “Domus Eyes on Iran”. These series have not been only distributed through the Italian Embassy in Iran’s social media, but also on Domus website and social media, so thousands of people have watched it and appreciated the quality of this work. The idea of putting everything in one single item is what we actually want to do with a special issue of Domus magazine which will come out in November 2021. This issue will be dedicated to Iran and will somehow elaborate on every single episode of our series and feature all 10 episodes in one special issue of Domus magazine. The issue will be on sale and purchasable throughout the world. So that's basically what will encompass the entire documentary work we have done on architecture and design.
The “8 and a 1/2 theater clips” series was also tremendously successful, watched by thousands of people and advertised on Italian national TV.
IRNA: Any new initiative for the near future?
Ambassador Giuseppe Perrone: We are now working on a number of very important exhibitions, and there are a lot of other cultural fields we want to focus on in the near future. Stay tuned.
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