Iranian Success Stories

Iranian wins French movie prize 

VESOUL, France, Feb 14 (AFP) - The movie "Sanam" by Iranian film director
Rafi Pitts won top prize Wednesday in a festival of near and far eastern
cinema held annually in this French town.
The festival also paid special tribute to Kiju Yoshida, a leading director
of the Japanese New Wave of cinema.

The week-long event screened a total of 45 films, with eight full-length
features and six video documentaries entered for competition.

President Bush has nominated an Iranian for one of his Administration  position. His name is Faryar Shirzad and he is nominated for Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Import Administration. For more information about this you may visit the Whitehouse web site or the address below.

 http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/20010212-2.html

Census 2000 ---46% of Iranians in the U.S., have a bachelors degree or higher, which ranks the group not
only higher than any other recently-arrived immigrant group, but also higher
than natives in terms of educational achievement.
* This high academic achievement has undoubtedly contributed to the
high occupational and financial accomplishment of Iranians as well. 43% of
Iranians are in professional and managerial positions, 35% in technical and
administrative, 10% are in various services and the balance are spread over
farming, craft and laborers.
* 48% of the Iranian-American community are dual income earners and
22% own their own businesses.
* Median family income is $55,501 (substantially above the national
average of $35,492) and per capita income is $18,040.
* 92% of Iranians have a mortgage.

References: Demographic data of Iranians in the US, Iranian American
Republican Council

Award of the Legion of Honor medal to Makhmalbaf

The French Ministry of Culture announced that Mohsen Makhmalbaf, the Iranian filmmaker, will be awarded the medal of the Legion of Honor of Art and Literature in the course of the current year.  This decoration is awarded to foreign artists who have rendered outstanding services in the domains of freedom, art and literature.  Before him. Abbas Kiarostami has also been awarded this decoration.

JOHN J. GHAZNAVI

Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of G & G Investments, Inc.

John Ghaznavi was named the Financial Times of Canada's No. 1 Investor Friendly CEO of 1994.

In 1996, Mr. Ghaznavi was awarded Entrepreneur of the Year in the Master's category by Ernst and Young, NASDAQ Exchange, USA Today and the Kauffman Foundation.

In 1999, Mr. Ghaznavi was elected Chairman of the G.M.P. Employers Retiree Trust.

On the philanthropy side, Mr. Ghaznavi is on the Board of Directors of a number of non-profit agencies including the American Cancer Society and St. Francis Health System. He has received seven consecutive Gold Awards from United Way. 

He has been Chairman of the Crusade Committee for the Greater Pittsburgh Unit of the American Cancer Society and is a member of the Board of Shady Side Academy, one of Pittsburgh's most prestigious private college preparatory schools. 

Mr. Ghaznavi is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Abraxas Foundation, a group dedicated to helping teens recovering from substance abuse 

In 1995, Mr. Ghaznavi formed the John J. Ghaznavi Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization where he is the Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of the company. The foundation helps orphanages and children's charities, not only for the care of needy children, but also for research to find cures for children's diseases.

2 Iranian students were the winners of the first award in Chemistry 

In a high school competition in Physics and Chemistry between the students of New York City, held in San Joseph College, Amir Hosein Nosrat and Amin Mirzaie, seventh grade students of Razi International School, were able to win the first award for Chemistry from the Society of Chemistry of America.

Ahmad Batebi has been nominated for the Student Peace Award of the World.

Ahmad Batebi the courageous student of the University of Tehran who has been arrested during the students' demonstrations of last year and is still in prison,  has been nominated for receiving the Student Peace Award of the World centered in Norway.  Batebi has recently sent a letter from the confinement of the prison, revealing the inhuman tortures in the prisons of the Islamic Republic.  He has been on hunger strikes many times.

Kamran Elahian a veteran entrepreneur

He has co-founded 9 high tech. companies and one Venture Capital Fund. He also founded Schools Online (1996)- not-for-profit public charity organization with the goal to bring the Internet to every school in the world. 

Kamran is currently the chairman of NeoMagic, Planetweb, Centillium Communications Actelis Networks,cahoots , KangarooNet, and Co-Chair of Schools Online . He is also a General Partner of Global Catalyst Partners.

Kamran received BS in Computer Science and BS in Mathematics (at the age of twenty) and a Masters of Engineering degree in Computer Graphics from the University of Utah.

Italy's Emblem of Peace and Freedom was given to Rakhshan Bani Eetemad

Rakhshan Bani Eetemad the director of the movie "Banooye-e Ordibehesht" received the Italian Emblem for Peace and Freedom.  This Emblem which has been given to Peace and Freedom seekers of the world since 15th century in Italy, was given to an Iranian artist for the first time.

The Deputy Mayor of Florence bequeathed the Emblem to Rakhshan Bani Eetmead on behalf of Tuscan's governor.  At the festival of International Women of Florence, Bani Eetemad was an invited guest with her two pictures;  "Banooye-e Ordibehesht" and " Baran-e Boomi". 

Abbas Kiarostami

The Wind Will Carry Us, a film by Abbas Kiarostami, received a special screening at the Cantor Film Center in New York City.  Mr. Kairostami has also received the San Francisco Award this past summer.

These two were the winners of the Ernest and Young Entrepreneur of the year for San Diego County.

Masood Tayebi, Ph.D.
 President and Co-founder,
 Wireless Facilities, Inc.

Massih Tayebi, Ph.D.
Chief Executive Officer and Co-founder,
Wireless Facilities, Inc.

Feredidoon Rezaei ranks first in Italy

In a contest "the song of peace for the third millennium" cosponsored by the Italian-based Musical Theater and European Music Institute, held in Rome this past June, Mr. Fereydoun Rezaei, a well known Iranian composer, took first place. Along with the win comes a check for $15000 which will be presented to him in another UNESCO function scheduled for Paris or Rome in January 2001. 

What makes the victory sweeter is the fact that 89 composers from all around the world were on the selection jury. Mr. Rezaei was born in Toulouse, France and now resides in Tehran.

Cartoonist Competition Award

Ali Shahlai loves to draw cartoon figures and at the Seventeenth International Festival of caricatures held in Turkey, his work was recognized. Mr. Shahlai was among the few awarded a medal for his achievements.

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