Vida Ghahremani

Vida Ghahremani (Persian: ویدا قهرمانى; 12 June 1936[1] – 1 June 2018)[2] was an Iranian-born American film and stage actress, writer, and educator.[3]

Vida Ghahremani
ویدا قهرمانی
Born(1936-06-12)June 12, 1936
Tehran, Iran
DiedJune 1, 2018(2018-06-01) (aged 81)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Other namesMalihe Ghahremani (Persian: ملیحه قهرمانی)
Occupation(s)Actress, educator, writer, designer
Years active1954–2016

Early life and education

Vida Ghahremani was born 12 June 1936 in Tehran.[1] She began acting in films as a teenager, under the mentorship and influence of Khan Baba Motazedi.[4][5] Her earliest work was in 1955 in Crossroad of Events (Persian: Chahar Rah-e Havades); followed by a 1958 film called Storm in Our Time (Persian: Toofan dar Shahr-e Ma).[6] She was known for the first romantic kiss to be portrayed in Iranian cinema, when she played opposite to Naser Malek Motiei in Crossroad of Events (1955).[7][4] She was just a teenager around 16 or 17 years old during the filming of the first kiss.[4] and as a result she was expelled from Shahdokht High School during her final year.[4][5]

After receiving her degree in Early Childhood Development, she worked at Institute for the Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults, Tehran. In the 1960s, Ghahremani and her husband David Yeghiazarian opened the Cafe Kuchini in Tehran, a music venue and coffeehouse; which became a source of material for her later writings and theater work.[8] She was the mother of three children.

Career

She had lived in Canada for less than a decade, before moving to California.[9] Ghahremani taught creative theatre and Persian language in Pleasanton, California and at the Berkeley Persian Center, where she had been an active member since its establishment in 1992.

In 2008, Ghahremani published Aroussi-e Khaaleh ("Auntie’s Wedding"), a collection of autobiographic stories. Her second book, Safar-e Kaash ("A Trip to Kaash"), published in 2010, was an autobiographical story of adventures during her early years of marriage to David Yeghiazarian.

Ghahremani received a B.A. degree in Early Childhood Education and held a diploma in Directing and Producing television. She was a member of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG), the Gem and Mineral society. In 2007, she finished a film with director Wayne Wang called A Thousand Years of Good Prayers, as supporting actress.[10]

Her daughter is Torange Yeghiazarian, an actress and one of the founding artistic directors of Golden Thread Productions in San Francisco.[11] Ghahremani served as an artistic associate at Golden Thread Productions. In 2015, she produced and starred in the theater work Isfahan Blues, in collaboration with Golden Thread Productions, Torange Yeghiazarian, L. Peter Callender, Nakissa Etemad, Laura Hope, and Marcus Shelby; it was inspired by the Duke Ellington Orchestra’s 1963 tour in Iran.[12][13][7] Isfahan Blues dealt with the theme of music as a gateway to power and creativity.[8]

Filmography
Date Title Country

released

 Role Notes
1955 Crossroad of Events (Persian: چهارراه حوادث, romanized: Chahar Rah-e Havades) Iran young woman directed by Samuel Khachikian[14]
1958 Storm in Our Town (Persian: طوفان در شهر ما, romanized: Toofan dar Shahr-e Ma) Iran Pari directed by Samuel Khachikian
1961 Fire and Ashes (Persian: آتش و خاكستر, romanized: Atash va khakestar) Iran starring with Vigen[15]
1961 The Hundred Kilo Bridegroom (Persian: صد کیلو داماد, romanized: Sad Kilo Damad) Iran
1961 Midnight Terror (Persian: Faryade nimeshab) Iran Mehri
2007 A Thousand Years of Good Prayers U.S. Madame directed by Wayne Wang[16][17]
2008 The Stoning of Soraya M. U.S. Mrs. Massoud [18]
2016 Jimmy Vestvood: Amerikan Hero U.S. Maman (or Mother) directed by Jonathan Kesselman and written by Maz Jobrani and Amir Ohebsion[19]

References
  1. "ویدا قهرمانی، صاحبِ اولین بوسه‌ی سینمای ایران". Tavaana (in Persian).
  2. "ویدا قهرمانی، هنرپیشه ایرانی، در آمریکا درگذشت" (in Persian).
  3. خالق اولین بوسه سینمای ایران درگذشت
  4. "ویدا قهرمانی صاحب ِ اولین بوسه‌ی سینمای ایران" [Vida Ghahremani, the Owner of the First Kiss of Iranian Cinema]. Tavaana Reports (in Persian). 2016. Archived from the original on 2018-06-16. Retrieved 2022-12-09.
  5. Khatibi, Firouze (August 25, 2013). "اولین بازی و اولین بوسه؛ خاطرات ویدا قهرمانی از سینمای ایران -" [The First Game and the First Kiss; Memories of Vida Garhami from Iranian Cinema]. BBC News فارسی (in Persian). Archived from the original on 2019-07-15. Retrieved 2022-12-09.
  6. Askari, Kaveh (2022-01-25). Relaying Cinema in Midcentury Iran: Material Cultures in Transit. University of California Press. pp. 150–151. ISBN 978-0-520-32976-8.
  7. Hurwitt, Robert (2015-05-04). "Slow, bumpy tempo muffles "Isfahan Blues"". SFGATE. Retrieved 2022-12-09.
  8. Shabani-Jadidi, Pouneh; Higgins, Patricia J.; Quay, Michelle (2022-07-08). The Routledge Handbook of Persian Literary Translation. Routledge. p. 249. ISBN 978-1-000-58342-7.
  9. Rudakoff, Judith (2015-02-01). Dramaturging Personal Narratives: Who am I and Where is Here?. Intellect Books. p. 180. ISBN 978-1-78320-421-2.
  10. Roger Ebert's Movie Yearbook 2011 0740797697 2010 "One day on a park bench he strikes up a conversation with Madame (Vida Ghahremani). She is about his age, is from Iran, which she thinks of as Persia, and is living with her Iranian- American daughter. Her English is a little better than Mr."
  11. Dodds, Richard (May 3, 2015). "Music, Glamour, and Memory". Bay Area Reporter. OCLC 26378505. Retrieved 2022-12-09.
  12. Mahala, Macelle (2022-08-15). Black Theater, City Life: African American Art Institutions and Urban Cultural Ecologies. Northwestern University Press. p. 194. ISBN 978-0-8101-4516-0.
  13. "'Isfahan Blues': A Cross-Cultural Jazz Journey in 1960s Iran". KQED. Retrieved 2022-12-09.
  14. Hjort, Mette; Nannicelli, Ted (2022-03-03). A Companion to Motion Pictures and Public Value. John Wiley & Sons. p. 63. ISBN 978-1-119-67712-3.
  15. Sadr, Hamid Reza (September 29, 2006). Iranian Cinema: A Political History. I.B. Tauris. p. 84. ISBN 978-1845111472. * illustration caption "The 'new' Iranian women in western dress, Vida Ghahremani (right) and Hamideh Kheirabadi in Fire and Ashes Khosrow Parvizi 1961"
  16. Maltin, Leonard (2013-09-03). Leonard Maltin's 2014 Movie Guide. Penguin. p. 2409. ISBN 978-1-101-60955-2.
  17. Ebert, Roger (2009-11-09). Roger Ebert's Movie Yearbook 2010. Andrews McMeel Publishing. p. 453. ISBN 978-0-7407-9218-2.
  18. Kadivar, Darius (September 30, 2008). "A Director's Cut: Hollywood Director Cyrus Nowrasteh Brings Fereidoune Sahabjam's Best Selling Novel To The Screen". Payvand.com. Retrieved 2022-12-09.
  19. Johnson, G. Allen (2016-06-22). "Security guard saves the world in 'Jimmy Vestvood'". SFGATE. Retrieved 2022-12-09.


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