Iranian filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami invited to Louvre festival of Islamic arts

TEHRAN,Sept.17(MNA) -- The Louvre Museum have invited international figures including Iranian filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami to a contemporary festival of Islamic arts, which will open on September 21. Entitled Cartes Blaches, the festival has been organized to give the public an opportunity to discuss Islamic art and culture, the museum has announced on its website. Nobel Prize-winning Turkish novelist Orhan Pamuk and Lebanese artist Walid Raad are the other figures invited to collaborate in this project. The festival has dedicated several days to screening films by Kiarostami as well as holding panels of discussion running for several days in October and December. This is part of the big Islamic Art exhibition, which has opened at the new Islamic Art department of the museum early September. The exhibition includes works from Egypt, Syria, and Palestine and gives visitors a chance to explore the differences and create connections between the collections. Cartes Blaches will go on until spring 2013.