DUSTIN ELLIS AND SHABNAM REZAEI RECEIVE AWARDS

BUDAPEST, November 14th, 2006 – Business partners Dustin Ellis and Shabnam Rezaei were both rewarded for their contribution to Persian culture at the WAALM awards in Budapest in late October.

Dustin Ellis, the writer/director of “Babak and Friends – A First Norooz” won best director for animation. Dustin dedicated his award to his grandfather Hassan Shahbaz, the founder of Rahavard Magazine. He also thanked partners Mastaneh Moghadam, Aly Jetha, Shabnam Rezaei and his mother Guity Shahbaz, who encouraged him to make Babak. “ I am really proud of everyone involved in this project. We have such a talented team and it is because of my core animation team, people like Alfred Gimeno, Joe Banaszkiewicz, John Dymer and many others that I am here today,” commented Dustin.

Shabnam Rezaei, who founded the online magazine PersianMirror, received the award for best electronic magazine by the academy. She thanked her parents and noted that the website serves artists and writers from around the world. The readership of PersianMirror has grown dramatically to 80,000 unique visitors per month from around the world. When asked about the site, she said, “We love to feature up and coming talent, whether they are artists, actors, musicians or athletes. I want to thank in particular, my senior team. Afshin Dastafshan in Edinburgh, Darius Kadivar in Paris, Milad Molavi in Tehran and Alon Ben-Meir in New York. Without them, we would not have a site.” PersianMirror was recently expanded to enable users to submit articles online and submission is encouraged.

Dustin and Shabnam, along with their Babak & Friends partners are working hard at raising funding for the next Babak film. Supporters of this venture should go to their website and purchase products in order to help in this effort.

About Babak and Friends – A First Norooz

Babak and Friends – A First Norooz is a cartoon about a little boy named Babak who is caught between two cultures and is trying to understand the beauty of Persian culture through celebrating Norooz. Amoo Norooz and Haji Firooz are there to help him through this life-changing process. They take him on an epic stroll through the halls of Persepolis in his dream, and teach him about his great heritage. For more visit www.babakandfriends.com

About PersianMirror

PersianMirror’s purpose is to promote the beauty of Iranian culture by exposing the audience to rich traditions in Persian celebrations, literature, cinema, art, poetry, music, and cooking. Based around the world, the writers aim to educate the world about the Iranian community through art, culture, entertaining articles and personal stories. In addition, the site provides a common platform for Iranian professionals outside of Iran. The site receives more than 3 million hits per month. This website is non-political, non-religious and encourages anyone who is interested in Persian culture to contribute to the site. For more, go to www.persianmirror.com.

-Sara Sefeed