Archives: Dispatches

The Art Research Institute (پژوهشگاه فرهنگ، هنر و ارتباطات), also known as the Research Institute of Culture, Art and Communication (RICAC), is a government-affiliated research body in Iran established in 1998 under the country’s Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance (وزارت فرهنگ و ارشاد اسلامی) — the agency that controls access to media on the basis of Iranian religious ethics and political considerations. RICAC’s mandate is to conduct policy-oriented cultural research in support of the ministry’s programs, and it has since 2001 administered Iran’s International Award on Cultural Research, the country’s only festival dedicated exclusively to evaluating research on Iranian culture and art. The institute publishes peer-reviewed journals on culture, communication, and the arts, and conducts national surveys to inform cultural policymaking.

The Cinema Organization of Iran or COI (سازمان سینمای ایران) is a state body operating under Iran’s Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, the agency that controls access to media on the basis of Iranian religious ethics and political considerations. The COI serves as the primary regulatory authority for the Iranian film industry, responsible for issuing production and screening permits for both domestic and international films. Examples of COI has exercising its authority in recent years include the banning of the 2022 family and feminist drama “Leila’s Brothers” after its director brought the film to Cannes without government approval, a decision that led to the film’s director and producer being sentenced to criminal penalties by an Islamic Revolutionary Court in August 2023.