Outreach

Cultural Events

The Ilex Foundation Annual Festival of Films From Iran, in partnership with Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and the Freer & Sackler Galleries, Washington DC, 1999–Present.

Highlights

2019

Pourya Azarbayjani, recipient of The Ilex Foundation Award for Emerging Talent in Iranian Cinema.

2015

Shahram Mokri, recipient of the ILEX Foundation Award for Emerging Visions in Iranian Cinema.

2014

Pre-cinematic release screening of Rosewater, featuring a post-screening discussion with Maziar Bahari and Joel Simon, Executive Director of Committee to Protect Journalists.

2010

• Maziar Bahari, recipient of The Ilex Foundation Award for Excellence in Iranian Cinema & the world premier of Mr. Bahari’s films, An Iranian Odyssey: Mossadegh, Oil and the 1963 Coup.
• Under the Skin: The Films of Rakhshan Bani-Etemad, a collaboration with Harvard Film Archive, Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts.

2008

• Dariush Mehrjui, recipient of The Ilex Foundation Award for Lifetime Achievement in Iranian Cinema & the premier of Mehrjui’s film, Santouri: The Music Man.
• Majid Majidi, recipient of The ILEX Foundation Award for Excellence in Iranian Cinema.

2006

Niki Karimi, recipient of The ILEX Foundation Award for Excellence in Iranian Cinema.

2005

Tahmineh Milani, recipient of ILEX Foundation Award for Excellence in Iranian Cinema.

2003

• Rakhshan Bani-Etemad, recipient of The Ilex Foundation Award for Excellence in Iranian Cinema.
• Iranian Voices, a film series sponsored by Ilex Foundation in collaboration with the American Film Institute.
• The Hidden Half: Iranian Women Directors, sponsored by Ilex Foundation in collaboration with Freer and Sackler Galleries of Art, Washington, DC.

2002

• Meet the Filmmakers: Two New Documentaries from Iran, sponsored by Ilex Foundation in collaboration with Freer and Sackler Galleries of Art featuring Pirooz Kalantari’s That Is Life and Persheng Vaziri’s Women Like Us.
• Bahman Farmanara, recipient of The Ilex Foundation Award for Excellence in Iranian Cinema.
• Marooned in Iraq, US screening debut of a film by Bahman Ghobadi and the 2002 recipient of Critiques Award at Cannes Film Festival. MFA Boston & the Corcoran Gallery of Art.
• Building Bridges: Middle East-US, special screening of Son of Maryam and The Longest Night.  Woodstock, VT.

2001

Fatemeh Motamed-Aria, recipient of The Ilex Foundation Award for excellence in Iranian Cinema.

2000

Makhmalbaf Film House, recipient of The Ilex Foundation Award for Excellence in Iranian Cinema.

1999

• Support for screenings of films from Iran at Gene Siskel Film Center.
• Support for Iranian Film festival, Chicago Film Center. Chicago, IL.
• Color of Paradise, Oscar nominated Majid Majidi presents his film at The Kennedy Center, Washington, DC and MFA, Boston; made possible through the support of Ilex Foundation.

Visual Arts

2007

Walls of Martyrdom: Tehran’s Propaganda Mural, a symposium and photography exhibit cosponsored by Harvard University Carr Center for Human Rights Policy and Islamic Legal Studies Program at Harvard Law School and Ilex Foundation.

2005

Persian Visions: Contemporary Photography from Iran, the first survey of contemporary Iranian photography presented in the United States, supported by Ilex Foundation.

2003

Modern Iranian Art, an exhibit featuring Iranian artists, Bahar Behbehani and Mostafa Darehbaghi at Ilex Foundation, Boston and Anne C. Fisher Gallery, Washington, DC.

2002

Photographs From Iran, an exhibit featuringthe work of Iranian photographer Jamshid Bayrami at Ilex Foundation, Boston.

Conferences

Association of Iranian Studies, Biennial Conference

2018

Pedagogical Perspectives on Persian and Comparative Epic. University of California, Irvine.

2016

New Perspectives on Late Antique Iran and Iraq, Part I. University of Vienna, Austria.

2012

Perspectives on Persian Art in Istanbul Collections. Istanbul, Turkey.

2006

Ethics in Iran: Historical and Literary Perspectives. SOAS University of London, UK.

2004

The Rhetoric of Biography: Narrating Lives Through Prefaces, Chronicles, and Scripts. Bethesda, MD.

Middle East Studies Association, Annual Conference

2016

New Perspectives on Late Antique Iran and Iraq, Part II. Boston, MA.

2010

Manuscript Pages from the Islamic World in The San Diego Museum of Art. San Diego, CA.

2008

Modern Political Discourse and Medieval Arts of Persuasion: Continuities and Discontinuities. Washington, DC.

2007

The Anxiety of Influence. Montreal, Canada.

2006

Cunning Words: Hila or How to Do Things with Tricks. Boston, MA.

2005

Departed But not Dead: The Presence of Figures from the Past in Islamic Lands. Washington, DC.

2004

Gift Giving and Hostage Taking. San Francisco, CA.

2003

Dreaming Across Boundaries: Divination in Islamic Lands. Anchorage, AK.

2002

The Humorous in Arabic, Persian, and Turkish Narrative. Washington, DC.

1999

Current Trends in Contemporary Iranian Culture. Washington, DC.

Additional Conferences

2016

Activism, Advocacy, and Scholarship on Islam in the Digital Realm. Mizan Project, Boston University, Boston, MA

2000

2^ndFerdowsi Conference. Center for the Great Islamic Encyclopedia. Tehran, Iran

1999

1^stFerdowsi Conference. Harvard University, Cambridge, MA.

2000

Building Bridges Between United States and Iran. Washington, DC.

Lectures & Visits

2006

Mohammad Khatami, President, Islamic Republic of Iran. Official visit to Ilex Foundation following his visits to the National Cathedral, Washington, DC, his address to the United Nations, New York, NY, and to the Forum of the Harvard Kennedy School.

 2004

• Shirin Ebadi, Nobel Peace Laureate, Forum address at Harvard Kennedy School of Government. Co-sponsored by Ilex Foundation, Harvard Institute of Politics and the Kokkalis Program at the Harvard Kennedy School.
• Iraj Anvar, “A Naqqâli Performance of Shahnameh, the Book of Kings, the Court and the Coffeehouse,” with an introduction by Olga M. Davidson, Chairman, Ilex Foundation. The Asia Society and Museum, New York, cosponsored by Ilex Foundation.

2003

• Muslim Women in America, BNN-produced program featuring Muslim women dispelling myths about Islam and sharing their personal experiences. Moderated by Olga M. Davidson, Chairman, Ilex Foundation.
• Shirin Ebadi, at the Third Annual James Parks Morton Interfaith Awards Dinner, New York, with an introduction by Olga M. Davidson, Chairman, Ilex Foundation. Read her introduction.
• Negar Assari-Samimi, Iranian artist featured at the Biennale Internazionale Dell’Arte Contemporanea, Florence, Italy. Sponsored by Ilex Foundation.

2001

• Traditions and Language of Aghdnamehs (marriage contracts). A talk and slide presentation given by Amir Zekrgo in Boston.
• Traditional Turkish Musical Performance. Saz and bendir performance by Okan Murat Ozturk and Sukru Ilicak, Boston and Washington, DC, sponsored by Ilex Foundation

2000

• Kamal Kharazi, Foreign Minister, Islamic Republic of Iran. A visit to Ilex Foundation following a United Nations address.
• Poetry & Prophecy, a lecture by Dr. H.M. Elahi-Ghomshei, Georgetown University and Harvard University, sponsored by Ilex Foundation.
• Visage of Christ in Islam, a lecture by Ayatollah Majdoddin Mahallati at the Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Harvard University, sponsored by Ilex Foundation.

Sponsored Academic Positions & Fellowships

Assistant Curator, The Milman Parry Collection of Oral Literature (MPOC), Harvard University.

Teaching Fellowship, Harvard Divinity School, 1999-2005

In the Spotlight

President Mohammad Khatami Visit
September, 2006

President Mohammad Khatami, head of the former reformist government of Iran, paid an official visit to the house of Olga M. Davidson at 82 Revere Street as the last stopping point of his tour of the United States before his flight back to Tehran. More …

2003 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Shirin Ebadi

Professor Olga Davidson, Chairman of Ilex Foundation, introduced 2003 Nobel Peace Laureate Shirin Ebadi at the Third Annual James Parks Morton Interfaith Awards Dinner in New York City. Ilex Foundation, together with the Harvard Institute of Politics and the Kokkalis Program at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University presented a Forum address by 2003 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Shirin Ebadi on May 11, 2004.

Read Professor Davidson’s Introduction (PDF).

Read Ebadi’s biography from The Nobel Prize website.

See images from the event.

More Lectures & Visits:

Visit our online archive for detailed information, photos, clips, links, etc., from more past lectures and visits.

Ongoing positions supported by the Foundation

The Milman Parry Collection of Oral Literature (MPOC),
Harvard University, Assistant Curator

About the position