TROUPES FROM 7 COUNTRIES TO PARTICIPATE IN FESTIVAL OF STUDENT PUPPET THEATER

Tehran Times
Oct 27 2009
Iran

TEHRAN — Seven countries will be participating at the 11th Festival
of Student Puppet Theater which will be held from November 22 to 29
in Tehran.

A total of 30 works were submitted to the International Section of
the gala out of which eight works were selected, the secretary of
the festival Isa Nuri mentioned during a press conference on Monday.

Performances from France, the Netherlands, Germany, the United States,
Canada, Australia and Armenia will go on stage at the festival,
he said.

"Mask and Puppet", "Research", "International Section", "Poster and
Photo" and "Writing Drama" are the sections of this edition of the
festival, he added.

The secretariat of the festival held two educational workshops "The
Puppet Making" by Mohammad Alami and "The Knowledge of Puppet Show"
by Javad Zolfaghari over the past few weeks, he said.

Nuri went on to say that the Farabi Hall of University of Art is
currently hosting a workshop on directing puppet shows by Behruz
Gharibpur.

At the conference, the counselor of the festival Behruz Gharibpur
expressed appreciation for Nuri’s efforts in dealing with the many
problems that had to be resolved before the festival could be held.

He asked the officials to support the festival as a cultural necessity
which boosts art and culture in Iran.

He lamented that the degrading looks of critics at the student theater
festivals disheartens the young artists.

"I hope that the next edition of the festival will be held without
any delays or difficulties," he added,

The festival was not held last year due to financial problems and
also lack of coordination between the University of Art and Iran’s
Ministry of Science, Research and Technology, which are jointly
responsible for holding the festival.

The motto of this edition of the festival is "Universities’ sympathy
and cooperation" and all students have equal rights in the festival,
he said.

The festival will be held at the Iranian Artists Forum, the University
of Art, the Honar Hall, the Niavaran Cultural Center and the Farabi
Hall.