The festival is currently going online due to the pandemic and the puppets shows will stream on some Iranian platforms during the event.

This year’s festival is being organized nationwide due to the pandemic, however, the two plays have been selected for performance on the last days of the event, Saturday and Sunday, the organizers have announced. 

“This festival has a good background and is quite well known in the world. Many international groups were interested in taking part, however, we could only choose two plays that were suitable for virtual performances,” director of the festival workshop Fahimeh Mirzahassani said in a press release published on Friday. 

“Babysitter Curtain” by Luis André Cherubini is inspired by Virginia Woolf’s short story, “Nurse Lugton’s Curtain”. The play brings the story of a nanny who snoozes while sewing a huge curtain and dreams of the village embroidered on the fabric

“Somewhere Else” by Tin Grabnar tells about a little girl, who finds herself caught in the middle of a war. It is through her eyes that viewers observe her changing city, filled with horrors, violence, and fear, but hope, too. Threatening planes are flying over the city, the streets are empty and there is no food left on the shelves in the store. The school is closed, and every now and then gunshots are heard nearby. Her environment gradually changes and becomes intolerable.

A lineup of 57 puppet shows was selected to be performed during the festival running from February 28 to March 7 available at Tiwall, Namayeshnet, and Hashure, the Iranian platforms providing video on demand (VOD) service for films.

The veteran artists of Puppet Theater, Iraj Mohammadi and Mohammad-Hassan Abuyi Mehrizi, will be honored with lifetime achievement awards on the closing day, Sunday.

The festival opened with a tribute to puppet show director Golzar Mohammadi, who was the secretary of the 18th edition of the festival.

The 42-year-old puppeteer died in March 2020 after months of suffering from cancer.


Source: Tehran Times