Siavash Sattari presided over UNIMA IRAN

The farewell ceremony of Ardeshir Salehpour, the former head of UNIMA Iran, and the introduction of Siavash Sattari, the new head of UNIMA Iran, were held at Tehran’s City Theater Complex.

Hamidreza Ardalan (former head of Unima Iran), Abbas Shahmohammadzadeh (Director of Puppet Theater Center) and some members of Unima Iran were present at this meeting.

Hamidreza Ardalan, the former head of UNIMA Iran, said: The national centers of UNIMA must produce ideas, shows, relationships and motivation to feed the global system. If the national centers can't do this, UNIMA will be in trouble internationally."

He pointed out the state of Puppet Theater in Iran, We have not been able to strengthen the theoretical foundations of theater, especially puppet theater during the last few decades, and our art has been fed more by the artistic currents of the West and sometimes from East Asia in the performances.

Abbas Shahmohammadzadeh, director of the Puppet Theater Center, considered the launch of the Puppet Theater website, the attempt to launch a virtual puppet museum, the launch of the Puppet Theater Museum building and the publication of plays and books about puppet shows among the things planned by this center.

Ardeshir Salehpour pointed out that the puppet is the oldest human common point, "Despite our cultural and historical background, we as Iranians have not yet been able to bring our ancient foundation to the world of puppet to show it to the world.

He continued: Although we should pay attention to the modern puppet genre, at the same time we should not forget our roots and backgrounds because our identity depends on them.

Siavash Sattari, the president of UNIMA Iran, also emphasized the need to pay attention to puppet theater training and said: The main duty of UNIMA is to spread the culture of puppet show. Puppet show is not only for children, but children will be a serious audience of the show in the future, that should definitely be considered.