Qader Ashena: “Plays of the Fadjr Int. Theater Festival will be the priorities of next year’s performances”

According to Irantheater website, in the beginning of the news conference, while intruding the 31st Fadjr Int. Theater Festival, Peiman Shriati explained: This year the Fadjr Intl. Theater Festival will begin in the format of two parts which pertains exclusively to Radio Theater and Tehran’s ceremonial plays and Provincial Fajr.

He added: the Radio theater which has been constantly included in Fadjr Festival each year since 1386m has been also warmly greeted this year as 120 plays have been submitted to the secretariat of which 12 plays 6 from Tehran and 6 from provinces have eventually have entered this section.

By stating that the accepted provincial plays in Radio Theater section come from Gilan, Hormozgan, Sistan & Baluchestan, Qazvin Fars and North Khorasan provinces, Shariatie noted that:” The plays entered this section which have been chosen by Ayoub Aghakhani, Jahanshah Al Mahmoud and Nader Borhani Marand, will be staged from tomorrow 26 dey (15 Jan.) in two shifts 18:00 and 19:30 at Jihad hall.

The Executive Manager of 31st Fadjr Int. Theater Festival  admitted that the street performance part will begin from tomorrow 26 Dey( 15 Jan) at 15:30, 17:00 and 18:00 in City Theater outdoor premises, at 11:00 in Bagh Mooze Ghasr and at 15:00 in Artists House premises.

Shariati reminded that the Provincial Fadjr that has been staged for the last 3 years has been faced with lots of hosting requests from provinces and will be staged in 5 provinces of Fats, Alborz, Kohkilouyeh and Boyer Ahamd, Semnan and Golestan on 26-30 Dey (15-19 Jan).

Three generation of artists at this year’s Festival

The General Manager of Performing arts while thanking and appreciating Seyed Mohammad Hosseini , Culture and Islamic Guidance Minister, Hamid Shah Abadi Deputy of arts of the Culture and Islamic Guidance Ministry, and Said Kashan Falah this year’s Secretariat and also the secretariats of the former rounds of Festival for their efforts and support said: Attending to the quality of the Festival, Provinces and rural areas, research and youth has been amongst the main demands and resolutions of the policy making committee of this year’s Festival . In this round of the Festival while respecting the name and reputation and the presence of our pioneer artists, the attendees presented pretty much worthwhile plays and in fact have surpassed their masters in this area.

In order to pay attention to research, we have assessed the Fadjr Int’l Theater Festival’s worldwide status and compared it to other reputable and preeminent festivals in two phases.

He continued: “As in this year’s Fadjr Int’l Theater Festival we are witnessing the participation of three generations of our theater artists, I really hope we will have a good Festival. Also for general performance in 1392, works of Fadjr festival are in priority as a lot of precision has been put into accepting and including these works into Fadjr Festival therefore considering the place and date these plays will be our priority for general performance.

Applicants works indicator of the Fadjr Theater Festival’s presentation in world scale

While stating that “ I see myself as a servant to this art,  Saeid Kashan Falah then added: through my journey in this road and my efforts I always tried to create situations in various fields like management, teaching, secretariat , etc. to support and develop theater.

31st Fadjr Int’l Theater Festival’s Secretariat added: Though I took the responsibility of this year’s festival after 25th time and had cooperated with this festival since its beginning, I believe that this incident is the prestige and honor of the Iranian theater both inside and abroad and in spite of the sanctions we witness a very good reception this year.

Keshan Falah said: around 108 performing plays have been submitted to the Festival Secretariat that shows the stabilization and appropriate introduction of the Fadjr Int’l theater Festival in the world which has been known as a reliable , reputable festival.

He added: We tried to present works that beside the Iranian works be able to affect the outlook and development of the festival and introduce the events taken place abroad to the theatrical society and our youth.

Unlimited participation of youth

This year there is no restrictions for youth’s participation. Keshan Fallah added: with Policymaking committee and group of counselors I decided that we will make no limitations for youth’s participation in order to make a huge change.

He added: our round – the – clock activities for staging the festival as grand as it can be made us to pay much less attention to the minor side lined problems. I think considering my experience through years of managing the festival in this round I am familiar with all the fields and therefore wherever there was the possibility of cooperation, I would be present along with the assessment teams in order to pay precise attention to the assessments and make sure nobody’s rights were being ignored.

He reminded that: After the first round of picking the plays, some objected the elections then together with Amir Dejakam-Keshan Falah’s councelor- the plays wer reviewd thus the reson for delay in printing some plays names in the Festival’s chart.

Keshan Falah said: sometimes the general performance is the condition for participation in the festival which has made some problems in the past. Therefore we gave the responsibility to the Center of performing arts to provide halls for introducing the plays and groups and the managers of the theater halls pick the plays in accordance to the condition and capacity of their halls for performance.

He added: therefore the priority, order and limitation of the plays, plays not accepted in the festival that have the possibility of editing or reinforcement, will be introduced to other areas deemed fit to be performed.

Judging the third part of the Fadjr Theater Festival

Then Peiman Shariatie said: This year’s plays will be performed at Vahdat hall, City Theater Complex Sangeladge Theater, Honar Hall, Theater House in Theater Office, Ostad Samanadrian Hall, Iranshahr Theater Ostad Entezami Hall at Khane Honarmandan, Mehr Hozeh Honari Theater, Ferdowsi Hall, Hafez Av Theater.

He added: Also the Street performing will be staged at City Theater Complex’s premises, Palace Garden Park premises and Vahdat Hall’s Parking lot.

Executive manager of the Fadjr Int’l Theater Festival said: According to the policymaking committee’s request and Festival’s Secretariat, in addition to the usual two parts, a third part will also be judges which include dthe international section, Iran Theater section and all participated and introduced plays from provinces , a new outlook and some parts will be added.

He added: Davood Rashidi, Majid Sarsangi, Masoud Rayegan, Jannat Salim Ava and Mario Seklaj are the international competition’s judges, Mahmoud Azizi, Tajbakhsh Fanayian, Khosrow Khorshidi, Mohammad Ali Khabari and Rahmat Amini are the Iran and Mokhtabad theater judges, and Hossein Mosaferastaneh, Nasrollah Ghaderi are the judges for the third part of the Festival. Also Shahram Nowshir, Hassan Dowlat Abadi and Moslem Ghassemi are the judges in street performance section.

Commemorating the Theater Family

The 31st Fadjr Int’l Theater Festival’s secretariat after noting the Khaneh Honarmandan, Palace Garden Meuseum, Zibasazi and Jahad Daneshgahi Organization has cooperated with us, insisted that in this round we searched for sponsor and financial supporter but considering the financial situation of the country it was not available. Therefore according to some d9icscussion with the Culture and Islamic Guidance Minister it was decided that the credit part of this festival that was meant to be provided by the sponsors will be provided by the Ministerial sectors credits.

 Shariatie announced that: Also in the Closing ceremony of the Festival the commemoration ceremony for Mahmoud Ostad Mohammad, Sorayya Shirzadi Kermanshahi artist and Behrouz Baghayie will be staged.

Ticketing Conditions

 Noting that this year the Fadjr Theater Festival will not have daily ticket selling, stated the ” the online advance sell of performing plays of the Festival has begun according to schedule from 24:00 Monday 25 Dey( 14Jan.) to 24:00 Wednesday 27 Dey (16th Jan.) through gisheh website also on Friday and Saturday 29 and 30th Dey (18-19 Jan) online bought tickets will be delivered from 10:00-15:00 at the waiting room of the main hall of City Theater Complex. Also Festival plays tickets with 50% discount for university students will be sold on1st of Bahman (Jan.20) from 10:0 to 15: 00 at City Theater Complex Waiting Hall.

Publication of Research and Comparative Books 

Referring to the subject of research in Fadjr theater Festival, he noted the Hamed Saghayian’ comparative research of Fadjr festival to other reputable Festivals, and statistical review of the latest 5 rounds of the Fadjr Theater Festival by Manouchehr Akbarlou, insisted that: A collection of selected plays of the Festival which will include 5 plays will be published in a booklet form selected by the juries.

Regarding Molavi Hall’s non-participation at the festival, Said Keshan fallah said: Considering the financial problems of Molavi Hall and its challenges and condition, the cooperation was impossible, therefore we had to make some changes at the Festival performing charts that eventually led to the delay in publication of the chart.

Financial Support of the Groups

Then Peiman Shariatie in response to the question of the conditions of financial support of the performing groups said: Apart from the groups participating at the street performance and provinces part, who will get their supportive amount by arriving to Tehran, the new outlook section group has received one part of their support package and the rest of the groups had received their amount in two parts.

Regarding the Bazar Theater he announced that Bazar Theater has made a good opportunity for our country’s theater and in all rounds of Festival in a biannual form therefore the best method is that the Bazar theater in an appropriate and complete package by taking in consideration the pathology of the former two rounds of the festival be staged in a biannual form.

In the end he added that in this round, according to the recommendation of the Directing Manager of the Performing Arts, the daily publication of the Festival will not be published, but catalogues, photo booklet, posters and also the photo and poster competition and selected plays will be published.

Mehdi Shafiee, Financial- Administrative deputy of the Performing Arts Center , Ebrahim Galedarzadeh Managing Director of the Performing arts Association, Vahid Lak Provinces Affairs Manager of the Performing Arts Center, Ali Akbar Tarkhan, International Affairs Manager of the Performing Arts Center, Mehid Hajian Festival Affairs Manager of the Performing Arts Center and Atabak Naderi Sangeladj Theater Manger were also present in this news conference. Also Mohsen Hassan Zadeh was the host of the meeting.

It should be noted that the 31st Fadjr Int’l Theater Festival is staged from 12-26 Dey (1-15 Jan) in forms of Iran’s Theater section, International Theater, New Experiences, New Outlook, Selected Provincial Theater, Special, Street Theater, Radio Theater, Playwright Competition, Teaching workshops, Photo Competition and Showroom, Poster Showrooms and Provincial Fadjr with Saied Keshan Falah’s Direction.