Gharibpour: Puppet Show Needs Budget

Mr Gharibpour, who was delivering a speech in a ceremony to unveil the poster of the Tehran’s 16^th International Puppet Show Festival (Mobarak) said that the puppets and puppet shows had been the most important achievement of the man.

“Any civilization or culture is doomed if it is deprived of puppet show,” he said. “Puppet show and the man are of the same essence. Ignorance towards it means disregard of the most important achievement of mankind.”

He added that the puppet show was a summary of all arts.  

Mr Gharibpour warned that he had repeatedly said that Quran tales would be produced by Hollywood if the government failed to financially assist the puppet shows.

“Puppet show is rooted in Iran culture and civilization and has a legacy of several thousand years,” he explained. “I have always protested meager state budget allocated to the puppet show groups.”

Rejecting some views that regard puppet shows as cheap and simple art type, Mr Gharibpour said that it was a specialized field and “I am hopeful it would receive a sufficient budget.”

The poster of the 16^th International Puppet Show Festival (Mobarak) was unveiled on Monday with the theme of “The Sky of Puppets Is Blue”. The poster is designed by Marzieh Sarmashghi.

The Puppet House hosted the ceremony where director of the Dramatic Art Center, Mehdi Shafiei and secretary of the festival, Marzieh Boroumand and other puppet show figures attended.

Ms Boroumand explained that 370 stage plays and 140 outdoor puppet shows were submitted to attend the event, 64 of them were shortlisted.

The final participants are 27 which were chosen after review of the works.

She praised Payman Shariati, recently-appointed director of the City Theater, for his assistance to the festival.

“I hope the appointment would help increase allocation of the budget to puppet shows,” she said.

Mr Shafiei thanked Ms Boroumand for her efforts in organizing the festival, praising her and Mr Gharibpour’s managerial skills.

“The festivals serve as medium to make better works,” he said, promising to support the participants of the festival financially and facilitate their public performance.

Tehran International Puppet Show Festival (Mobarak) will be held on August 22-28.