Last Scene for Marivan 11th International Street Theater Festival

The outdoor ceremony, which took place near Zarivar Lake at 4 pm, attended by Ali Moradkhani, deputy culture minister for art affairs, Abdolhamid Zahedi, Kurdistan governor general, Hojjatol Islam Rahim Jafari, director Kurdistan Culture and Islamic Guidance Department and secretary of Marivan Street Theater Festival, Mehdi Shafiei, director of Dramatic Arts Center, and Mansour Moradi, Marivan lawmaker in the parliament.

Hojjatol Islam Rahim Jafari, director Kurdistan Culture and Islamic Guidance Department and secretary of Marivan Street Theater Festival, welcomed culture minister, Ali Jannati to the festival.

"Street Theater Festival is a part of the body of this land and Kurdistan region, meaning Marivan. The residents of this city will start working on the 12^th edition of the festival to hold it in a better way," Mr Jafari said.

He added that the festival dated back to the days of war with Iraq (1980-1988) when Marivan was under bombs. Although the festival stopped for a few year, it has started in the border city of Marivan in an international form.

Referring to a meeting with the minister in Sanandaj, Mr Jafari said that the city would adopt three general approaches in the future to create a cultural environment for culture and art circle in a way that they would carry out the works and conduct studies in the field. "We have devoted a section to research in the festival for the second successive year."

On the statistics, he said that about 300 pieces were submitted to the festival of which 31 shows finally admitted in ritual, free and review sections, adding that 31 performances were staged in the streets of Marivan every day while average 400 to 500 audience watched each piece.

On international section, the official said that the number of participants was low but the quality was good. Italy, Armenia, Poland and Iraq took part in the event.

He hoped the government could improve the quality of the festival each year given the enthusiasm of the people and openness in the country's general policies.

Abdolhamid Zahedi, Kurdistan governor general, said that a phenomena like street theater was initiated in Marivan spontaneously by precious artists of the region in a city under the upheavals of war. "This shows people hoped on their future while they were in crisis and under air attacks by typical and chemical bombs."  

He expressed satisfaction that the festival was held with high quality each year thanks to efforts by artists and supports by the provincial officials and culture department.

Given the shortage of stages in province, Kurdistan did not wait and brought their art to the street to connect to all their audience either the theater-goers or ordinary people, the official explained.

Top Awards

Ritual Section:

The jury awarded the emblem and 10m rials cash to composer of Boonak Behini Group from Amol in music section.

No one won awards in research section.

The jury awarded Abolfazl Tabasi, the designer of "War & Party" from Sabzevar, as top piece, followed by Faramarz Gholamian for "D-Zangou" from Abadan and Ali Qazi for "Bazbazak" from Masjed Soleiman.

Abolfazl Tabasi received top director award for "War & Party" from Sabzevar followed by Ghoncheh Shokouhi and Mohsen Ardeshir for Boonak Behini Group from Amol as well as Hiyam Ahmadi and Faramarz Gholamian for "D-Zangou" from Abadan.  

Free Section:

The top award for music was given to Ahmad Jafari, composer of "Mirza's Not-Broadcasted Documentary" from Tehran, followed by Mahour Sheidaeifar for "Deport" from Sari and no one received the third award.

On designer the performance, the third, second and first awards were given to "Silence of Colors" from Marivan, "Mr Worrisome" from Sanandaj and "No Way Out in Last Game", respectively.

Nazila Amini received the top actress award for "Borderless Virus" from Saghez, followed by Marjan Karami for "Complicated Story of an Axing" from Tafresh and "Petros's Shabihkhani" from Dehloran.

Mohammad Hadi Ataei and Abolfazl Samimi were awarded top actors for "Mirza's Not-Broadcasted Documentary" from Tehran, followed by Maysam Sarabadani for "Complicated Story of an Axing" from Tafresh and Sivan Samadi for "Mr Worrisome" from Sanandaj.

Ahmad Samimi was chosen the top director for "Mirza's Not-Broadcasted Documentary" from Tehran, followed by Omid Mostafaei for "No Way Out in Last Game" from Boukan and Mahsa Abtahi for "Complicated Story of an Axing" from Tafresh.

Research Section:

Mehdi Moradi and Khosrow Sina were chosen for top essay and a translation by Zaynab Askari was praised.  

Audience Award:

"Bald Hero", directed by Ali Ataei and Hamed Zarean from Tehran, "Harvey Darestan", directed by Souran Hosseini and Mirza's Not-Broadcasted Documentary" from Tehran, directed by Ahmad Samimi were chosen by the audience as top pieces.

Seven child actors of "Labor, Child and Street" and Narges Mansouri, the child actress of "Silence of Colors" from Marivan, and Yekta Ahmadi, the child actress of "Redemption in Hour" received the top awards and Ala Alborz and Heline Ahmadi were praised.