Art centers team up for virtual festival to raise hopes for future

TEHRAN –(Iranart)- Two private art centers in Tehran have teamed up to organize a virtual festival, which has aimed at raising hopes for the future that is facing threats from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Final Take Culture and Art Institute and Eleven Square Center will be organizing the Art Is Alive Virtual Festival with spiritual support from the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, the organizers have announced.

The festival will be held in the field of cinema, theater, music and digital art.

Behruz Gharibpur, director of the acclaimed opera puppet shows “Hafez”, “Rumi” and “Ashura”, is the director the festival’s policymaking council.

Veteran actor Ali Nasirian has been selected to preside over the jury. He has expressed his hope that the festival can motivate young artists to work diligently in the coronavirus era.   

Filmmaker Kamal Tabrizi is the director of the cinema category while Gharibpur is in charge of the theater section.

The music section is being headed by composer Fardin Khalabari, and cinematographer Mahmud Kalari is the director of the digital art category of the festival, which will be held from February 28 to March 10, 2021.

“The festival is born out of the conditions COVID-19 has imposed on the world community,” the organizers have said in a statement for the festival.

“The new media have provided the opportunity for people crippled by the disease to escape from the depression resulting from the home quarantine,” the statement added.

They also hope that the festival gives a chance for young artists to discover their hidden talents. 

source: Tehran Times