Fajr festival to honor 4 theater elites with lifetime achievement awards

TEHRAN –(Iranart)- Four Iranian theater elites will be honored with lifetime achievement awards at the 38th Fajr International Theater Festival.

“Actor and translator Andranik Khechumyan, actor Mehdi Naziri as well as actors and directors Karim Akbari Mobarakeh and Hossien Atefi are the four veterans who will be honored,” the festival director Nader Borhani Marand said in a press conference at Tehran’s City Theater Complex on Sunday.

“Six troupes from Poland, Armenia, Belgium, Switzerland and Greece will perform in the international section of the festival, which is non-competitive this year,” he added.

Guests from 19 countries, including Finland, Georgia, France, Belgium, Russia, Italy, Azerbaijan and Denmark, have also been invited to the Iranian Theater Market that will be running from February 2 to 6.

The director of Iran’s Dramatic Arts Center, Shahram Karami, also attending the conference, said that the organizers have faced three challenges to organize this year’s festival.

“The first challenge is a lack of investors and we are obliged to run the festival with no sponsor again this year,” Karami said.

“Our second problem is the economic sanctions, which have influenced the festival, and the third one goes back to the troupes, which have withdrawn from the festival this year,” Karami explained.

Iranian troupes will hold their performances in the different national competition and non-competition sections.

The 38th Fajr International Theater Festival will take place in Tehran from January 30 to February 9.

source: Tehran Times