TEHRAN – The 19th edition of the Mobarak Puppet Theater Festival announced its lineup for the international competition on Tuesday.

Seven performances will be staged by troupes from Turkey, Georgia, Mexico, Armenia, Peru and Brazil during the festival, which opens in Tehran on Thursday.

“Treasure Island” by Brazilian director Fábio Superbi is among the puppet shows. 

It tells an adventure-filled story reminiscent of tales of heroes and their trials. Jim, an 11-year-old brave adventurer meets an old sea wolf, wins a treasure map, sails the seas on a huge ship, faces pirates, overcomes the dangers of a desert island, finds a ghost and finally discovers his treasure.

Renowned Georgian puppeteer Elene Matskhonashvili will attend the festival with the biographical plays “Pirosmani” and “Niko Nikoladze”.

“Pirosmani” portrays the tragic life story of the great Georgian artist, Niko Pirosmani, who died in a basement.

In her second puppet show, Matskhonashvili centers on Niko Nikoladze, a Georgian writer, pro-Western enlightener, and public figure primarily known for his contributions to the development of Georgian liberal journalism and his involvement in various economic and social projects of that time.

The lineup also includes “The Magic Lamp” by Cengiz Özek from Turkey.

It is a stage adaptation of “Thumbelina”, a literary fairy tale by Danish author Hans Christian Andersen.

Hacivat finds a lamp and takes it to Karagoz to have it cleaned. Usually, a genie lives in old lamps. But this genie is not a bad genie. Karagoz is allowed to ask whatever he wants. He has only 3 wishes. However, Karagoz is so indecisive that he shrinks to the size of a thumb. Poor Karagoz comes across giants; a crow, a frog, a snake, a mole, a rat and a stork. He asks every one of them about his lamp, but not everybody has good intentions. And from the clouds to the earth, through water, under bad weather conditions his adventure waits for him. In the end the gold-hearted genie saves him from this situation. Karagoz returns to his normal height and uses his wishes for his friends’ happiness and health.

Peruvian directors Ines Pasic and Hugo Suárez will stage “Body Rhapsody”.

It is a picturesque parade of funny characters who, in the brief moments of their existence on the stage, try to capture those little poetic moments that are hidden in daily life. These characters, with their dreams and frustrations, with their successes and failures, tell us about the eternal drama of the human tragicomedy.

The also features “Birds Are Eternal” by Antonio Camacho Oropeza from Mexico and “Swan Lake” by Samson Movsesyan from Armenia.

This year’s festival plans to honor veteran puppeteers Hassan Dadashgar and Homa Jeddikar with lifetime achievement awards.

Photo: A file photo shows Georgian director Elene Matskhonashvili’s troupe performing “Pirosmani”.

MMS/YAW