TEHRAN – Iran has launched a puppet making festival to bring back hope to the people who have been afflicted physically or mentally amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Hope Puppet International Festival will be organized by the Dramatic Arts Department of the University of Tehran and the Research Institute of Cultural Heritage and Tourism.

“It has been two years that we have suffered from the trying days of the pandemic, a period in which many words such as love, affection, devotion, self-sacrifice and humanity were filled with meaning. At the same time, however, words like death, grief, disappointment, war, bloodshed, homelessness and illness have also been raging around the world. Amid these conditions, perhaps hope is the sole word that can be brought forth from the tongue while we remain waiting as hope weaves its magic in the world,” the director of the festival, Pupak Azimpur Tabrizi, said in a press release on Sunday.

“Having faith in the magic of puppets, we decided to take shelter in their world of safety and fantasy. Puppets are trusted and loyal friends, with whom we can play and to whom we can tell our secrets,” she added  

Azimpur called on grandparents, parents, children, puppeteers and puppet makers across the world to participate in the festival by making puppets that represent hope.   

A selection of the submissions will be offered in an exhibition ten days before the closing ceremony of the festival, and all money raised by the event will go to charity.   

Applications for the festival whose motto is “1 Puppet, 1 Hope” can be submitted online until December 11 at www.roshatalent.ir/eventregister.

Photo: A poster for the Hope Puppet International Festival.

MMS/YAW