40th Fajr Int’l Theater Festival announces winners

The 40th edition of the Fajr International Theater Festival has announced the winners during the closing ceremony.

Held at Tehran's Vahdat Hall on Tuesday night, the gala honored ‘A Requiem for Julius Caesar and Several Birds of Simorgh’ in several categories.

Directed by Mojtaba Rostamifar, the play has blended the story of Simorgh, the mysterious bird from Persian poet Attar’s masterpiece ‘The Conference of the Birds’ and William Shakespeare’s drama ‘The Tragedy of Julius Caesar’.

The award for the best playwright went to Baqer Soroush for his ‘Old Age’. The play is written based on Shakespeare’s tragedy ‘King Lear’, in which King Lear of Britain decides to divide his realm among his three daughters due to his old age and to retire from the duties of the monarchy.

The awards for best actress and best actor went to Nora Hashemi for ‘My Fair Lady’ and Tinou Salehi for ‘The Buckle’, respectively.

Here is the list of the other winners:

Best set designer: Mojtaba Rostamifar for ‘A Requiem for Julius Caesar and Several Birds of Simorgh’

Best costume designer: Ajman Bijaninasab and Najmeh Zarei for ‘Hamler Bijani’

Best composer: William Nayyeri for ‘My Fair Lady’

Best lighting designer: Imam Nakhlestani for ‘A Requiem for Julius Caesar and Several Birds of Simorgh’

Best make-up artist: Mohammad Mosayyebi for ‘Possibilities’

Best choreographer: Mojtaba Rostamifar for ‘A Requiem for Julius Caesar and Several Birds of Simorgh’

The Fajr festivals coincide with the Ten-Day Fajr ceremonies across Iran, marking the anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

The Fajr International Theater Festival is one of the most prestigious theater festivals in Iran.

The 40th edition of the festival, headed by Hossein Mosafer-Astaneh, took place on February 3-15, 2022.

MG/MG