Ibrahim
Writer: Marzieh Shahdadi
Synopsis: Ibrahim, a teacher approaching retirement age, is living with his two children: Loza, a divorced woman; and Sama, a fugitive soldier. Ibrahim’s wife is dead as she refused to undergo chemotherapy. His students’ sexual issues have caused problems for him affecting his personal life as well. A boy and a girl brought up by this man now face new realities in society.
Marzieh Shahdadi: B. 1992, Birjand. MA in fabric designing and printing, School of Arts, Semnan. Actor of the plays: “A Sweltering Dream”, “This Cycle That Falls Down”, “Romeo and Juliet”, “Subsidence”. Writer and director of the plays: “The Tree Has Pomegranates” and “Let’s Drink Tea” (second best writer, Fajr Provincial Theatre Festival, Birjand 2013).
The Hand-Written Bombs
Writer: Majid Bakhsheshian Timaji
Synopsis: This is an old rusty ammunition depot and of course a secret one. Ellen is an army general’s daughter who has been exiled to this place in a sack. Stephen who has been her teacher knows why she has been exiled but he doesn’t tell her. They, along with an old sergeant, are sitting at the Christmas table. The sergeant is going to propose Ellen on behalf of Stephen but the commissar comes in out of the blue. He is an intelligence officer who has come from Moscow to take ammunition boxes with him. He also has brought with him a box. As soon as Stephen learns about the commissar’s mission, he realizes that the commissar has come to do away with them. He tries to tell his companions about the danger they are in but they don’t believe it until they open the box in which there is nothing but…
Majid Bakhsheshian Timaji: B. 1981, Mashhad. BSc in structural engineering. Actor of the plays: “In Memory of the Kind Companion”, “Fatherly” and “Romeo and Juliet”. Designer and performer of the art displays; “Like Doves”, “The Story of the Sun”, “The Shadow of Compassion”, “From Kufa to Karbala” etc. Stage designer of the plays: “Saving Mother” (best stage designer, International Children’s Theatre Festival, Hamadan, 2017), “In Red” (best stage designer, Rezvan Provincial Theatre Festival, Mashhad, 2019).
The Asylum Seekers
Writer: Rasul Mohajer
Synopsis: The distorted story of a headline, performed by three actors. A few months after she has heard nothing of her husband, the woman decides to go searching for him with the help of a human trafficker who supposedly took her husband out of the country. They come across some soldier at a border checkpoint. Unlike the previous times, the soldier refuses to take bribes in return for letting them go to the other side of the border. The woman realizes that the human trafficker knew about the soldier’s decision beforehand but says nothing. The woman herself decides to talk the soldier around. Little by little, the woman realizes that her husband has been killed by a border patrol while trying to get out of the country…
Rasoul Mohajer: B. 1996, Tehran. BA in dramatic literature, Tehran University of Art. Writer and director of the play “White upon White”. Performer of the performance art “The Song of the Killed or the Short Stories about the People of a Happy Village”.
The Nuns of the Chalk Statues
Writer: Mehdi Afshar Ghahramani
A nunnery in Paris under the supervision of French Catholic Church launches a project. Under this project, the talented nuns of the nunnery are going to be selected. They will receive special religious teachings before entering different fields of policymaking and governance. Meanwhile, the nuns undergo changes during the training course and turn into the opponents of the French kingdom. The Church is commissioned to put an end to the nuns sedition but it backfires resulting in the acceleration of the nuns’ activities which in turn fuels the flames of the revolution. Consequently, the royal court sends the special judge and the king’s aide to end the sedition through cracking down on the core of the revolution.
Mehdi Afshar Ghahramani: B. 1982, Qazvin. BA in theatre directing, Soore University, Tehran and MA in theatre directing, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran. Writer of the plays: “The Party on the Summer’s Last Hot Day” (best writer, the 12th Iran University Theatre Festival), “The Dead Don’t Die Twice”, “I’m Asleep Here a Bit Quieter” (winner of the Akbar Radi Award, the 12th Iran University Theatre Festival), “Bleeding at Mary Shirley's Beheading Ceremony”, “Nazanin Mansour”, “Erfan Dies”, “The Rain on Rooftop”, “Injury” etc. Screenwriter of the movies: “From the Seedling”, “Fairy”, “The Poplar”, “Dream”, “Return”, “The Bergamot”, “The East of the Sun” etc. Producer and director of the documentary films: “The Old Servants”, “Without Borders”, “The Stranger” and “Enthusiasm”.
Sisyphus
Writer: Mohammad Sadegh Golchin Arefi
Synopsis: A theatre actor has got stuck in one of his roles and cannot get rid of it. His professional and personal life has been influenced by the role as he cannot separate himself from that. He sees the solution in removing his own self.
Mohammad Sadegh Golchin Arefi: B. 1988, Tehran. MA in cinema from Soore University, Tehran. Writer and director of the short films “Unit 9” (best film selected by the audience and best screenplay, Sayeh Student Short Film Festival, 2014). Writer of the films: “Berlin Alley”, “Off the Agenda” and “Settled” (Sepanta reward candidate for the best comedy film, Iran Screenwriters Association, 2019). Writer of the play: “Dear Allende”.
Escher's Painting
Writer: Mohammad Hossein Maaref
Synopsis: Aram, a painter suffering from color blindness decides to drink acrylic paint in a hope to cure her medical condition. However, since she is not sure about the outcome, Aram asks her brother to drink the acrylic paint telling him that if he was OK, she would give him a painting by the Dutch painter Escher.
Mohammad Hossein Maaref: B. 1989, Tehran. BA in architecture and MA in theatre directing, Tehran University of Art. Writer of the plays: “Breaking the Spring”, “Jean-Paul Brechtuk”, “The Responsibility of Breaking Absolute Silence”, “Escher’s Painting”, “Hamlet, Prince of Denmark” and “Public” (best writer, the 14th Tajrobeh Theatre Festival”. Writer and co-director of the plays: “Throes”, “Good Billy Keenkid, Bad Billy Keenkid”, “All Blue”, “The Good Soldier Schweik” etc.
Warsaw
Writer: Ali Hataminejad
Synopsis: With the outbreak of WWII and the Soviet invasion of Poland in 1939, a great number of Polish soldiers were taken captive and exiled to Siberia. Moreover, about 45,000 women, children and old men were transferred from Poland by the Soviet forces to labor camps. The displaced ones went under the worst of conditions. In 1942, they were returned to Poland. Meanwhile, about 700 women and children were transferred to Iran. The Kowalskis moved to Mashhad in March 1942, along with a group of other Polish migrants.
Ali Hatamiejad: B. 1980, Dargaz. BA in dramatic literature, Faculty of Art and Architecture, Tehran. Screenwriter, writer and theatre director. Member of board of directors, Dramatic Arts Association, Razavi Khorasan. Jury member of numerous provincial theatre festivals. Writer and director of the plays: “Interrogations”, “The Beta Version”, “The Pacific Ocean”, “A Cold Fever on a Hot Forehead”, “Let the Sun Rain on Your Eyes” etc. Writer of the plays: “The Itchy Feet Syndrome”, “Darkness”, “I Was the Dead All”, “Rainy Clouds” etc.