.jpg "Actor Davud Rashidi (C) gestures after receiving the First Grade Order of Art and Culture from President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (L) during the closing ceremony of the 31st Fajr International Theater Festival at Tehran’s Vahdat Hall on January 31, 2013. (Sara Sassani/Theater.ir)")
TEHRAN -- Swiss director Niklaus Helbling and Iranian director Ali-Asghar Dashti have won the award for best director in the international competition section of the 31st Fajr International Theater Festival for their joint performance in “Tell/Zahhak”.
The play was composed of two parts, one of which was about Wilhelm Tell, a legendary Swiss patriot forced by the Austrian governor to shoot an apple off his son’s head with a bow and arrow, and the other part was about the mythical Iranian hero Kaveh the blacksmith who fights the tyranny of the evil ruler Zahhak.
The Iranian playwright and dramaturge Nasim Ahmadpur also received an honorable mention for his work on the part of “Tell”.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and a number of his colleagues attended the closing ceremony of the festival, which was held at Tehran Vahdat Hall on Thursday morning.
Iranian actor Moreteza Esmaeil Kashi and actress Pantea Panahiha won best actor and actress awards for their roles in “Woyzeck”, based on a family drama by German writer Georg Büchner.
The special jury prize went to Iranian director Reza Servati for “Woyzeck”.
“Hamlet” directed by Reza Guran from Iran brought a best stage designer award to Manuchehr Shoja and a best costume designer award to Atusa Qalamfarsaii.
Babak Mehri from won the best composer award for “Gilgamesh”, an ancient epic about the odyssey of a king who did not want to die.
The winners of the Iranian competition section were also announced during the closing ceremony.
Sima Tirandaz won the best director award for “The Facing Man”, a love story by Iranian dramatist Haleh Moshtaqinia.
Ahmadinejad attended the closing ceremony to grant the First Grade Orders of Art and Culture to actors Ezzatollah Entezami, Mohammad-Ali Keshavarz, Jamshid Mashayekhi, Davud Rashidi and Jaleh Olov.
However, Entezami, Mashayekhi and Olov were not able to attend the ceremony allegedly because of illness.
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