11/1/2024–|Last updated: 11/1/202404:44 PM (Mecca time)
After traveling between different Arab cities, the Arab Theater Festival landed in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, for the first time in its 14th session, which began yesterday, Wednesday, and continues until January 18.
The festival, which was founded and organized by the Arab Theater Authority, with its headquarters in the Emirate of Sharjah, is held every year in a different country and 19 plays are presented in this session, including 13 plays in the official competition, 5 plays outside the competition, in addition to a play from Palestine entitled (Gaza Metro), which is shown after… Opening ceremony.
Iraq participates in the official competition with 3 plays: They are: (The House of Abu Abdullah) by director Anas Abdel Samad, (A Happy Life) by director Kazem Nassar, and (Safsaf) by director Ali Abdel Nabi Al-Zaidi.
The jury is headed by the Syrian actor Ayman Zidane, and the membership of the Egyptian academic Sameh Mahran, the Palestinian actor Hossam Abu Aisha, the Libyan playwright Ali Al-Falah, and the Lebanese playwright Hisham Zein Al-Din.
The opening ceremony included a show entitled (Situations of Love and Peace) with the participation of 86 Iraqi artists, and Lebanese artist Nidal Al-Ashqar delivered a “Message for Arab Theater Day,” which falls on January 10 every year.
The festival also honored 23 Iraqi playwrights at the opening, which was held at the National Theater. Among the most prominent of them are: actress Soha Salem, actor Munadil Daoud, critic Yasser Al-Barrak, director Karim Rashid, actor Raed Mohsen, actress Iqbal Naeem, and writer Mithal Ghazi.
The Secretary-General of the Arab Theater Authority, Ismail Abdullah, said at the opening, “Today in Baghdad, we raise the banner of theater as a victory for beauty, truth, and goodness, as a victory for life in the face of death, and to declare our worth for life and creativity, for the creative spirit of Arabism is alive and does not die, despite everyone who wants it to disappear.”
He added, “We, the playwrights, create our dream from the heart of our wound. We believe it and believe it, and we go with it and with it until the end, believing and trusting in keeping the flame of awareness and leaders alive. We are the flag when all flags are shaking, we are the insight when insights are obscured by darkness, and we are the word when fear swallows tongues and voices become silent.” .
He continued, saying, “Theater is not a statement or a slogan. It is deeper than that and nobler. It is an intellectual position that is constantly present, and the dramatist is righteous in life. The theatrical bearer of the torch of enlightenment, in whose guidance people follow.”
Later in the day, the festival will organize a symposium entitled (Theater and Cultural Resistance in Palestine), and it will also organize a symposium for Iraqi playwrights in the diaspora entitled (Influence and Impact), with the participation of 13 Iraqi artists.
The Baghdad Film Festival is scheduled to start next February 10 until the 14th, with the aim of reviving the film industry in Iraq and communicating with film makers throughout the Arab world, including directors, producers, actors, technicians and those interested in this vital sector.