A Documentary about Salma Mohseni Ardehali

Behind every puppet are the hands that give it movement—but also a life of learning, making, remembering, and passing knowledge from one generation to another.

Beyond the Strings brings us closer to Salma Mohseni Ardehali, an Iranian puppet artist, researcher, educator, and one of the dedicated voices within Iran’s contemporary puppetry community.

Working professionally in puppetry since 2001, Salma’s journey moves between practice and research. Over the years she has worked as a puppeteer, director, writer, puppet designer and maker, while also teaching, translating, and researching puppetry and its relationship with other artistic and social fields. Her work has continuously engaged with the histories and traditions of Iranian puppetry, while asking how this art form continues to speak within contemporary life.

Through the figure of Salma, Beyond the Strings opens a window onto a larger world: the people, knowledge, histories, and artistic practices that continue to shape puppetry in Iran.

For PESTA BONEKA, presenting this documentary is also an opportunity to encounter puppetry beyond the performance itself. It allows us to look at the person behind the puppet and the long journey that often remains unseen—the years of practice, research, teaching, questioning, and sharing that allow an art form to continue from one pair of hands to another.

Because the life of puppetry does not exist only on stage. It also lives in those who choose to learn it, question it, preserve it, transform it, and pass it on.