TEHRAN -- An international painting festival for children on the theme of water opened yesterday in Tehran at the main branch of the Institute for the Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults (IIDCYA).

Iranian Energy Minister Parviz Fattah and the ambassadors of 31 countries, whose children are participating in the event, attended the opening ceremony.
Most of the visitors will be children and adolescents, and the exhibit is being held in the form of creative and instructive plays, one of the organizers of the event, Jafar Mahyari, told the Mehr News Agency.
Each visitor is welcomed by two actors who guide the guest to paintings and invite the visitor to participate in their play, he added.
He went on to say that this is the first festival which is not a theater festival but which is performed in the form of a play.
The festival, which is being cosponsored by the Iranian Energy Ministry and the Boomerang Art Workshop, runs until April 24 at the venue, which is located on Hejab St., off of Keshavarz Blvd.