Iranian director, sculptor, puppet designer, artist, and animation director. Nosrat Karimi loved sculpting and theatre from childhood and was encouraged by his painter brother, Ali Karimi. After high school, he worked in Tehran theatres in make-up, writing and directing. In 1952, he resided in Rome for six months, where, introduced by an Iranian ambassador to film director, Vittorio de Sica, Karimi acted as his third assistant for two months.

Later in Prague, Karimi studied at the Academy of Arts where he was attracted to puppet animation film and studied at the make-up workshop of the Prague National Theatre. He returned to Iran with a Master’s of Arts degree in 1964, and immediately conducted an animation workshop for the Ministry of Art and Culture. Karimi has also taught at the faculty of Fine Arts of Tehran University and the Academy of Dramatic Arts. Some of his best-known works of this period are Del-e Moosh (Mouse Heart), Poost-e Palang (Leopard Skin, 1966, a puppet film based on a Persian fairy tale), Malek Jamshid (King Jamshid, 1967, a film based on Ferdowsi’s Shah-Nameh The Book of Kings), the national epic of Iran), Shekar-e Mah (Hunting for the Moon, 1968, film), and Peydayesh-e Atash (Birth of Fire, 1974, film).

In 1972, Nosrat Karimi introduced puppetry as a major at Tehran University and invited Oscar Batek from Czechoslovakia to launch the programme. Initially designed as a two-year course, the puppetry programme expanded to a four-year Bachelor of Arts degree.

In 1987, Nosrat Karimi created the puppet play, Mehman-e Nakhandeh (The Univited Visitor), and in 1996-1997 he produced for a private channel the puppet television series, Vorujak (Unruly).

His other works in the post-revolution era include short television films about pollution control and health care. He has written books about theatre and cinema. For his work in education and his use of sculpture in film and television he is often considered the “Father of Modern Puppet Theatre of Iran”.

(See Iran.)