One of the city’s most entertaining and colorful festivals, the International Puppet Festival, will start Wednesday with the Greek group Antamapantahoy’s “The String of Music” at Kenter Theater. The 14th rediiton of the festival will continue until May 11 and feature talented puppet enthusiasts from across the world.
The art director of the festival is Cengiz Özek. As well as puppet shows, the festival will also feature exhibitions and film screenings. Significant puppet theaters from Germany, the United States, France, Indonesia, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Italy, Spain, Austria, Slovenia and Turkey will take the stage during the festival.
At the opening, famous Turkish director Derviş Zaim, who performed the 1974 Cyprus operation with the use of shadow theater as a metaphor in his latest film, “Gölgeler ve Suretler” (Shadows and Faces), will be presented with an Honorary Award for interpreting traditional shadow theater with a universal and contemporary view.
The film is about the disappearance of a Karagöz artist and the search for him. It is a journey to seek reality, life and light. It tells us about shadows, death and darkness and uses the essence of traditional shadow theater for modern interpretation. The film will also be shown as part of the festival this year.
The festival’s opening event, “The String of Music” is based on a combination of puppet theater and mime techniques. The wooden and paper-made marionettes are animated with the use of various techniques such as strings, marot and bunraku. Both the marionettes’ and the performers’ movements are choreographed based on mime and “commedia dell arte” (comedy of craft
elements and techniques.
Different puppet techniques will surprise viewers
Kabare Pupala will join the festival from Germany and present the best examples of string-puppet theater. Austria’s Lab.luck’s play “Which Way to Happy” will bring various theater disciplines together and Indonesia’s Behind the Actors Theater Company will make a synthesis of traditional and present theater techniques in its play “Bishma Collapses.”
Cengiz Özek Shadow Theater, Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality City Theaters, Kent Oyuncuları, Kurmalı Salyangoz and BeReZe are the Turkish theater companies that will perform at the festival.
The festival program will also be enriched with exhibitions, films and conferences. Participants will be able to see the “Karagöz Figure Exhibition,” featuring a colorful world of Karagöz prepared by the Kocaeli University puppet club Koukla.
Also on show will be the “The Birth of Shadows: Indonesia,” which consists of Wayang Kulit figures as well as the examples of the Indonesia’s three-dimensional puppets Wayang Golek. There will also be “Tip of the String,” an exhibition on late Saim Bugay, who first established a department of puppet and shadow theater arts.
Another film screening will be Anders Ronnow’s 2004 film “Strings,” a mythological story about the son of a king that drew big interest from audiences.
Also, famous Spanish puppet players Toni Rumbau will come together with an aficionadas puppet on May 13 at the Mimar Sinan University.
Festival will spread throughout the city
The 14th International Istanbul Puppet Festival, supported by the French Culture Center, Cervantes Culture Center, Dutch Consul General in Istanbul, Austria Cultural Office, Italian Culture Center, Pera Museum, Ümraniye Meydan AVM and Kukla Istanbul, will meet audiences at these venues as well as Kenter Theater, Sefaköy and Halkalı Culture Center, Kozyatağı Culture Center, State Theaters Küçük Sahne and Yunus Emre Culture Center.
Tickets for the event are available at Biletix, State Theater Cevahir Stage and Küçük Sahne, Istanbul Subway Taksim entrance exhibition hall. Ticket prices are 15 to 20 Turkish Liras.
For further info please visit www.istanbulkuklafestivali.com.
