french ardennes world puppet festival
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Les Petit Comdiens gather forthe 2011 World Puppet Festival
France will host one of Northern Europe's most colourful festivals of theyear when Charleville-Mzires, capital of the Ardennes region, stagesthe 2011 World Puppet Festival (http://www.festival-marionnette.com) from September 16th to 25th.
An ideal choice for the biggest gathering of puppets on the planet,Charleville-Mzires is a world-renowned centre for marionettes andpuppeteers boasting a historic association with the art, which
stretches back to 1941. That was the year a 17-years old calledJacques Felix first introduced a puppet theatre to the town.
In the intervening years, Charleville-Mzires has taken "Les PetitsComdiens" very seriously, and has not only established anInternational Puppet Institute, but also an Ecole Suprieure Nationaledes Arts de la Marionnette, which now offers a three-year puppetrycourse to 15 international students every three years.
In 1991, the town also unveiled what has become one of its mostendearing tourist attractions, The Grand Marionettiste - The GreatPuppeteer's Clock. Built into the faade of the Institut de la Marionette,every hour from 10am to 9pm, it presents an episode from the legendof the Four Sons of Aymona heroic medieval saga linked to thegeography and history of the Ardennes.
A World Festival of Puppet Theatres was founded in 1961 makingthis the 50th anniversary year and it has continued to increase inscale throughout its history.
It is thanks to Jacques Felix (who died in 2006) that the Charleville-Mzires Festival has become such an unmissable event forpuppeteers, programme planners and visitors from all over the world.
For ten days, life in the whole town revolves around the festival. Manyevents rooms, sports halls, streets and courtyards are used as venues.All types of techniques, styles and exploring of new ideas are on show- from string to glove puppets, from shadow to Bunraku, from realobjects to onscreen, from small intimate forms to giant puppetstraditional shows alongside the most modern of styles - and viewed bya wide-ranging audience.
During the previous festival, in September 2009, the various showswere attended by 150,000 people in the town of Charleville-Mzires,now known as the World Capital of Puppetry Arts.
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more over.
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The chosen theme for this year's event is 'Marionnette: mmoire etralits nouvelles', and the 10-day festival will feature more than 250troupes from around 40 different countries. In addition to the obviousstars of the show "the little comedians" spectators will beentertained by storytellers, musicians, jugglers, clowns, and mimeartists.
Starting this year, The World Puppet Festival will now take place in The
French Ardennes every two years (as opposed to every three years).And this years event will include a very unusual and spectacularopening show in the Place Ducale.
The French Ardennes region is also famous for its stunning sceneryand seasonal specialities; the largest fortress in Europe; fortificationsfrom the Middle Ages to the Maginot Line; and literary links with thepoets Rimbaud and Verlaine. For further details, visitwww.ardennes.com.
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Images, further information, and full press packs can be obtained bycontacting:
Jrg HartwigTEL: +33 (0) 3 24 56 67 77E-MAIL: [email protected]
orIan WeightmanTEL: +44 (0)1782-680963
E-MAIL: [email protected]
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