Promotion of the album "All Our Puppets" ("Wszystkie Nasze Lalki") published by the Puppet Theatre Department of the Archaeological and Ethnographic Museum in Łódź.

The Puppet Theatre Department of the Archaeological and Ethnographic Museum in Łódź was created in 1980 on the initiative of the puppetry community. As the only Department of this type in Poland, it collects objects in the field of Polish theatre art related to the art of puppet theatre in Poland. Until now, the Department's collections amount to over 7,000 inventory items.

Volumes I and II of All Our Puppets, published on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the creation of the Department, contain more than 7,000 items in the list part. There are over 1,000 photographs of theatre projects and puppets. The volumes also include projects and puppets in the field of Polish animated film. You can find here works by Adam Kilian, Kazimierz Mikulski, Bohdan Butenka, Tadeusz Wilkosz, the creator of the famous Coralgol bear, Zbigniew Rychlicki, the creator of the Uszatek teddy bear, as well as many other equally famous artists whose works are truly enchanting. The volumes of the publication, voluminously large and colourful, are 300 pages each. They are beautifully published and illustrated with works by the most eminent Polish artists. The book is also a treat for bibliophiles. The author of the catalogue is Honorata Sych, a long-term manager of the Department. The volumes were published from the fund of the Minister of Culture and Art, supported by the Marshal's Office in Łódź.

Direction: Maayan Iungman

A performance that shows a person at the moment of making a life decision. The main character entrusted her entire life to work. This one is almost everything to her. This  work are… boxes. All identical, already well known to her. It turns out that her whole life can be closed in one tiny cardboard box. On the stage, the protagonist will be accompanied by huge amounts of cardboard cubes and - only one - the insistently recurring question: should she live according to the scheme or can she break out of the frame? Follow your own path or follow the beaten but also safe path?

Joan Baixas, painter and stage director, carries out shows and actions of intense visual content, based on live painting, animation of objects and the projection of images, which explain small contemporary stories.

He directed the company Teatre de la Claca (1968 - 1998) where, while travelling around the world with a van, he collaborated with artists such as Joan Miró, Roberto S. Matta, Antonio Saura, Lluís Pasqual, Joglars, Circus Oz.

He presents his work in all kinds of spaces, from the street and popular centers to emblematic places such as Pompidou Center, Tate Modern, Sydney Opera House, Liceu Theater, Guggenheim Museum of New York and Bilbao, Hongkong Arts Festival, ICA at London, Saint Marc's Church in New York, Indira Ghandhy Arts Center of New Delhi, Arabanna Comunity of Marree, South Australia.

Direction: Marek Idzikowski
Cast: Michał Ferenc
Music: Michał Ferenc, David Mkrtchyan
Pedagogical supervision: Bernarda Bielenia

The first sentence is the hardest to write. Just as it is difficult to make a mature decision. Everything takes courage, risk. One has to pack things up. Set off. And what if we are drowning in a cloud of thoughts, associations and uncertainty? Time is running out and if we don't take the first step, we risk going crazy. Sometimes, however, uncertainty takes us on a real journey - the one where we meet each other, ask ourselves the most accurate questions, and the answers appear spontaneously.

"Odmęt" is a free impression on the adventures of Sinbad the Sailor of the One Thousand and One Nights. These adventures meet the hero before he leavs, and the journey takes place in a world of seemingly worthless objects. The performance is a game with forms, illusion created on faith in the life of objects. All that to learn something about yourself. After all, we can often see that getting lost is finding the right path.

Running time: 40 minutes
Age restrictions: None

Author: Marta Guśniowska
Directed by: Jacek Malinowski
Scenography: Giedrė Brazytė
Music: Antanas Jasenka
Cast: Łucja Grzeszczyk, Ryszard Doliński, Michał Jarmoszuk

What can be written about "Ony"? For all those who have already got used to the texts of Marta Guśniowska, funny, warm fairy tales turned upside down, "Ony" may be quite a surprise.

It is a poetic, lyrical - though not without humor - story about the life of the title character Ony, whom we meet as an eight-year-old and part with him at the end of his extraordinary life. A fairy tale full of unexpected twists, enriched with atmospheric music and scenery is a proposition for the whole family. Everyone, regardless of age, will find something for themselves - from the surprising adventures of the title character, through numerous games with words, to philosophical reflection.

Premiere of the Polish-Lithuanian version of the play: 26^th November, 2017

Opening ceremony of the XIV International Festival of Puppet Theatre and Animated Films for Adults "Puppet is a Human too".

We cordially invite you to the official opening ceremony XIV International Festival of Puppet Theatre and Animated Films for Adults "Puppet is a Human too", during which we will introduce people, who were invited as a jury members this year, as well as those that make it all possible, thanks to their finance help and support. Also we acquaint our viewers with the granting of the Audience Award.

Staging: Marek b. Chodaczyński
Sculptures: Ewald Kornek, Jacek Müldner-Nieckowski, Marcin Rząsa, Aleksander Kuberski, Grzegorz Durlik
Live music: Marek Żurawski

Options of Life is a 50-minute performance based on Old Testament parables, interpreted by professor Leszek Kołakowski.

The performance consists of 5 quasi-philosophical lectures illustrated with the animation of sculptures, designed and made by sculptors, especially for the needs of each lecture.

Options of Life performance was awarded the Grand Prix of the Kontrapunkt Festival (Szczecin), and the Main Prize of the Student Jury of the Kon-Teksty Festival of Contemporary Arts (Poznań).

The author of the staging, Marek b. Chodaczyński, was awarded several times for the theatrical shape of the parable by prof. Leszek Kołakowski.

The performance has a second part, titled Building Stories - this is the next part of the quasi-lectures by prof. L. Kołakowski, with sculptures by: Marek Kowalski, Alicja Białecka, Zbigniew Marek, Marzenna Olszewska, Lech Żurkowski, Magda Ciszewska-Rząs.

Running time: 50 min.

Direction: Maayan Iungman

In this spectacle, the creators explore the field of an intimate puppet theatre. They found materials that allow you to look at the subject of power from two different angles, objects that enlarge or shrink, approach or recede, hide or become visible. They like puppets, strings that animate them or set them to motion, as well as images that we can understand when we are in the comfort and safety zone as a continuation or form of hegemony over someone or something. The authors also focused on various animation methods and puppets, placing the audience between mirrors, strings, lights and glass. Using theatrical means of expression, this miniature poses a question about various motives of power and powerlessness, both public and private.

Running time: 60 minutes

Direction: Chakchi Frosnokkers
Scenography: Uliana Elizarova
Music compilation: Polina Naidentseva
Cast: Iwan Dobruk, Aleksandra Litwinionok, Larisa Mikulicz, Wasilij Probodiak, Aleksandr Patko

"Promise at dawn", mixing the living and puppet plan, and seriousness with laughter, evokes the autobiographical story of Romain Gary, a writer from Vilnius, who was the only double winner of the Goncourt Prize. The performance shows his extraordinary relationship with his mother, who made her life goal happen to make her offspring become not only a well-known, but also a valued person. The story is therefore a story about a love that is able to overcome all barriers, create a genius of French literature, and even win a war…

For is there any feeling stronger than one's mother's love?

Vernissage of the exhibition of puppets by Renata Gołaszewska-Adamczyk and photos of Jolanta Rycerska and Włodek Pawłow

I am fascinated by people and their inner life. Our faces reflect the things we have gone through and are going through. We are able to communicate emotions in non-verbal ways. It is through our inner world that we interface with others. It's a very delicate topic. I give my emotions to my puppets. This is why I never focus on their physicality, but rather on the emotions they express. I don't want them to be beautiful and dressed up, as most people imagine puppets. I want them to be imperfect like we are. Real like we are. And so my puppets have imperfect faces and imperfect personalities. They come from an imperfect world. And this is why they are so real. Because puppets are real beings.

Idea: Merlin Puppet Theater
Directed by: Dimitris Stamou
Puppets and costumes: Dimitris Stamou, Demy Papada
Puppet animation: Demy Papada, Dimitris Stamou
Stage design: Merlin Puppet Theater
Music: Kostantinos Stamou
Light design: Merlin Puppet Theater

The world premiere of the Merlin Puppet Theater in Berlin. the group will present "The Noose" ("Die Schlinge") - a story stretched between black comedy and the theater of the absurd, that unexpectedly in the lives of most of us there is a day when we notice that our whole life is not what we wanted. Unfulfilled dreams, abandoned goals, unfulfilled plans will be heard. and the title loop begins to tighten around the neck - stealing air, taking away the chance for a calm breath. In two square meters, the life of all of us will play out - a life that has never been lived...

...there comes a day in your life when you see it...
the time slips away...
and all your life is not what you have wished it to be
there comes this moment when your whole world just shuts down
that very moment when your dreams come back asking for fulfillment of your promises
when you feel it...
the noose tightens... and more... clenching your throat... stealing your air... stealing your breath
...because until now you thought you were alive.

This is the moment in your life when you realize that everything has gone wrong.
This is the moment when your abandoned dreams come back with the question - where did your promises go?
And all those dreams left for tomorrow,
tomorrow that never comes,
and the time goes by
tick-tock, tick-tock
too late, too late
How did we end up here?
What went wrong? What went right?
Where have our friends' laugh in the streets gone?
Where are these rebellious, bold voices in our heads?
Where have those sparkling eyes looking far beyond the horizon gone?
Where is the love?
How did we end up here?
What went wrong? What went right?
And all those dreams left for tomorrow,
tomorrow that never comes,
and the time goes by
tick-tock, tick-tock
too late, too late

"So with this invention which we call the "clock", we are pushing our times and days as if we are carrying a burden.
And we bear that burden.
Because we aren't alive, do you understand that?
We are just staring at the clocks. We let time go by, let tomorrow come, and when tomorrow comes, we start the same thing all over again."
...
Everything that we have put aside for tomorrow will never come true.

Direction, music: Dora Bouzková
Stage design: Magdalena Prousková-Koděrová
Translation: Michał Sieczkowski
Cast: Dora Bouzková

The family of Lupitina, a little Mexican girl, is getting ready to celebrate All Soul's Day, which in local culture is a colourful and joyful holiday, a meeting of death and life. The living make merry together with the departed, with whom they converse and sing their favourite songs, and for whom they prepare their beloved meals.

The magical, extremely sincere, and lively spectacle by Dora Bouzková is addressed to the youngest audience and told in the language of the child. The by no means easy topic of departure is treated with a certain distance and humour, while retaining an awareness of the complex emotions accompanying it and bringing us closer to the very essence of the problem. By taming the theme of death it reminds us that the latter remains a natural part of every life.

Author, direction, music: Laurent Bigot

The French spectacle "Unstable Air" ("D’un Air Instable") presents music that comes to life. Its existence, however, will not be derived from classical instruments, but from everyday objects. It is thanks to glass and plastic bottles, metal cans, pipes and even aquarium filters or refrigerator motors that Laurent Bigot - the author and director - will make the animants accompanying him on stage come to life and... start a conversation. How will the fate of the heroes go? Even the author cannot be sure of this, because these items turn out to be clever and unpredictable partners.

In a dreamlike night, malleable or unstable objects are awakened, animated by the flow of air blown into their bronchi. Taking life, they rock, crack, move, breathe, whistle, belch, whirr... they speak, answer each other. It is tempting to play with them.

Laurent Bigot builds a music in their company. However, they are clever and unpredictable partners. Glass bottles, plastic bottles, metal cans, baudruches, pipes, aquarium faucets. Two fridge engines, some microphones.

Running time: 30 minutes

Script, direction, scenography: Joan Baixas
Poems translation: Leszek Engelking
Prose translation: Aneta Piechnik
Live music: Marcin Mirowski
Cast: Anna Jarota, Joanna Pasternak (guest performance), Anna Wieczorek, Agnieszka Zyskowska-Biskup, Elżbieta Żłobicka

At the Opole Puppet Theatre, Joan Baixas, a Catalan director, set designer, actor and puppeteer, directed the play Wounded Deer. This is an original, theatrical interpretation of the Poet in New York, whose author is Federico García Lorca (1898-1936), a poet, playwright - one of the most famous Spanish writers of the 20^th century in the world. His original poetry, in which Andalusian folklore is intertwined with modern avant-garde forms, is a constant inspiration for artists of various fields of art.

The Catalan theatre artist uses the poems of a Spanish bard, uses animations, art and painting forms, and collaborates with the live music of Marcin Mirowski. Lorcia's poetry on stage (in the performance we use great, newest translations by Leszek Engelking), performed by OTLiA actresses, it is a peculiar, separate, nostalgic-surreal world, a world made of words, born from animated images and sounds. A world open to otherness, sensitive to love, suffering and death. A world emotionally and visually rooted in places important to Federico - such as Granada, Havana, New York.

The Catalan director's focal point is Lorca's biography, some of its fragments. In the subsequent acts of the performance, the director allusively and contrastively links Federico's experiences expressed in his poetry with the theatrical image and action. Places marked by synthetic scenery - a factory, New York during the Great Depression, pre-war colorful Havana - are poetically intertwined with the poet's obsessions, with fears, but also with happy memories, love and humor.

Premiere: 22.09.2018
Age restrictions: over 15 years old
Running time: 1 hour (without breaks)