10 October 2009

World Puppetry Festival report from Charleville-Mezieres

The 15th edition of The World Puppetry Festival 2009 which ran from 18 to 27 September has just closed up shop for another three years. Set in the beautiful Ardennes region of France, about two hours north-east of Paris, Charleville was crowned the world capital of puppet theatre since the first world festival in 1961. It was started by the late- Jacques Felix, director of the French puppetry troupe Les Petite Comedians des Chiffons.

Indeed, besides the Festival, since 1981, the town has been home to the Institut International de la Marionnette, a permanent place of training, creation and exploring of new ideas and to ESNAM (Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Arts de la Marionnette), which since 1987, has taken students from all over the world. UNIMA (Union Internationale de la Marionnette) has also had its headquarters in Charleville-Mézières since 1980.

You can watch many puppet festival reports on the France 3 Website (in French)!

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