15th Montemor-o-Novo International Puppet Festival (2023)

We embark on this new edition of the Montemor-o-Novo International Puppet Festival with the mission of bringing innovation, expanding and retaining audiences, and an even more acute multidisciplinarity.

In this 15th Meeting, the protagonist is the contemporary puppet, in all its capacity to transform visions and responses to today’s world. This is the festival where we can confirm the puppet’s capacity for constant change and its connection with other arts, from theatre, dance, cinema, music and visual arts.

Following this line, we have designed a programme rich in different artistic languages and new approaches. There will be 44 sessions, with 22 national and international companies from Spain, France, Italy, Croatia, the Netherlands and Brazil, with shows for all ages and audiences.

As complementary activities, we will have ‘Wireless Conversations’ with Christine Zurbach and CHAIA, conversations about puppet theatre bringing together artists, audiences and theatre researchers, two workshops, one for school audiences and the other for the general public, and the exhibition ‘Ser Marioneta’ (Being a Puppet) by the ACASO collective, which explores different types of puppets and their possibilities for movement and manipulation.

This year, we will not only be in various venues around the city (Cine-Teatro Curvo Semedo, Alma Box, Sociedade Filarmónica Carlista, Parque Urbano, Mercado Municipal), but we will also be extending our performances to the parishes of Montemor-o-Novo de Cabrela, Foros de Vale Figueira and Escoural (Aldeia da Casa Branca).

Alma d’Arame recognises and defends the need to extend artistic enjoyment beyond cities, thus uniting the municipality in a common cultural space. Bringing everyone to the festival and taking the festival to everyone: a goal that is constantly evolving and necessary.

This programme embraces Alma d’Arame’s core beliefs: encouraging critical reflection on the arts and the world and fighting for an egalitarian and inclusive society that celebrates its diversity. All this is accompanied by the backdrop of the Alentejo landscape, whose historical and symbolic richness, reflected in its architecture and people, adds a unique character and sense of belonging to the artistic object.

This Meeting is designed with everyone in mind and awaits everyone: it is nothing more than an encounter between art, thought and its audience.

Production | Alma d’Arame
Co-Production | Montemor-o-Novo Municipal Council
Funding | Government of Portugal and Directorate-General for the Arts