During seven days, Festival will host artists, theatre experts and students of theatre academies from various parts of the world, including Europe and host country Serbia.
The focus of the Festival will be on Romanian Puppetry which is going to be presented through an exhibition of puppets, costumes, set design sketches and posters by Romanian artists in Subotica, Novi Sad and Vršac, scientific gathering on the given subject, participation of puppetry students from Bucharest and Targu Mures in the Festival opening ceremony and through participation of Romanian theatres in the main (competitive) and accompanying programmes of the Festival.


Competitive Programme:

The Official Selection will present 20 performances for children from 18 countries of the world. The shows will be performed at two different venues (National Theatre – Jadran stage and Dezs? Kosztolányi Theatre) from 16th to 21st May. Creation of the repertoire is based on high professional standards with emphasis being placed on diversity of forms and approaches. Each of the performances is presented in the original language, whilst during selection priority is given to puppet theatre expression. The Festival awards the following prizes: Grand Prix of the Festival for the Best Performance; Special Prize for the Original Expression and Fantasy (optional); Prize for the Best Direction; Prize for the Best Stage Design; Prize for the Best Original Music; Prize for the Best Puppet Design; and Prize for Acting Skills (7 equal prizes). The winners will be decided by a five-member international jury composed of prominent world theatre artists and theoreticians: Mr Jaroslaw Antoniuk (Poland); Vladmir Biryukov (Russia); Robert Waltl (Slovenia); Pavel Hubicka (Czech Republic); Mr Miroslav Radonjic (Serbia).


Accompanying Programmes:

3rd International Research College Of Theatre Arts: The title of the conference is Our Contemporaneity. The participants will be world theatre experts, researchers and artists. With the aim of critical reflection on contemporary theatre creation for the youngest, the following themes are envisaged:

Postmodernism and children's theatre.
Puppet theatre as a contemporary narrative tool.
The problem of contemporary language in theatre arts for children.
Direct expression or electronic transmission?
Criticism of the exploited models as against schematic thinking.
The wisdom contained in the message for children.

The official languages of the College are English and Serbian, with simultaneous interpretation provided.
All the papers presented during the conference will be published in full as a collection of papers, bilingually, in Serbian and in English language.

The head and the author of this project is academician Professor Henryk Jurkowski, PhD, from Warsaw, Poland.

Exhibitions:
Exhibition of puppets, set design sketches, costumes, posters under the (working) title Romanian Puppetry (in co-operation with GAG Cultural Association from Craiova, Romania, and the Theatre Museum of Vojvodina from Novi Sad, Serbia) – Subotica Open University gallery; art gallery, Novi Sad; Vršac Cultural Centre gallery. (Exhibition by: GAG, Craiova);
Exhibition - 2011 Festival Poster (works by students at the Faculty of Applied Arts from Belgrade, Prof. Zdravko Mićanović) – City Hall Vestibule, Subotica.

Publishing: Publishing of the bilingual (Serbian/English) collection of papers from the International Research College of Theatre Arts held in 2010 – Theatre for Children – Artistic Phenomenon (Editors: Henryk Jurkowski, PhD (Warsaw, Poland) and Miroslav Radonjić (Novi Sad, Serbia)). Publishing of the second part of My Profession by the great Russian puppeteer Sergey Obraztsov.

Book Promotions: Promotions of the latest books by the most prominent authors of children’s and youth literature in Serbia and the region (Robert Takarič, Tode Nikoletić, Ljubovoje Ršumović..) as well as of the most important publications by puppet theatre theorists and historians (The World Encyclopaedia of Puppetry Arts, UNIMA 2009; History of Hungarian Puppet Theatre by Geza Balogh, Budapest Puppet Theatre, 2009; My Profession by Sergey Obraztsov (2nd part) and collection of papers Theatre for Children – Artistic Phenomenon (2nd volume), International Festival of Children’s Theatres and the Theatre Museum of Vojvodina, Subotica, 2011).

Squares And Streets Programme (outdoor performances): Mainly music and dance programme which presents and promotes children’s creation, skills, talents and creativity. Children of different ages and from various places in Serbia, especially from Vojvodina, will perform in the central city square.

Touring Performances: Touring of Festival performances throughout Vojvodina and the rest of Serbia. Festival participants will present their shows in other cities and smaller places in Vojvodina and other parts of Serbia during the Festival in Subotica.

Festival Reprise In Hungary: Simultaneously with the Festival in Subotica, part of the Festival programme (six chosen performances) is going to be reprised in Hungary in co-operation with Kover Bela Puppet Theatre from Szeged, within the CULTOUR project.

Puppetry Workshop For Children: The workshop which will include about 20 children as participants will be held by prominent puppet creators from Subotica, Ljubica Suturović and Arsen Ćosić. The aim of the workshop is to introduce children to basic puppet-making and manipulation techniques, as well as to specificities in the process of creating puppet theatre performance. This workshop is part of the CULTOUR project.

Film Programme: The programme will consist of a cycle of six recent feature films for children which are going to be screened at EUROCINEMA, at the Open University, from Monday 16th May to Saturday 21st May.

Note: All programmes of the International Festival of Children’s Theatres are free for all visitors.