Six foreign puppeteer troupes and eight from Hungary will compete for the festival?s main prize.
The festival was started in 1969 and became an international one thanks to the involvement of Lajos Kós?s Bóbita Puppet Theatre and the acknowledgement of the International Puppetry Association (UNIMA). About a hundred troupes from 30 countries have participated at the festival over the past four decades.
Among the six main productions at the festival will be one that features water puppet theatre from Vietnam. Other shows are Karagöz from Turkey, Punch from England and Pulcinella from Italy.
Pécs?s Kisgaleria will host an exhibition of puppets from twelve troupes in twelve cities around Hungary. The Parti Gallery is showing puppets from the collection of the Indonesian ambassador to Hungary.
Workshops and demonstrations are also on the festival programme. Cengiz Özik will show Turkish shadow puppetry and Osaka?s National Bunraku Theatre will show the traditions of Japanese puppetry.
The festival will close with a production of László the Valiant by Henrik Kemény on August 28.
