„What's cooking at the Kotor Festival of Theater for Children?“

 

The 21st Kotor Festival of Theater for Children will be opened on July 1 with the performance of Baba Yaga, a co-production of the Italian theaters TPO from Prato and Teatro Metastatio Stabile Della Toscana at the St. Tryphon Square, 9:30 pm. At the same time, this show marks the opening of the 5th International Festival Kotor Art.

 

From July 1 to July 10, Kotor Festival of Theater for Children will feature 96 premiere programs at over 50 locations, out of which 16 are professional theater productions within the Main Program and 71 side programs, realized through: children stage work, youth stage, off program, entertaining literary program, visual arts, music, educational and theoretical program, nine animations and over 80 shows with multiple performances.

 

The participants are arriving from 22 countries (Portugal, Spain, Poland, Great Britain, Italy, France, Bulgaria, Austria, Germany, Sweden, Ukraine, Russia, China, USA, Japan, Macedonia, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia, Montenegro), out of which 350 are professionals from 25 theaters, 10 amateur theaters and over 25 organizations, schools, studios, amounting to over 1000 children and young artists.

 

“This year we received 250 applications from professional theaters all over the world, which speaks enough about how Kotor and the Festival are well-known and attractive internationally“, said Petar Pejakovic, the director of the Festival at today's press conference.

 

“For the first time, we will have an open competition for the best Montenegrin dramatic text for children and young people at the Festival, currently reviewed by the jury, as well as workshops for professionals who are involved in working with children in various artistic spheres“, added Pejakovic.

 

As a part of the Main Program, alongside Baba Yaga, the Festival will also feature Niksic Puppet Theater Scuckin with their show Little Red Riding Hood, Podgorica City Theater with Pinocchio, Pep Bou Company from Barcelona with their show Clinc!, Cock-tales by Paspartout from Bergatreute, Germany, Planet Football by Puppet Theater Gulliver from Warsaw. Mini Theater from Ljubljana will be performing Snow White, while the Royal Theater Zetski Dom will be presenting their Katzelmacher. Images of My World, by the Art Center Bread and Plays from Stara Pazova, Passage by the Portuguese PIA Theater from Pinhal Novo, Masha and the Bear, by the Kukol Moscow Regional Theater. Magic World of Numbers  is arriving from the Croatian theater Žar Ptica, Wind from Bologna, in co-production with The Egg Theater Royal from Bath, England, Pippi Longstocking from Theater for Youth and Children, Skopje, A Fairy Tale About a Knight Without a Horse from the Youth Theater of Novi Sad, while Belgrade's Tiny Theater Puz will be performing their show Princess in a Castle of Ghosts. 

 

The awards decided by the Children Jury and the Town Jury will be handed on July 10, during the closing ceremony of the Kotor Festival of Theater for Children at 9:30 pm, Square of Arms. 

 

“What's new when it comes to side programs and the tendencies of our Festival is the FRINGE principle, according to which professional theaters participate at our Festival at their own expense, just so they could take part in it. They are not featured in the Main Program and do not compete“, explained Marija Backovic, member of the artistic board of the Festival. 

 

We will hold discussions on theater shows on a daily basis (I ask you, you ask me), but also visual arts programs and installations around town, artistic workshops for children and young people, as follows: stained glass workshop, mask workshop, modeling workshop, acting workshop, comics workshop and film workshop. We also host workshops for education of children and parents alike, contemporary dance workshop, European models of children theater production workshop, string instrument workshop and contemporary dramaturgy for children and young people. 

 

“According to the results of the open competition for co-financing of European festivals from 2012, with the program Culture 2007 – 2013, the Kotor Festival of Theater for Children received a EUR50,000 grant. There were 235 European festivals as applicants, and only 11 were selected for co-financing, among which was our Festival“, Dejan Djonovic, member of the Artistic Board and organizational team, proudly emphasized. 

The Festival is funded by the Ministry of Culture Montenegro, Municipality of Kotor, European Commission though the EACEA Fund, as well as numerous sponsors and friends of the Festival.

 

Today’s press conference was held in the spirit of the How to Grow Great People culinary recipe, recommended by the Head Chef of the Festival Petar Pejakovic, while children from the studio performed sequences from the Novella of Love show.

 

The journalists who attended the press conference were also greeted by Katica Brkanovic, in front of the Secretariat for Culture, Sport and Social Activities of the Municipality of Kotor.

 

 

PR OFFICE OF THE INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL KOTOR ART