Hotel Modern & Arthur Sauer (Netherlands)

"The Great War"

MARIA MATOS TEATRO MUNICIPAL

7, 8 and 9 May at 9.30pm (Thursday, Friday and Saturday)

FIMFA Lx15 Opening Show

Concept: Herman Helle, Arthur Sauer Scenario and production: Pauline Kalker, Arlène Hoornweg, Herman Helle Visuals: Herman Helle Sound concept and live sound: Arthur Sauer Final direction & montage: Pauline Kalker Performers: Maartje van den Brink, Menno Vroon, Laura Mentink Texts and letters: Soldier Prospert Eyssautier, Max Beckmann, Erich Maria Remarque a.o. Puppet modelling of veterans and horse: Cathrin Boer Technician: Joris van Oosterhout, with thanks to Edwin van Steenbergen Special acknowledgments: André Dekker, Rotterdamse Schouwburg Photography: Herman Helle, Joost van den Broek Supports: Dutch Performing Arts Fund, City of Rotterdam Technique: Live animation film and objects For audiences over: +12 Language: English Running time: 60 min.
A House on Fire presentation with the support of the Culture Programme of the European Union
Tickets online

The opening of FIMFA Lx15 is marked by the return of this remarkable show. Hotel Modern and Arthur Sauer's ingenious mix of animation, live action and use of everyday objects for props and sound effects has won plaudits worldwide. Watch the battle unfold on a screen bigger than life.

The First World War, 1914–1918

During the First World War, millions of soldiers wrote letters home to their loved ones. Millions died in the fire and the mud. Millions returned home with stories that could not be told – or could not be heard. Just like after any war.

Raimundo Cosme, Gonçalo Viana e David Machado (Portugal)

"Parece um Pássaro"

CASA FERNANDO PESSOA

9 May at 11.30am (Saturday)

A book with text by David Machado and illustrated by Gonçalo Viana
Creation and performer: Raimundo Cosme Visual concept: Gonçalo Viana Costume: Costura Armada Lighting design: Sara Garrinhas Sound: Isabelle Coelho Executive production: Francisca Rodrigues Co-production: Maria Matos Teatro Municipal, Centro Cultural Vila Flor, Plataforma 285 Photography: José Frade Technique: Full-view manipulation For audiences over: from 3 to 9 years Language: Portuguese Running time: Approx. 25 min.

A story about a young boy who finds a funny hat, which Raimundo Cosme will bring to life based on the visual elements created by illustrator Gonçalo Viana. After the performance there will be a conversation with the artist and the children.

Looks like a bird [Parece um pássaro] is the fifth book in the Promising books [Livros com pernas para andar]’ readings, which they are carrying out in partnership with Associação para a Promoção Cultural da Criança.

Teatro de Ferro (Portugal)

"O Soldadinho"

MUSEU DA MARIONETA

9 May at 4pm (Saturday) | 10 May at 11.30am and 4pm (Sunday)

Based on a tale by Hans Christian Andersen
Text and direction: Igor Gandra Performers: Carla Veloso, Igor Gandra Lighting and sound operation: Hernâni Miranda Photography: Susana Neves Production: Teatro de Ferro Company sponsored by: Governo de Portugal - Secretário de Estado da Cultura – DGArtes Technique: Full-view manipulation For audiences over: +4 Language: Portuguese Running time: Approx. 45 min.

There were a lot of toys in the room
There were toys of this
There were toys of that
Toys with battery
Toys made of rope
Toys for boy
Toys for girl
And also there was a ballerina that let the little soldier en-chan-ted!

This show consists in the adaptation – into the puppet theatre, objects and animated forms – of the tale by Hans Christian Andersen, thus transforming the toy soldiers and other toys of the past into the empowered heroes of the future. Teatro de Ferro build a re-enactment of the form, without damaging the essence of the tale, of the platonic, impossible love between the soldier and the ballerina, of this kind of Romeo and Juliet in toy-form.

Oligor y Microscopía (Mexico-Spain)

"La Máquina de la Soledad"

MUSEU DA MARIONETA

14 and 15 May at 9.30pm (Thursday and Friday)

16 May at 4pm (Saturday) | 17 May at 5pm (Sunday) 

Portuguese Premiere

Creation, construction and performers: Shaday Larios, Jomi Oligor Co-production: Microscopía and Oligor, Iberescena, TNT 2014, Terrassa Noves Tendències With the collaboration of: La Máquina de Teatro Acknowledgements: Edit, Elvira and Lourdes, Manuel and Elisa, Javier and his mother, David e Anita, Ivan Puig, Marcela Armas, David Continente, Catalina Juárez, Dalia Huerta and Bindu, Xavier Bobés, Jordi Fondevila, Jordà Ferré, Iazua Larios, Rober, Calandria, Claudio and Charo, Lirio and Martí, CaboSanRoque, Rinoceronte Enamorado and all the anonymous people who have somehow ended up in drawers and small boxes of “La Máquina de la Soledad” Technique: Object theatre For audiences over: +12 Language: Spanish Running time: Approx. 80 min. Limited audience

The Loneliness Machine (La Máquina de la Soledad) is a tribute to the letter-object and the postal mail. This Machine is an amplitude of a moment made by a precarious technology, tiny, invisible, which is activated whenever there is ink on the hands, in front a sheet of paper, a distance an absence. The Machine’s engines are memories that are being written with every found correspondence in antique markets of Mexico and Spain, with the archeology of objects, images and unusual anecdotes taken from interviewed scribes, retired postmen, post office workers and investigated files.

The Machine is a defoliated document in a space of micro-landscapes and inventories that reveal the negligible affections that matter shelters. An intimate journey of a documentary object theatre for 46 spectators.

The company Hermanos Oligor presented one of the shows that went down in history and memory of FIMFA, “Las Tribulaciones de Virgínia”, so the festival wanted to show their new delicate and sweet project.

Cie Mossoux-Bonté (Belgium)

"Whispers"

TEATRO NACIONAL D. MARIA II - Sala Estúdio

15 and 16 May at 9.15pm (Friday and Saturday) | 17 May at 4.15pm (Sunday)

Portuguese Premiere

Concept, choreography and performer: Nicole Mossoux Direction: Patrick Bonté, Nicole Mossoux Original live music: Mikha Wajnrych (sound objects), Thomas Turine (electroacoustic composition) Costumes: Colette Huchard Set designer: Johan Daenen Lighting design: Patrick Bonté Technical direction: David Jans  Make up: Jean-Pierre Finotto Photography: Mikha Wajnrych Supports: Théâtre de la Balsamine (Brussels), Théâtre Le Passage (Fécamp) Technique: Objects, dance and sound For audiences over: +12 Language: Without words Running time: Approx. 60 min. Tickets online

Birth of Phantoms
On stage, a lone woman. Alone or perhaps not. It appears that the space is inhabited. An expression of furtive presences, muffled sounds and finally phantom-like figures that appear suddenly here and there, occupying the space more and more, whispering in our ear, rising up into the image like the guardians of a secret. Are they not the lost souls that endlessly wander, disturbing our present with their irreparable past?

A woman is there, a woman who cannot tell what is speaking in her; if it’s her own experience or that of her ancestors.  She tries to decipher the murmuring that so furiously resembles a conspiracy against the living. How to escape the chain of generations - and by which exit? How to live a dawn not marred by the night?

Whispers, a clinking of souls, a rumble of recollections and the ancestors who stumble onto the scene.

Aleksandra Osowicz, Filipe Pereira, Helena Martos, Inês Campos and Matthieu Ehrlacher (Portugal-Poland-Spain)

"Hale - estudo para um organismo artificial"

MARIA MATOS TEATRO MUNICIPAL

16 and 17 May at 7pm (Saturday and Sunday)

Creation: Aleksandra Osowicz, Filipe Pereira, Helena Martos, Inês Campos, Matthieu Ehrlacher Performers: Filipe Pereira, Flora Detraz, Helena Martos, Inês Campos, Joana Leal and Matthieu Ehrlacher Sound: João Bento Artistic counselling: Patrícia Portela Light counselling: Carlos Ramos Direcção técnica: Frederico Godinho Photography: Inês Campos Artistic residencies: Espaço Alkantara, O Espaço do Tempo, Forum Dança/Edifício Support: Départs Acknowledgments: António Campos, Atelier RE.AL, EIRA, Francisca Pinto, Joana Duarte, Mariana Bártolo, O Espaço do Tempo, O Rumo do Fumo, Sofia Dias & Vítor Roriz, Teatro Praga, Teresa Silva Technique: Mix For audiences over: +5 Language: Without words Running time: Approx. 35 min.
Hale - estudo para um organismo artificial, it’s a project started under the context of PEPCC/Programa de Estudo, Pesquisa e Criação Coreográfica given by Forum Dança (Lisboa 2010/12)
Tickets online

Hale is the meeting between five authors, 23Kg of plastic and 1710W of ventilators power. Its collective body in constant transformation lives and breathes. It’s a dance where the choreography manifests itself in a plastic architecture. What at first is inanimated matter gains life in a meeting between the naturally artificial and the artificially organic. We call it “study for an artificial organism”. Hale lives from its hybridity, between dance, performance and visual arts.

Xavier Le Roy (France)

"Sans Titre"

MARIA MATOS TEATRO MUNICIPAL

16 and 17 May at 9.30pm (Saturday and Sunday)

Portuguese Premiere

Concept and performance: Xavier Le Roy Technical direction: Bruno Moinard Mannequins: Coco Petitpierre Rehearsal assistant: Scarlet Yu Organization: Vincent Cavaroc, Fanny Herserant - Illusion & Macadam Production: Le Kwatt Photography: Jamie North-Kaldor Co-production: Théâtre de la Cité Internationale, Festival d'Automne à Paris, PACT Zollverein, Kaaitheater, Festival Theaterformen Hanovre Supports: Le Kwatt is supported by the Direction Régionale des Affaires Culturelles d'Ile-de-France Technique: Dance and Mannequins For audiences over: +12 Language: English Running time: Approx. 70 min. Tickets online

Strange situations...
Going to see a show equates to a number of people gathering in a room, taking their seats, the lights going down, and watching a single or a number of individuals carrying out actions on the stage. For many practitioners and audiences alike, this secular convention, by now quasi-constitutive of the theatre, goes without thinking. Since the late 1990’s, the choreographer Xavier Le Roy has made his mark as an unparalleled laboratory technician and major figure of conceptual dance, together with Jérôme Bel, precisely due to his passion for phenomena that others can no longer see.

Sans Titre (Untitled) is a three-pronged performance: lecture, concert and dance performance. It changes the (social or aesthetic) rules of the game and observes how slowly a new equilibrium emerges. In so doing Xavier Le Roy develops a theme that fascinates him: that we need rules, but equally we need to change them. In Sans Titre he experiments with various kinds of theatre, but over and again he changes elements that are necessary for the normal development of the show. As a result audiences and actors have to negotiate with each other about how they relate to these strange situations. What happens when the lecture no longer has a text? When the music becomes mute? When the dancers stop moving?

Compañía Pelmànec (Spain)

"O Avarento"

SÃO LUIZ TEATRO MUNICIPAL - Teatro-Estúdio Mário Viegas

19, 20 and 21 May at 9pm (Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday)

Direction: Olivier Benoit, Miquel Gallardo Puppeteers: Miquel Gallardo, Olivier Benoit Original idea: Jordi Bertran Concept: Miquel Gallardo, Olivier Benoit, Jordi Bertran Adaptation: Eva Hibernia, Miquel Gallardo, Olivier Benoit Set design: Xavier Erra Costumes: Susana Santos Lighting design: Daniel Ibor, Miquel Gallardo Sound Universe: Olivier Benoit, Miquel Gallardo Lighting and sound technician: Xavier Muñoz Photography: Marta Vidanes Production: Compañía Pelmànec with the collaboration of Tàbola Rassa Technique: Object theatre For audiences over: +8 Language: Spanish Running time: 75 min.
Tickets online

In this adaptation of Molière’s The Miser it is no longer money that everyone covets, but water. The characters of this visionary comedy become taps (at times dressed with a simple cloth), pipes and hoses... containers of every kind.

Object theatre assumes a different view of the world surrounding us, it is an invitation to perceive in each object traces of the humanity that has created it. It is this human dimension of objects the production wishes to reveal to us.

Two actors manipulate these objects in front of the audience and give life to no less than twelve characters, offering us a fresh and funny version of this great classic. This performance has been presented all over the world and has been awarded prizes on several occasions. It is a production in which the pleasure of acting, connecting with the audience and laughing together take precedence, while dealing with a theme as serious as the lack of natural resources.

A wonderful show that was one of the greatest successes of FIMFA!

A Tarumba - Teatro de Marionetas (Portugal)

"Cabaret de Insectos: Dracularium Freak"

SÃO LUIZ TEATRO MUNICIPAL - Jardim de Inverno

20, 21 and 22 May at 10.30pm (Wednesday, Thursday and Friday)

Artistic direction and construction: Luís Vieira and Rute Ribeiro Puppeteers: Ana Amorim, Luís Hipólito, Luís Vieira, Rute Ribeiro Lighting design and sound: Catarina Côdea Scenography assistant and make up: Raquel Monteiro Executive production: Daniela Matos Photography: Alípio Padilha Supports and partnerships: Câmara Municipal de Lisboa, EGEAC Company sponsored by: Governo de Portugal - Secretário de Estado da Cultura | DGArtes Technique: Objects, mutants and shadows For audiences over: +12 Language: Portuguese Running time: 50 min.
Tickets online

Cabaret de Insectos: Dracularium Freak (Insects Cabaret) is a show inspired on the old freak shows, in ancient myths of terror and in some characters from Dracula by Bram Stoker. During the performance we learn that this cabaret was offered by Dr. John Seward to one of his patients and ancestor of this curious family. This cabaret was originally created by the eccentric Renfield, which feeds mostly on insects, and ancestor of a curious family…

A truly museum of curiosities, extremely visual that uses various manipulation techniques.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, a unique opportunity is waiting for you in our cabinet of monstrosities... pardon me... in our ‘Insects Cabaret'!...
We could even speak of a true bestiary with fabulous insects from all corners of our planet... and we will reveal many secrets, you can be sure that you will see things you’ve never seen before!...
Do not miss the opportunity to see the dance of death by an Archimantis Latistyla! A duel of Tabanus Sulcifrons! The oriental dances by Blatta Orientalis and the erotism of the can-can by a group of Titanacris Albipes! Yeah ... sure, we also have a flea orchestra!... We cannot reveal more… But you can be certain that we will haunt your imagination...! Ladies and gentlemen, put your seatbelts and nets, the show is about to start!"

DudaPaiva Company (Netherlands)

"Bastard!"

SÃO LUIZ TEATRO MUNICIPAL

22 and 23 May at 9pm (Friday and Saturday)

Portuguese Premiere

Concept, choreography, performer: Duda Paiva Direction: Paul Selwyn Norton Dramaturgy: Jaka Ivanc Soundscape: Erikk McKenzie Video: Hans C. Boe, Jaka Ivanc Lighting design: Mark Verhoef Objects: Duda Paiva, Jim Barnard Costumes: Javier Murugarren Song: "Je suis snob" - Boris Vian/Jimmy Walter Coaching manipulation: Neville Tranter Production: Laswerk Co-production: CaDance 2011/Korzo Productions, Festival Mondial des Théâtres de Marionnettes Charleville-Mézières Technique: Puppets and dance For audiences over: +12 Language: English Running time: 60 min.
Tickets online



In a bizarre and grim future, a host of wildly eccentric characters come to the aid of an artist who has lost his way.

Bastard! is inspired by French writer Boris Vian's satire, L’arrache-coeur (Heartsnatcher). Like Vian, who invented new words to describe wild adventures, Duda Paiva expands his trademark theatre language of animated movement, with objects, the body and new media in this multi-award winning show.

"My creations tell stories about people, their dreams and fears (…) By the abstraction of dance and the realism of objects I create a world where everything is possible. This is essential to portray the rich and layered world of Vian." -Duda Paiva

“There is significant pleasure to be had in the sheer virtuosity of Duda Paiva’s ability to operate puppets in unusual and often complex ways (…). Duda Paiva’s 'Bastard!' is where great puppet theatre meets great physical theatre!” - Nigel Luck, Animations Online

Teatro de Marionetas do Porto (Portugal)

"Óscar"

MUSEU DA MARIONETA

23 May at 4pm (Saturday) | 24 May at 11.30am (Sunday)

Direction and set design: João Paulo Seara Cardoso Puppets and costumes: Júlio Vanzeler Music: Roberto Neulichedl Text: João Paulo Seara Cardoso, with the collaboration of Sofia Aguiar Reis, Regina Guimarães (Songs) Movement: Isabel Barros Lighting design: António Real Performers: Edgard Fernandes, Micaela Soares, Rui Queiroz de Matos Painting of puppets and props: Emília Sousa Lighting and sound operation: Filipe Azevedo Production: Sofia Carvalho Construction: Cláudia Armanda, Vítor Silva Confection of costumes: Branca Elíseo Set construction: Américo Castanheira Photography: Henrique Delgado Graphic design: Júlio Vanzeler Company sponsored by: Governo de Portugal - Secretário de Estado da Cultura | DGArtes Technique: Full-view manipulation For audiences over: +4 Language: Portuguese Running time: Approx. 55 min.

Óscar is a little boy who owns a garden, his favourite playground. 
In the garden he creates imaginary worlds and he communicates with the animals, the plants and Joaquim, the Gardener. 

The show is structured in the four seasons, along which the garden takes on different clothing. The stories, the music, the colours, the words, the scents, appear as sensations characterising the garden during the different stages of the year.

Winter arrives. Óscar sees the garden through the window of his house. When it is not raining, he plays with water puddles. The winter is over. Life is reborn again in the garden, the stage lights go out...

Bonecos de Santo Aleixo (Portugal)

"Auto da Criação do Mundo"

TEATRO TABORDA

24 May at 4pm (Sunday)

Puppeteers: Ana Meira, Gil Salgueiro Nave, Isabel Bilou, José Russo, Vítor Zambujo Musical accompaniment: Gil Salgueiro Nave Technique: Rod puppets For audiences over: +6 Language: Portuguese Running time: 70 min.

For the fourth time in FIMFA in the celebration of the 15th edition the Bonecos de Santo Aleixo could not be absent! Naive, pure, malicious and irreverents... no one from the audience will be safe from their jokes!

These traditional puppets from Alentejo region seem to have their origin in the village which gave them their name. They are puppets operated from above by rods, similar to the great marionettes of southern Italy and northern Europe, but tiny – between twenty and forty centimeters in height, and made of wood and cork, dressed in costumes which, as in the regular theatre, enable the characters in the story to be identified. The “dynasty” of these puppets dates from the middle of the nineteenth century, but the oldest references is dated in the eighteenth century. The puppets that are seen today belonged to the Talhinhas family for about three decades until, in 1967, they were brought to the attention of a wider cultural world by Michel Giacometti and Henrique Delgado. The Bonecos de Santo Aleixo, property of the Évora Cultural Centre, are operated by a “family” comprising professional actors, which guarantees the permanent authenticity of the performers, and thus ensures the continuity of this expression of traditional Alentejo arts.