Theatrical section
Theatre of puppets is not a mirror or an infantile introduction to the "real theatre", not a didactic method, not a pedagogical way for our beloved nor a way of imitating anything. Of course it could be any of this. We present you the spectacles which use the art of animation from classics to experiments. We would like to convince you that there are various languages of art and many creative spaces which are worth to explore. To laugh at them, to be touched by them, breathe by them and negate only if consciously.
Marek b. Chodaczyński
General Director
Marek b. Chodaczyński (1954)
Zodiacal Taurus, Director, co-founder and chairman of The Impossible Theatre Union. Father and director of International Festival of Puppet Theatres and Animated Films for Adults "Puppet is a Human too". President of the Polish Center of International Puppet Artist's Union POLUNIMA. A cultural animator. Individual prizes for direction in Poland and Czech Republic. Individual prizes and scholarship of Minister of Culture. He received medals: "Gloria Artis", "Meritorious for Polish Culture" and medal on the 50th anniversary of POLUNIMA and the distinction "The Talents of Ochota". He has directed spectacles in Poland, Belarus and Russia.
Our Jury
Joanna Braun
Graduated from the Krakow Academy of Fine Arts. After graduation she is associated with the Theatre of Dolls and Masks Groteska in Krakow. He works with different stages and has more than 150 stage designs in drama, puppet and dance theatres. She is the most important artist in Polish theatres, as evidenced by the prestigious awards for her productions. Since 2004 she has been a PWST teacher in Krakow at the Faculty of Drama Directing and Publications in the theatre newspaper Didaskalia. Participates in thematic collective scenographic exhibitions, as well as frequent individual presentations: a necessary workshop for the basic work on the form, among others recently the investigation of the theme of the body in exhibitions: votarium – BWA Bielsko Biała Ifamki – Gallery ZASP in Krakow Infamki and Infantki – Gallery Stara Prochownia in Warsaw and: Homage to Pina Bausch – Polish Theatre in Stettin, Mościce Art Centre in Tarnów, Theatre Institute Warsaw, Small Polish Art Garden in Krakow, Teatr Maska in Rzeszów.
Marián Pecko
Marián Pecko, director and artistic director of the Puppet Theater at Rázcestí, has created approximately one hundred theater productions in drama, puppet theater, opera, and circus. He collaborates with theaters in Slovakia (Andrej Bagar Theater in Nitra, State Opera in Banská Bystrica, Ján Palárik Theater in Trnava, Slovak Chamber Theater in Martin), in the Czech Republic (Klicpera Theater in Hradec Králové, Puppet Theater in Ostrava), in Poland, and in Hungary. He is part of the team organizing the international festival Bábkarská Bystrica. He has presented his work as a director at several Slovak and international festivals (in the Czech Republic, Poland, Bulgaria, and France). He has won numerous prestigious awards for directing productions in Polish puppet theaters.
Ruth Brockhausen
Mask and theatre puppet maker, actor-puppeteer, director and president of Unima Germany. Co-founder with Heiko Brockhausen and director of the “Theater der Nacht” in Northeim, Lower Saxony, which is now the headquarters of Unima Germany. In 2023, she collaborated with the Göttingen Symphony Orchestra on the performance ‘Wilde Reise durch die Nacht’, based on the novel by Walter Moers. Organiser of the international puppet theatre festival, international symposia and puppet art workshops in Northeim.