The fifth edition of the international festival Mime Fest will take place from 12 to 17 September in South Bohemian Polička town. International artists as well as Czech clowns, mimes or acrobats will perform and share their know-how at workshops and seminars.This year’s Mime Fest is devoted to the memory of the Czech mime Boris Hybner, deceased this spring. It was Hybner who initiated the foundation of the Mime Fest and he also performed and lectured there. “Boris was a source of inspiration for many projects and we are happy that he helped us to build this festival. The providence of this idea is still proven by the increasing visit rate and the number of top international performers that join us every year,” says the Artistic Director of the festival Radim Vizváry, Hybner’s student and friend. The Monday night will be dedicated to the famous mime, as well as the Saturday finale and the Mime Evening, featuring Hybner’s daughter Vanda.
Among the international guests we can find artists from the USA, Portugal or India. “The festival visitors may look forward to many diverse shows. The drastic clown Red Bastard, known from the Cirque de Soleil, will give his almost therapeutic show, not sparing any spectator, on Wednesday 14 September. The same day, the Indian Nimmy Raphel will show her fusion of traditional Eastern arts and Western artistic disciplines. The next day, the Bandart duo from Hungary will combine dance with the latest projection technologies,” add the festival organisers.
On Thursday, Radim Vizváry will perform his piece Sólo (Solo) – a sequence of scenes showing the past and present forms of pantomime; Friday’s programme features two shows of the Losers Cirque Company - The Loser(s) and Walls & Handbags (directed by the SKUTR duo), shown later that night. The Friday will culminate with the Spitfire Company‘s internationally highly rated piece Antiwords, based on Václav Havel’s play Audience. Tuesday will belong to the young generation. The clownery called Chaos srdce (The Chaos of the Heart) was created at the Janáček Academy of Music and Performing Arts, the etudes of the students of the Academy of Performing Arts of Prague, Department of Pantomime, are gathered under the title Ňáká pantomima (Some Pantomime).
“The festival does not neglect the child visitors either, and so the programme includes Václav Strasser’s performances with rainbow bubbles and family shows on the square – juggling show of Bouffon Fjodor and Red Chocolate of the Portuguese clown Enan. Traditionally, there’ll be workshops and seminars given by international festival guests,” conclude the organisers.
Detailed programme and more information on www.mimefest.cz.
Source: Mime Fest
Josef Bartos
Thank you for your thoughts. One got stuck in my mind – that passion makes us different from AI. Just yesterday I read…I am a dance critic. I am a member of an endangered species