Kolkata: Puppeteers from different countries are taking part in the International Puppet Festival which began here on Thursday.
The six-day festival is being participated by puppeteers from countries like the UK, Germany, Peru, Portugal, Italy, Lithuania, Brazil and Singapore who will showcase the puppet art traditions in different parts of the world.
Christened ‘PUN’ (Puppets Unite Neighbours), the festival is also aimed at reviving the interest in puppet art in India, the organisers said. PUN founder Gurpreet Kaur Sethi said the festival aims to create awareness about puppetry and to bring together puppeteers from different countries.
“We have put special focus in selecting the puppet acts from various countries to showcase different puppet arts which together create a beautiful mosaic,” she said.
Various puppet art forms — glove, shadow, knee, giant, human, theatre, street, interactive and balloon puppetry will be seen at the festival, she said. From India, puppeteers like Ravi Bhat of ‘Kath Putli’ (Jaipur), Saravana Dhanapal of ‘Giant Puppet’ (Bengaluru), Sudip Gupta of ‘Dolls Theater’ (Kolkata), Jitendra Advani of ‘Masti Maker Human Puppet’ (Jaipur) Edwin Lee of ‘Dragon Act’ and ‘Lion Dance’ (Chinese puppetry Kolkata) are among the participants.
The audience will have a chance to see the CIA team from Brazil and One Woman Company from Germany, the organisers said.
