Note of Intent for the JEM festival 2026
Always offer theatre and puppetry in a variety of forms, journeys, surprises, laughter, joy, attention, and many perspectives and horizons, because dreams never rest on their laurels, and puppetry is an art of escape. It is not a question of not looking, but rather that the gaze, like the eyelids, can open the eyes to new horizons and possibilities.
The puppet dreams of the world and of paths to new worlds. Worlds that are more connected and substantial, for better worlds, worlds that dream. Our eyes, our bodies, our hearts and our minds are there to teach us that movements are lines and perspectives, and that the horizon always opens up more than it oppresses.
The puppetry arts are all at once arts in the sense that they require us to see, feel and think, puppetry, in the sense of an object and a touch, of representation, of what goes through our minds and bodies so that a material gives life to what apparently has none and which is sometimes a source of discoveries and words, of radiance, so that the animate is ever more animated, the inanimate never is, and life is ever more alive.
This 8th edition continues to feature new proposals, such as partnerships with artists who share or support the vision that theatre is also puppetry, and that puppets invent and reinvent this type of theatre to open up new forms and dramatic materials. Firstly, this edition highlights a collective of artists from Europe and the Middle East, with a focus on the DAFA Puppet Theatre, based in Prague and a source of international collaborations between Palestine, Jordan, Hungary and the Czech Republic. It is also a story of questioning the forms of puppets, objects, paper, table puppets, shadows, or simply with rare artists who believe that poetry can change form and material and create theatre. Katanari from Slovakia, who have been enchanting us since 2022, are returning for the third consecutive edition to our festival and we would like to highlight her poetical work of matters and forms animated.
Eleven international premieres, a focus on the Dafa Puppet Theatre with four different shows, two concerts and one hand theatre workshop, two shows by the artist Katanari, the famous Naivni Divadlo company from Liberec and its multi-award-winning wordless show, ‘The Red Balloon’, the Quebec company that performs only in buses, the famous Ubus, multi-technique artist Milena Milanova from Bulgaria and France, theatre and form with Finnish artist Roosa Halme and her Block theatre, storytellers Florian and the Porteurs de Rêve from Belgium, the Buguel Noz and their puppets that perform in water, all the guest artists, first-time bets, openings for artists, but above all shows for children from the youngest to the oldest, shows for all audiences, and always this desire to offer international theatre for children with (but very little) or without words, hybrid forms and also different techniques.
Our festival aims to be open to both internationally renowned artists and emerging talents, but also seeks to showcase the richness and diversity of puppetry in Belgium and internationally. Not only do we showcase foreign artists for the first time in Belgium, but we also create unlikely connections and encounters through an eclectic programme that celebrates puppetry and its creativity in terms of forms, techniques and materials.