MIME FEST 2024
13th year of the International Mime Festival in Polička
The planned 13th year of the festival returns to all levels of the program the basic dramaturgical lines: pantomime and clowning, across target groups from children to the general public from nearby and very distant locations. After the previous difficult years of pandemic restrictions and subsequent renewal of the tradition, a genuine program is crystallized, composed of foreign representatives of both sectors, who are among the world’s best, and domestic artists and groups whose main language of expression is pantomime, clownery. At the same time, it is no longer confined to the typically theater spaces of the traditional background of the festival, but is expanded to include site-specific projects in cooperation with other cultural organizations, and experimental open-air performances. Mime Fest Polička once again recalls the mission of its founders Radim Vizváry and Boris Hybner, namely to pay all attention to the diversity of mime art, to connect the otherwise unconnected with laughter and to find the hitherto unseen.
For the coming year 2024, the program composition is taking shape in the levels listed below, already very concretely with the confirmed hosting of soloists and ensembles. Part of the dramaturgy of the festival is, in addition to the presentation of pantomime and clowning, making pantomime accessible in the form of dramaturgical introductions or follow-up discussions. Discussion programs and thematic meetings have also proven themselves. Accompanying workshops and masterclasses are very popular.
About festival
MIME FEST is an international mime theater festival. It represents cooperation with foreign festivals, schools and important institutions in the field of mime art. It connects them to a wider European context and opens up new opportunities for artists to meet. The dramaturgy of the program focuses on professional artists and a wide range of mime theater forms. Its main part is the support of the young generation and educational activities – workshops and seminars led by experts intended for both art school students and the public. Thanks to this, MIME FEST becomes a unique platform that expands the overview of the happenings of the contemporary mime art in the world.
The festival was held for the first time in September 2012 in Polička and was visited by approximately 1,500 people over 4 days. After the great success of the first year, the second year was held over seven days and was attended by approximately 3,000 spectators. In 2014, the festival expanded to the capital city of Prague, so together with the Polič festival, it recorded attendance of up to 4,000 spectators, which was repeated in 2015. During the four years of the festival, more than 250 students from art schools and more than 200 artists from fifteen countries of the world (USA, Egypt, Ecuador, Germany, Finland, France, Belgium, Spain, Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Georgia, Russia, Malaysia and the Czech Republic, etc.). This year’s edition will offer the audience ensembles from other countries, for example from Ecuador or Ükraine.
Every year MIME FEST also brings artists who have never performed in the Czech Republic before.