A festival that celebrates puppet -play -film manufacturing

Copyright © HT Digital Streams Limit all rights reserved. Lounge Prachi Sibal 4 min Read 03 Apr 2025, 04:57 PM IST ‘LE Colis’ SUMMARY The second edition of Puppetoscope explores the niche form of puppet play films, a forerunner for modern animation Anurupa Roy, a puppet play and theatrical practitioner, is an integral part of the ecosystem. She erected Katkatha, an organization for the promotion and preservation of the puppet art in India, 26 years ago. Over the years, the team has produced several landmark puppets theater productions, such as About Ram (2006) and their most recent, Arabic evenings. In 2022, just as the world recovered from the Covid Pandemic and the executive art industry, Roy also tried to get back on his feet, said Roy Puppetoscope, the first of his child Puppet Film Festival in the country. It was also a 25 -year celebration of Katkatha’s existence. “The pandemic has produced a lot of online content. It felt like the ideal moment to bring a large part of it from around the world to people in Delhi and celebrate that the pandemic was over,” she says. They received about 40 applications, and the festival displayed 21 puppet film films – both Indians and international. Puppet -Films is a niche form of film manufacturing dating from the 1900s in which the characters on the screen are in the form of puppets. Roy believes that the mediums of animation and film can trace their technical and magical lineage to puppet show and continue to have a synergy that is often not examined. “We don’t want to work in silos. We wanted to see the conversation arising from the farm of puppet theater, theater and animation at the same festival,” says Roy. The theme for Puppetoscope 2.0 is “Out of the Shadows”, and the offers range from documentary films, children’s films and three direct performances. The mornings will be dedicated to children’s films, and the evenings will come alive with Shadow Puppetry performances, including one by the outgoing students of the Foundation Course at Inhai Puppeters Trust-an international non-profit organization for puppet players and puppet enthusiasts who work to document. The festival received more than 80 entries this time and Roy acknowledged that the team had a difficult time choosing. To set the tone for Shadow Puppetry as a forerunner for film and animation, Film Before Film (1986) is displayed as a opener. Directed by Werner Nekes, look at the early history of the theater rooted in shadow, flip books, magical lanterns, shadow -dolls from Asia, and more. One of the highlights of the festival this year is an entire night-shadow-popping performance by GOALU GOMBAYATTA, based on Karnataka. Roy was introduced to the form years ago. She remembers that she was captivated with it. “It was an overall shadow-doll in Kerala, and I was blown away. The idea of ​​staying the night, watching a show between sleep and alertness, and the atmosphere was new to me. We try to recreate the atmosphere,” says Roy. The performance will take place indoors in the Siddharth Hall, and the lawn outside will cost, puppet stalls and other festivities. “People in the cities understand the nightlife, but they have never seen anything like this,” she says. The artist Gunduraju and his family will present episodes of the Ramayana in the clear style of Shadow Puppetry from the region with a side of live music. “Goethe Institut has done a VR project in collaboration with Gunduraju. The Oculus -Headset will also be available at the venue. People see both the form and his technical version,” Roy says. This is another way the virtual and performance worlds will meet. Apart from this, the second edition of puppetoscope will also open seminars and a 72-hour film challenge for participation. “Participate and make a short pulley with puppets. The three winning films are displayed via social media,” says Roy, adding that the child film jurie consists of children. “They take the job very seriously.” Mint’s top choices no engine (where are you?) The criticism award-winning film, directed by RV Ramani in 2003, documenting the practice of Shadow Puppetry in Tamil Nadu. It casts puppeters in the light of the first filmmakers, who produce episodes of the Ramayana. It also explores stories by the current practitioners of the traditional form. The show is followed by a discussion with filmmaker Shabani Hassanwalia. On April 4, at 15:00 Iniskim – Return of the Buffalo, this unique Canadian documentary, directed by Lianne Allison and Pete Balkwill, uses a large, enlightened puppet buffalo to tell the ‘Blackfoot Legend’ about the Buffalo return to Banff National Park. On April 6, 16:00 The Adventure of Prince Achmed dating from 1926, The Adventure of Prince Achmed is the oldest animation function that survived. It was written by Lotte cleanser and tells the story of an attractive prince in a distant country about magical adventures. He meets Aladdin, befriends a witch, fights against demons and also falls in love. On April 5, 10:00 episodes of Ramayana, performed by Kalaimamani Muthulakshmana Rao and team of Tamil Nadu, the performance uses the unique style of Shadow Puppetry to retell episodes of the Ramayana. On April 4, 18:30, the puppet show will be held between April 3-6 in the Indian International Center, New Delhi. Catch all the business news, market news, news reports and latest news updates on Live Mint. Download the Mint News app to get daily market updates. More Topics #Features Mint Specials