MATEŘINKA 23 (27th edition)

International festival MATEŘINKA (biennial) is a permanent part of activities The Naive Theatre Liberec, a top professional Czech puppet theatre with an international reputation. The festival is dedicated since its inception in the year 1972 at the presentation of the development of theatre for youngest audience. Its main aim is to seek and bring in a program the high quality arts degrees puppet theatre for the youngest children from production of Czech and selected top European theatres and groups.

The history of the festival MATEŘINKA is long and rich. The first year which originated in The Naive Theatre Liberec in the early seventies won quickly the critical acclamation. Festival soon became an official event visited increasingly by domestic and foreign experts. The festival constantly monitors the development of contemporary puppetry for the youngest children and is considered even on the European scale extraordinary. It manages to maintain close relationships with artist and other creators of different artistic disciplines (cinema, fine art, music).

The need of festival which concentrates the best of the professional puppetry for the youngest children is highly relevant and desirable. Especially nowadays when commercialization tendencies hitting a number spheres of our life affect children of early age. Search counterweight in a theatre production for children is undergoing perhaps uneven, yet crucial battle with a brutal barrage and trash around us with effort to have the youngest audience to focus on basic human values.

In its program the festival MATEŘINKA regularly provides space for the presentation of young talented artists as well as the innovative practices and staging experiments in order to promote and to emerge their talents and approaches. It has been always happening with Academy of Performing Arts Prague. By this way the festival MATEŘINKA helps students to be involved from the very beginning of their professional career as an active part of international event with opportunity to meet artistically mature artists from many European countries and thus enrich their personal development.

Festival MATEŘINKA has been cooperating with other international festivals directly or through UNIMA - the world international puppetry organization. Over the years festival MATEŘINKA gained firm place among European puppetry festivals. We can proudly say that MATEŘINKA is an event of international importance. Festival provides not only an important confrontation in the field of home but also the opportunity to compare this specific type of work in a wider European context. An important acknowledgment of the quality is the awarding brand EFFE - Brussels (2019).

The festival MATEŘINKA takes into focus the performances for audience from 3 to 7 years. For the year of 2023´s issue we are going to prepare the participation of 12 groups from Czech Republic (Theatre Drak Hradec Králové, Theatre Alfa Plzeň, The Naive Theatre Liberec, Buns and Puppets Theatre of Puppets Ostrava and selected independent puppet groups and soloists). From abroad we invited performances from Germany, Poland, the theatre from Slovakia will be the traditional guest, too. Integral part of festival are animated films projections and expert discussions. Festival will present interesting exhibitions, devoted as the tribute to Robert Smolík - distinguished Czech designer and long-standing collaborator of The Naive Theatre Liberec. During the festival there are planned the round tables of Czech and International UNIMA puppetry experts.