Summary
This is the 23rd edition of the World Puppet Theater Festival. Charleville-Mézières
Today an article published on the blog which is soon celebrating its 10th anniversary and which, as when it was created in 2015, will be dedicated to the FMTM, the circle is closed in a way!
Charleville-Mézières is not only the largest city in the Ardennes, it is also the world capital of puppetry. Just that!
With 50,000 inhabitants, the city is a sort of puppet mecca, since it hosts the World Puppet Theater Festival every two years in September.
For 9 days, hundreds of puppeteers from all over the world reinvent the city to express their know-how, their fantasy and their talent.
It's definitely worth spending a day or two wandering around Charleville-Mézières to discover all the magic of the festival.
FMTM 2025: the dates of the 23rd edition
The next World Puppet Theater Festival (FMTM 2025), the 23rd edition, will be held from September 19 to 28, 2025.
For information, Charleville-Mézières is also home to the International Puppetry Union, a UNESCO-affiliated organization that brings together puppetry professionals.
The city of Charleville-Mézières is even home to ESNAM (the Higher School of Puppetry Arts), which offers a three-year course in puppetry.
Official Program of the World Puppet Theater Festival 2025
In 2025, troupes from Bangladesh, Canada, China, Chile, the United States, Iran and even Taiwan will take over halls and theaters. Particular emphasis will be placed on Baltic creations with Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, represented by several recognized companies such as the Latvian Puppet Theater, the Kaunas Theater or the Lele Theater in Vilnius. Alongside them, all the richness of French and European puppet theater will once again find its full place.
Like every year, around thirty theater companies are invited to perform as part of the official selection of the festival. Tickets for shows must be reserved in advance.
Among the eighty shows on the official program of the Mondial Festival of Puppet Theaters, companies from the four corners of the world meet: The Expanse carried by Renaud Herbin, Hotel Modern, the Blick Theater troupe, Polar Plexus with Yngvild Aspeli, The Machinist’s Spring, Kaori Ito, the Three-6ix-Trente company directed by Bérangère Vantusso, Angels on the Ceiling, Moussoux-Bonté, Lone Wolf Tribe, Fixed Point by Christian Hecq and Valérie Lesort, Theater of Movement under the direction of Claire Heggen, without forgetting Central Station by Agnès Limbos.
This year, 3 shows will be presented as world premieres during the festival:
Birja de L'extension – Renaud Herbin: a stage experience inspired by the figure of the shepherd, summoning an imagination populated by animals, masks and puppets on Friday 19 at 6 p.m., and Saturday 20 at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. – from 12 years old – Duration: 1 hour 10 minutes.
Spring – Sitio: a 16th century painter and a modern-day accountant confront their ideals in the face of the upheavals of their time: Friday the 19th at 2 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. and Saturday the 20th at 9:30 a.m. – from 14 years old – Duration 1 hour 10 minutes.
In my damn zoo – Spring: a journey between puppetry and animated drawing about adolescence, isolation and the quest for oneself: Friday 19 at 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. and Saturday 20 at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. – from 10 years old – Duration: 50 minutes.
But there are also activities at the FMTM village:
The village is:
– Lebon Bar, open from 10 a.m. to 2 a.m., it’s a friendly space open to everyone to chat over a drink and of course party!
Lebon Son: a daily program of concerts and DJ sets offering different styles of music to make you dance every evening until 1:30 a.m.!
Two food trucks: The Plate on Wheels and The Good Adventure are present at the World Puppet Theater Festival to delight your taste buds every day of 10 a.m. to 11 p.m..
Conversations under the lime trees: friendly meetings between artists and the public, the day after a performance 10 a.m. to 11 a.m..
But also the philo-mario cafe a set of 4 meetings to look into some enigmas concerning puppet theater.
THE 75 Forest Avenue As for him, he will host professional meetings throughout the duration of the World Festival of Puppet Theaters, the opportunity to attend debates, round tables and exchange between artists, programming managers, actors, researchers and puppet enthusiasts.
Also find the link to the official and complete program of the World Puppet Theater Festival 2025.
Festival Off and Festival In
There are outdoor street shows, where any puppet artist can perform.
And, there are the more professional paid and organized shows.
In total, more than 200 shows are scheduled as part of the IN event, and the off festival with its street shows, exhibitions and many other surprises.
The World Puppet Theater Festival brings together amateurs (very experienced) and professionals who stage all types of puppets: hand or glove puppets, string puppets, rod puppets, body puppets (that the puppeteer wears), bunraku-style puppets (manipulated by puppeteers visible on stage) and shadow puppets.
The stories are very varied and range from comic musicals to much more intellectual philosophical narratives. Whatever your mood of the day, there really is something for everyone, with many shows for children as well.
As with each edition of the World Puppet Theater Festival, Place Ducale will host a program open to all, with giants always very impressive.
In all, 430 performances will punctuate the city in a vibrant effervescence where stage creativity and collective energy blend.
The entire program of Off the World Puppet Theater Festival at Charleville-Mézières is available online.
World Festival of Puppet Theaters: a story that tells itself
But how did a small French town become the world center for all things puppetry?
The answer lies in the story of the Ardennes puppeteer Jacques Felix.
It was in 1941 that Jacques Felix encountered puppetry for the first time at the age of 17 during an internship with master puppeteer Géo Condé in Nancy.
He passed on his passion for building wool embroidery puppets. Margareta Niculescu, very dear friend of Jacques Felix, recounts what she knows about this period: “It was war. At the time, Jacques was a scout and scouting was banned by the Nazis. The young people find a goal: to play for the children in the summer camps. An opportunity to meet, to cultivate friendship, to taunt the occupier, to escape compulsory work; Wasn't that tempting for young people? »
After the war ended, Félix continued to put on shows to boost morale in a region that had been heavily occupied during the war and at the heart of some of Europe's greatest conflicts.
In 1948, Jacques Felix founded the Petits Comédiens de Chiffons, a small puppet theater troupe.
It didn't take long for puppeteer friends from all over France to come visit him to put on shows together.
The news spread and Jacques Felix was quickly contacted by puppeteers from all over the world, all eager to introduce people to the art of puppetry.
In 1961, Jacques Felix invited puppet artists from all over France and overseas and organized the very first puppet festival, welcoming 15 companies.
20 years after creating the World Festival of Puppet Theaters (during a UNIMA congress), he founded 1981, the International Puppet Institute (whose supporting structure is his company Les Petits Comédiens de Chiffons), whose mission is to provide a lasting home for artists and researchers from around the world interested in the arts of puppetry.
The Institute first imagines a professional training program with international impact.
Since then, the festival has grown significantly and increased in number of performances, now attracting nearly 200,000 visitors.
Originally, the FMTM first took place irregularly (1961, 1967, 1972, it was not even open to the public at its beginning) then every three years from 1976, before taking place every two years from 2009.
The puppets Charleville-Mézières after the festival
If your visit to the Ardennes does not coincide with the 2025 World Puppet Theater Festival, don't worry, there are still puppets to see here. To begin with, there is the Great Puppeteers' Clock at the Musée de l'Ardenne (Place Winston Churchill side).
The clock runs all year round and tells the legend of the 4 Sons Aymon through puppets.
There are 12 scenes in total, playing every hour starting at 10am.
If you want to see all 12 scenes in one go, tune in on Saturday at 9:15 p.m.
You can also see the inner workings of this enormous puppet show from inside the museum, where you can also admire the museum's puppet collection.
The museum has more than 500 puppets in its collection and exhibits them on a rotating basis every two years.
During your visit, you will, for example, be able to see Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Punch and Judy, the traditional Lyon character Guignol, as well as numerous puppets and string puppets from abroad.
It is certain, Charleville-Mézières is definitely the world capital of puppetry before, during, after the festival...and always to the delight of adults and children alike!
Information and tickets
How to get to the World Puppet Theater Festival?
Coming to the Mondial Festival of Puppet Theaters is not complicated!
4 stops are continuously served by a free shuttle and of course by buses from the TAC network (Transports de l’Agglomération de Charleville-Mézières): Exhibition center, Town Hall, Cours Briand, Central Station.
Festival Pass: For 10€ take the bus as many times as you want throughout the Festival! Information and sales: TAC agencies (rue Noël in Charleville-Mézières and Place de la Halle in Sedan), FMTM ticket office and Place Ducale Tourist Office.
Free shuttle:
4 stops are served by a free shuttle: Exhibition center, Town Hall, Cours Briand, Central Station (see map above)
– Monday to Friday every 30 minutes.
– Wednesday afternoon, Saturday and Sunday morning and evening every 15 minutes
– Saturday and Sunday afternoon every 10 minutes
– 1er departure from the exhibition center at 9 a.m.
– Last trip: Exhibition center at 11 p.m. (at 11:30 p.m. on Saturday September 20, 2025).
Hotels in the Moulin Leblanc area are served by 1er and last trips 9 a.m. and 11 p.m. (departure at 10 a.m. on Sundays).
Nouzonville shuttle: For shows in Nouzonville a free shuttle will provide transport
departure will be from rue Noël 30 minutes before each performance and return at the end of the performance.
Come and stay in the Ardennes and its capital, Charleville-Mézières is facilitated thanks to their strategic position in Europe.
Information and tickets
The 23e edition of the FMTM World Festival of Puppet Theaters Charleville-Mézières is organized by the Pôle International de la Marionnette – Jacques Felix.
IF you need information on one of the shows or one of the different activities during the Mondial des Théâtres de Puppet festival, go to:
FMTM THE Village located in the heart of Espace Lebon
Saint-Rémi Church Square
08000 Charleville-Mézières
There Ticketing is also available online.
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