Festival Perspectives
The Festival Perspectives (spelling: Festival PERSPECTIVES) is a German and French language festival of contemporary stage art in Saarbrücken . It was founded in 1978 as a French festival and is the only festival that offers a forum for both German and French-language contemporary productions. In 2015, the festival peaked numerically with 15,000 tickets sold and a total of 40,000 spectators.
history
The Festival Perspectives was launched in 1978 under the name Week of the Young French Theater / Perspectives du jeune théâtre français by Jochen Zoerner-Erb , dramaturge of the Saarland State Theater . Erb had the idea of founding a festival of French young theater in Saarbrücken to give the German audience the opportunity to experience the independent French theater scene. At the same time, he wanted to offer young French theater groups a platform to present their productions in the neighboring country.
Zoerner-Erb headed Perspectives for the first eight years. He was followed by Peter Hahn in 1986. From 1987 to 1991 the French Marc Adam, from 1992 the Swiss Peter Theiler, took over the management of the festival. In 1996 he was replaced by Pierre-Jean Valentin, under whose aegis the 1996 festival was the most extensive festival to date with 33 invited groups and 81 events. From 1997 to 2001 Christian Caimacan was artistic director. In 2002 this task passed into the hands of Laurent Brunner, who turned Perspectives into a "Franco-German theater festival". While the festival between 1997 and 2004 presented a rather conservative program with classical theater productions, the program offer became more avant-garde again with the change of management from 2004 to 2006 with Michèle Paradon.
In 2007, Stéphane Konopczynski and Sylvie Hamard led Perspectives and gave the festival a new concept. The Foundation for Franco-German Cultural Cooperation has been the sponsor ever since. Under Sylvie Hamard, who has been the sole director of the festival since 2008, mainly scenic works of drama and contemporary dance, but also productions in the fields of contemporary circus and performance, are presented. The festival has had a circle of friends since 2015.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic , the festival will be canceled in 2020.
offer
The festival is fundamentally bilingual. Both German and French-language contemporary productions are invited, the program, the website and other publications are written in German and French. As far as possible, surtitling is offered for pieces with a lot of text. In addition to classical theater, Perspectives shows music theater, stage art, visual theater, puppet theater, scenic readings, circus, acrobatics, multimedia show, pantomime, performance and video scenography. Street theater pieces and classic productions at the Saarbrücken venues are also complemented by unusual performance locations. Furthermore, every year French-speaking music groups perform in the festival club.
As part of the Seléction Perspectives, eight and a half feature or documentary films related to the current festival program have been shown in the cinema in advance of the festival since 2017.
Sponsorship and funding
Since its inception, the festival has received support from the French. Until 1992, the state capital Saarbrücken was the organizer of the festival and this was affiliated with the city's cultural department. After the city decided to give the festival its own legal form, Perspectives became a gGmbH with the state capital Saarbrücken and the Saarland State Theater as shareholders. In March 2002, the Saarland, the city of Saarbrücken and the French department of Moselle, who have jointly supported the festival financially, reached a cooperation decision. The legal entity of Perspectives has been the Foundation for Franco-German Cultural Cooperation based in Saarbrücken since 2007.
Awards
Venues
In addition to classic theater locations in the SaarLorLux region, the festival also uses former industrial sites, public spaces and streets.
- Old fire station , Saarbrücken
- Bus workshop in the Eurobahnhof district , Saarbrücken
- Center Pompidou-Metz
- Franco-German Garden , Saarbrücken
- E-Werk , Saarbrücken
- Friedenskirche , Saarbrücken
- Gustav-Regulator-Platz, Saarbrücken
- Johanneskirche , Saarbrücken
- K4 Forum at St. Johanner Markt, Saarbrücken
- Le Carreau - Scène Nationale de Forbach et de l'est mosellan, Forbach
- Luminance, Saarbrücken
- Mauritius Church, Saarbrücken
- East hall at the Roman fort, Saarbrücken
- Parc Explor, Wendel (France)
- Club Römerkastell, Saarbrücken
- Saarländischer Rundfunk, Funkhaus Halberg, Saarbrücken
- Saarland State Theater , Saarbrücken
- Castle cellar, Saarbrücken
- Spicherer heights
- Theater am Ring, Saarlouis
- Theater in the town hall, Saargemünd
- Theater Überzwerg , Saarbrücken
- VHS center at the castle, Saarbrücken
- Circus tent on Tbilisser Platz, Saarbrücken
Visitor numbers
While there were 3,400 guests in 2006, more than 11,000 visitors came in 2010, and in 2011 12,000 people saw the festival performances. In 2015, the festival peaked with 14,247 tickets sold and a total of 40,000 visitors.
Cooperations
There are constant collaborations with cultural institutions in Germany and France, including the Center Pompidou-Metz , the Institut français Saarbrücken, Le Carreau - Scène Nationale de Forbach et de l'est mosellan, Forbach, the platform for Franco-German art in Lyon , and the Saarland State Theater , Theater Überzwerg and the cities of Saargemünd and Saarlouis .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Festival PERSPECTIVES: Cancellation of the Festival PERSPECTIVES 2020. Accessed on April 17, 2020 .
- ^ Saarbrücker Zeitung