© Mélanie Provencher, House of Commons Photo Services

 

 

 

 Welcome to the 19th Festival international de Casteliers!

As Minister of Canadian Heritage, I salute everyone who has helped make this event a success. Since its creation, this dynamic festival has given everyone, regardless of age, the chance to experience incredible moments and make extraordinary discoveries.

Many thanks to Casteliers for offering this outstanding showcase for our artists, artisans and creators. This festival highlights Canadian excellence and the diversity of our arts scene.

Enjoy the shows!

 

The Honorable Pascale St-Onge

 

 

 


© Canada Council for the Arts / Christian Lalonde

 

 

 

 

 

 

 To better understand the human condition, fully experience the world around us and challenge our assumptions, we need art, now more than ever.

More engagement, connection and inspiration are what the arts promise us and what you are bringing to life, collectively, through this unique gathering of the arts and culture in Canada.

The Canada Council for the Arts is a proud supporter of Festival international de Casteliers, and I would like to extend my sincere congratulations to all those involved.

Michelle Chawla 
Director and CEO

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Vive le 11e art!

Le Festival international de Casteliers s’inscrit parmi les grands événements de notre agenda culturel. Il ne fait pas de doute qu’une visite à ce rendez-vous s’impose à celles et ceux qui sont sensibles aux belles histoires, au merveilleux et à la maîtrise fabuleuse d’artistes, d’artisanes et d’artisans de talent. Je suis d’ailleurs ravi d’accueillir à Montréal les nombreux diffuseurs internationaux venus découvrir les créations d’ici.

Bravo à l’équipe du Festival, merci à ses loyaux partenaires et bienvenue aux castelières et casteliers venus du Québec et de tous les horizons tirer avec nous les mille et une ficelles de cette pratique.

À tous et à toutes, excellent Festival!

 

Mathieu Lacombe

Ministre de la Culture et des Communications
Ministre responsable de la Jeunesse
Ministre responsable de la région de l’Outaouais

 

                   

 

 

© Ville de Montréal / Sylvain Légaré

 

 

 The diversity and abundance of Montréal’s cultural scene is due in no small part to events like Festival international de Casteliers.

Montréal is proud that culture in all its forms can be found throughout the city, and that it is accessible to as many people as possible.

With its fascinating puppets from around the globe, the Festival is a celebration of creativity, which the city of Montréal is happy to support.

The Festival international de Casteliers is a delight for Montrealers of all ages.
Over the years, it has become a fixture in Montréal’s cultural scene, and an opportunity for creators to forge links with artistic communities both here and abroad.

Congratulations and thank you for offering us so much beauty and inspiration.

Valérie Plante

Mayor of Montréal

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Festival international de Casteliers puts Montréal at the heart of developments in contemporary puppetry. This unique gathering is a crucial professional networking hub where the many fascinating, varied forms of this ancient artistic discipline are just waiting to be discovered.

In addition to showcasing talent from all over the world, Casteliers’ process for decarbonizing its events makes it an eco-responsible pioneer in the arts.

The Conseil is proud to have supported this dynamic organization for over 15 years.

 

Nathalie Maillé

Executive Director
Conseil des arts de Montréal

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

An age-old art form with a universal flavour

What a great pleasure it is to experience Festival international de Casteliers’ celebration of the art of puppetry every year, and to welcome artists from the Americas, Asia and Europe for this 19th edition!

The Festival continues to grow and improve through contact with puppeteer troupes from all over the world. This event enables audiences of young and young-at-heart to discover other cultures and new ways of practising an art that is both ancient and contemporary.

On behalf of my fellow citizens of Outremont, I wish this 2024 edition of the Festival the greatest success.

Laurent Desbois

Outremont Borough Mayor

 

 

 

 

Louise Lapointe © Christian Brault

 

Geneviève Therrien © Christian Brault

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

An art form for everyone!

Casteliers celebrates with flair and in many different ways the diversity puppetry arts. On stage, on screen, in store windows and on the workbench, the 19th Festival International de Casteliers will take you from the Great North to the Great Plains, from the infinite cosmos into a tiny little bed, from lucid adolescence to the end of a life.

From Québec, Canada, the U.S., France, Belgium, Finland and South Korea, the shows offer a selection of playful, philosophical, poetic, and whimsical moments.

With narrative and experimental approaches, the puppeteers transform words into gestures and inanimate matter into complicit protagonists. Whether superlative messengers or magnificent mirrors, puppets embody our multifaceted humanity, with subtle wisdom or delightful folly.

Casteliers would like to thank its many public and private partners for their invaluable support, which enables us to organize, and ensures the success of, this major annual celebration of an exceptional, age-old, and contemporary art form, the 11th art!

Enjoy the festival!

 

Louise Lapointe
Artistic Director

 

Geneviève Therrien
Executive Director