Ei! Marionetas / Teatro e Marionetas de Mandrágora

Ei! Marionetas - Encontro Internacional de Marionetas de Gondomar 2025

4 JUL > 17 JUL 2025

SHOUT WITH US EI! MARIONETAS.

Eleven international puppet festivals in Gondomar! Ei! Marionetas has established itself, both nationally and internationally, as a contemporary program of recognized artistic merit.

This is a solid program, implemented in the city and decentralized throughout the municipality, with a vast program that also emerges from collaborative work with the local community.

The Festival, which in 2025 will take place from July 4 to 17, totalling 14 days of uninterrupted programming, presents a diverse set of puppet shows that mix tradition with innovation, art with technology, and local involvement with international collaboration.

Moving from traditional forms to more contemporary creative experiences, this year's edition highlights the importance of integrating various forms of artistic expression, presenting several projects that explore the mechanics applied to puppets, where art, technology, and ingenuity come together to bring inanimate objects to life.

Ei! maintains its central role in educating different audiences, offering a diverse cultural program and presenting a consistent proposal. The event will feature nationally recognized companies as well as international artists; therefore, the Festival will feature four international companies from Spain (Catalonia), Brazil, Turkey, and Belgium, in addition to 11 national companies. Over the course of 14 days, Ei! will host 71 activities, 25 of which are distinct, in an eclectic and differentiated program aimed at various audiences.

Reinforcing its relationship with the community, the Festival is also a platform for promoting cultural dialogue. By engaging with local communities and providing opportunities for young people to participate in artistic projects, the Festival contributes to social inclusion and the revitalization of cultural heritage. Promoting inclusion projects through art and educational initiatives that provide new forms of expression and theatrical dynamics, the Festival includes the premiere of two community projects, the result of artistic work developed with young people from the Projet'arte Program and the Areosa Rehabilitation Center.

The program aims to contribute to the cultural dynamics of the municipality of Gondomar by acting in a decentralized manner. For this edition, we have four different projects to be presented in six parishes in the municipality.

In addition to the shows, Ei! features an exhibition by artist Sandra Neves and the presentation of a career award to artist Delfim Miranda—a key figure in the union of puppetry and education.

With the aim of promoting artistic expression and cultural appreciation among younger audiences, the Festival features 16 workshops for families and 5 workshops for children.

The program also includes a masterclass led by artist Natacha Belova.

In our artistic choices, we address major themes related to the current world, exploring the confrontation between the traditional and the technological, bringing to the Festival new approaches to the preservation of cultural heritage, whether presented traditionally or through a contemporary vision. It is therefore evident in the various artistic projects that are part of the program that Ei! focuses on the complex relationship between tradition and innovation.