World Puppetry Day, celebrated on 21 March, is marked at the São Luiz Theatre with the presentation of the programme for the 26th edition of FIMFA Lx – International Festival of Puppetry and Animated Forms, which will take place between 7 and 31 May at various venues in Lisbon.
On this occasion, Luís Vieira and Rute Ribeiro, artistic directors of FIMFA and A Tarumba – Teatro de Marionetas, will also present the Henrique Delgado Cultural Merit Award 2026, which aims to recognise individuals, organisations or institutions that have made a decisive contribution to the recognition of the art of puppetry.
There will also be the premiere screening of a documentary about Teatro de Marionetas do Porto, the company awarded the 2024 Henrique Delgado Prize: Teatro de Marionetas do Porto – Memória, Afetos, Futuro (Porto Puppet Theatre – Memory, Affection, Future), directed by Tiago Inuit, with a running time of approximately 20 minutes.
FIMFA Lx26 – International Puppet and Animated Forms Festival
7 to 31 May 2026
Opening up space, reinventing or illuminating: these are some of the words that will guide the 26th edition of FIMFA Lx – International Festival of Puppets and Animated Forms, established as a national and international benchmark event, showcasing the best in contemporary puppetry arts every year, while also highlighting traditional techniques and their transmission.
Each edition becomes a true performing arts platform for puppetry, featuring renowned artists and young creators with innovative projects, as well as parallel activities.
FIMFA transcends and merges artistic boundaries, in a moment of reflection and celebration with images, bodies, shadows, light, sound, machines, poetic contraptions and all kinds of objects or materials, which come to life in multiple ways – that is, puppetry to see and think about the world with a different perspective.
Henrique Delgado Cultural Merit Award
The Henrique Delgado Cultural Merit Award is presented every two years and aims to recognise individuals, organisations or institutions that have made a decisive contribution to the recognition of the puppetry arts, promoting their understanding, development and visibility, including their broader role in their interdisciplinary relationship with other areas of artistic creation, such as cinema, the visual arts, dance, digital art and theatre.
In the history of puppet theatre in Portugal, researcher Henrique Delgado (1938-1971) is an indispensable figure. His articles were extremely important and constitute a true reference, since without his tireless and meticulous work, a set of information fundamental to the analysis of Portuguese puppet theatre would have been lost forever. His work was published in various national and international magazines and newspapers, which also allowed for the international dissemination of Portuguese puppet theatre, which was very little known at the time. Unfortunately, his premature death prevented him from continuing this work.
In 2019, the Henrique Delgado Award was presented to João Carneiro, journalist and theatre critic; in 2022, to Bonecos de Santo Aleixo, a Portuguese tradition whose continuity and dissemination have been maintained by CENDREV; and in 2024 to Teatro de Marionetas do Porto, in the year of its 36th anniversary.
