I had the opportunity to attend to the 10th International Shadow Theater Festival in Schwäbisch Gmünd, Stuttgart, Germany.

The festival took place in the city of Schwäbisch Gmünd that every three years turns into the most important meeting for the contemporary shadow theater. Shadow theater companies from all over the world were represented: Portugal, Brasil, England, USA, Argentina, France, Italy, Poland and many others.

From the early cave drawings that shadows have been a part of the human communication. The human being is fascinated by the shadow expression as something that as its own life and explored by the mythology. The shadow player is like a shaman that guides our fear from the shadow of the death. The shadow play is connected to spirits, gods and demons or mythical creatures. But the light source as suffer considerable upgrades in its technology. The light from the fire as been replaced by lamp bulbs and projectors generating sharp shadows, and now, with the introduction of halogen lamps it is possible to use it as a performing light, a point light in the stage operated by the performer to create spatial effects. It allows to change the perspective, and create motion and image blending as in film. The last upgrade to this artistic form can be consider somehow problematic and is creating some resistance to recognize it as a shadow technique, the use of cameras and computers.

This year program presents diverse approaches to the shadow theater – a bridge between the traditional form and the contemporary shadow theater.