Life begins at 40
This year FITEI celebrates its fortieth edition. This is a date that must be celebrated because the journey of this Festival was done with much work, commitment, torments, sacri ce, dedication and love for the theatre. It deserves to be celebrated also because the city of Porto had in its historical Festival one of the few and sometimes its only o er of international theatre in the city, during long time stretches of these last 40 years.
We chose the theme Community and Memory. We decided to look for the referenced artists who have been working on the themes of memory and post-memory in the contemporary theatre. The Festival will have two world references: the Argentine Lola Arias and the Portuguese Joana Craveiro.
We wanted to celebrate these 40 years by looking back at contemporary
history, articulating art with politics. Hence the importance of associating the community theme with memory. With the community theme we wanted to celebrate the real communities of the city, not the invented ones, considering
the ballast that unites us as people from Porto. This community extrapolates
to the Ibero-American space but is well rooted in Porto. To start the FITEI community itself: this is also a festivity of Porto and the Portuguese theatrical community, a meeting point; we will have the post-show conversations always directed by theatre professionals, we will go to Poetry Mondays at Pinguim, we will help organize the second edition of the Theatre Days and we will integrate several performances of theatre schools of Porto in the event. For the artistic and school community we will o er a set of workshops under the sign Isto não é uma escola FITEI! which promises to mark the cultural life of the city. We will also host shows that will integrate professionals from the region. Again, many of the scenographies of the shows will be built in Porto. And that is how community and memory are joined, always from the concrete to achieve the idealized.
I can only thank all the partners who believed that this FITEI 40 really had to happen and with the best possible conditions. Thank you all very much and don’t forget that life begins at 40.
Gonçalo Amorim
Artistic Director, FITEI
This year FITEI celebrates its fortieth edition. This is a date that must be celebrated because the journey of this Festival was done with much work, commitment, torments, sacri ce, dedication and love for the theatre. It deserves to be celebrated also because the city of Porto had in its historical Festival one of the few and sometimes its only o er of international theatre in the city, during long time stretches of these last 40 years.
We chose the theme Community and Memory. We decided to look for the referenced artists who have been working on the themes of memory and post-memory in the contemporary theatre. The Festival will have two world references: the Argentine Lola Arias and the Portuguese Joana Craveiro.
We wanted to celebrate these 40 years by looking back at contemporary
history, articulating art with politics. Hence the importance of associating the community theme with memory. With the community theme we wanted to celebrate the real communities of the city, not the invented ones, considering
the ballast that unites us as people from Porto. This community extrapolates
to the Ibero-American space but is well rooted in Porto. To start the FITEI community itself: this is also a festivity of Porto and the Portuguese theatrical community, a meeting point; we will have the post-show conversations always directed by theatre professionals, we will go to Poetry Mondays at Pinguim, we will help organize the second edition of the Theatre Days and we will integrate several performances of theatre schools of Porto in the event. For the artistic and school community we will o er a set of workshops under the sign Isto não é uma escola FITEI! which promises to mark the cultural life of the city. We will also host shows that will integrate professionals from the region. Again, many of the scenographies of the shows will be built in Porto. And that is how community and memory are joined, always from the concrete to achieve the idealized.
I can only thank all the partners who believed that this FITEI 40 really had to happen and with the best possible conditions. Thank you all very much and don’t forget that life begins at 40.
Gonçalo Amorim
Artistic Director, FITEI