International Theatre Festival Kontakt

International Theatre Festival KONTAKT has been organized by Wilam Horzyca Theater since 1991. KONTAKT enabled to review and promote the most interesting theatrical events from the countries of Central and Eastern Europe and their confrontation with theaters from Western Europe KONTAKT became a mediator of multinational, sometimes uneasy agreements in the new reality. The importance of the festival is primarily built by artistic value of the presented performances. The repertoire of the festival is the result of very careful verification and selection made by the qualification committee. The closest theaters from countries neighboring Polish are primarily invited to KONTAKT, although this principle from year to year is becoming more and more expanded. Previous KONTAKT festivals were attended by theaters from Australia, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, China, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Georgia, Spain, the Netherlands, Yugoslavia, South Korea, Lithuania, Latvia, Germany, Norway, Poland, Russia, Romania, Switzerland, Sweden, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, USA, Uzbekistan, Hungary, Great Britain, Vietnam, Italy. The festival KONTAKT is held every two years in the last week of May. The twenty-second edition of the festival was held from 24-30 May 2014. KONTAKT hosts an international group of observers consisting of over a hundred persons (theater practitioners, critics, students of theater schools, directors of European theater festivals – LIFT from London, Vienna Festival, Theater der Welt from Germany, Kunsten Festival des Arts from Belgium, the Edinburgh Festival), radio and television journalists. The festival is attended by the television crews from Poland, Russia, Ukraine, Estonia, Belarus and Lithuania. As part of the KONTAKT, accompanying events are held – art exhibitions, film projections and concerts. The performances are accompanied by meetings with artists. The festival KONTAKT is a competition, the participating performances are assessed by an international jury which awards three top festival prizes. There is also the possibility of funding awards by individuals, institutions and companies.