HISTORY
2006
Period: Jul. 27th - Aug. 6th
Achieved by: BH's City Council through the City Culture Foundation
Co-achieved by: FLAMA – Fund. de Educação Artística Friends’ Association and SOAMA – Marília Theater Friends’ Society
Sponsored by: Eletrobrás and Petrobrás
Counting on brand new impulse and partners, FIT-BH's 8th edition brought to light all the strength and vitality of a consolidated event. At the same time, it is each and every day growing more indispensable to the city, and stands today as a reference both nation and worldwide, distinctively in Latin America.
In 2006 its activities reached a direct public of over 120 thousand people. This number, added to the sum of the past seven editions, makes up a total participation of one million people since FIT-BH was created in 1994.
During eleven days the Festival rocked Belo Horizonte as well as five other interior cities of the state, namely Lagoa Santa, Betim, Contagem, Itaúna and Ouro Branco, leaving its mark on theaters, alternative spaces, squares, streets and parks.
FIT-BH 2006's opening consisted of two different moments: indoors and outdoors. The first was the performance As Folhas que Resistem ao Vento by Koffi Kôkô Company from Benin held at Palácio das Artes for guests. In the sequence, Station Square was once again taken over by a cheerful and warm crowd that gathered to watch Polish group Ósmego Dnia perform Arka, a street procession filled with sad and solemn music in which great portals in flames moved over the standing audience.
This years' program brought up ethic and esthetic questions and, even if not intentionally, reflected the contemporary world reality talking about themes such as war (Mãe Coragem e seus Filhos no Purgatório by Teatro Del Silencio and Karlik Danza - France, Spain, Chile; Mosca by Teatro Petra - Colombia; Um Homem é um Homem by Grupo Galpão - BH), enforced migrations (Saudade em Terras D'água by Cia Dos à Deux - Brazil, France; Arca by Polish group Ósmego Dnia), exile (Outra Vez Marcelo by Grupo Teatro de Los Andes - Bolivia; As Folhas que Resistem ao Vento by Koffi Kôkô Company - Benin), and violence (Mosca, Ensaio Hamlet by Companhia dos Atores - RJ, Um Homem é um Homem, Descoberta das Américas by Leões de Circo Pequenos Empreendimentos - RJ, and Outra Vez Marcelo).
To counterbalance all this, lyricism and poetry excelled in O que seria de nós sem as coisas que não existem by Grupo Lume de Teatro/SP, Hysteria by Grupo XIX de Teatro/SP, and Saudade em Terras D'água. Lots of laughter too in so many performances based upon the art of circus such as Ouch 2 (Maku Jarrak) and Palhaço do Terceiro Mundo (Chacovachi), both from Argentina, O Reencontro de Palhaços na Rua é a Alegria do Sol com a Lua (Grupo Teatral Turma do Biribinha/AL), Tomara que Não Chova (Teatro de Anônimo/RJ), and Cirkombinados (Cia de Circo Teatro Itinerante El Individuo/BH).
For the first time ever four totally free performances were programed for each of the City's nine administrative areas, consolidating the festival's increasingly stronger descentralization and democratization proposal.
FIT-BH kept and led on its street theater production incentive. An assigned committee selected microplays and scenic interventions to be included in the official program. Another news was the creation of a production ateliê, that gave support to the winners in the making of sets, costumes, props, and make-up. Reflection actitivities concerning street theater were also included in the program.
