International Progressive Theater Festival Kicks Off in Venezuela
Bolivian dancers at the International Progressive Theater Festival, April 10, 2025. X/ @EmbajadaRusaVen
April 11, 2025 Hour: 10:07 am
This year’s edition features Russia as its guest of honor and will showcase Palestinian culture.
On Thursday, Venezuela inaugurated the 4th edition of the Progressive International Theater Festival (FITP), where 22 countries from Latin America, Asia, Africa, and Europe will perform high-quality plays to express the self-determination of peoples, critical and liberating thought, the protection of the planet and its natural resources, and violence in all its forms.
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The festival, which will have Russia as the honored country, will take place in 11 venues across the Capital District from April 10 to 20.
The opening gala featured the performance of the play “From the Andes to the Caribbean, a Song for Bolivia,” a tribute to Bolivia’s Bicentennial directed by Miguel Issa. The piece included traditional Bolivian dancers, the Latin American Rhythms Orchestra of the Teresa Carreño Theater “Odila,” actors Francis Rueda, Anibal Grunn, Luis Enrique Torres, and Amilkar Garcia from the National Theater Company of Venezuela, and guitarist Hugo Quintana.
Venezuelan Culture Minister Ernesto Villegas inaugurated the festival alongside Bolivia’s Ambassador Sebastian Michel, Russia’s Ambassador Sergey Melik-Bagdasarov, and other figures from the Latin American cultural sphere.
“We are going to have ten days of a very diverse showcase of theater that expresses a counter-hegemonic narrative that confronts the forces of imperialism, domination, war, death, and exploitation. These theatrical expressions manifest their particularities in each of the countries that visit us. Venezuela opens its doors to cultural dialogue with all the peoples of the world, without exclusions,” said Villegas.
During the opening of the event, he also highlighted the importance of starting FITP 2025 with a tribute to the 200th anniversary of Bolivia’s independence, a country he described as “the beloved daughter of Liberator Simon Bolivar.”
Villegas recalled that the richness of Latin America’s cultural diversity is the result of a heritage that has resisted colonization and the betrayals of elites that strayed from the original ideals of the independence movements. He also celebrated the selection of Russia as the guest of honor of FITP 2025, highlighting its valuable contribution to universal culture.
“How can we cancel Russia’s contribution to theater? How can we erase it? One of the strengths of that diverse world lies precisely in its heterogeneity. Other countries are the ones seeking the disappearance of cultural differences in order to impose a single model based on their beliefs, interests, and business,” Villegas said, alluding to the cultural imperialism promoted by the United States.
teleSUR/ JF
Source: VTV