One more year, the Mérida Festival bets on the dissemination of classical culture through recreational and artistic actions that make up the Festival’s Off Programming Augustus in Merida, which will once again take place in multiple spaces in the city linked to its archaeological and historical heritage with different activities: small-format theatrical performances, exhibitions, film screenings, conferences, exhibitions, a volunteer field, theater for children, master classes and training workshops and a new activity through the streets of Mérida: Escape City Box ‘The Tomb of Alexander the Great’.
This morning, the director of the Festival, Jesús Cimarro, presented the program of parallel activities Agusto in Mérida and others in the company of the mayor of Mérida, Antonio Rodriguez Osunathe director of Audiovisual Media and Film Library of Extremadura, Natalie Rodrigo; those responsible for TAPTC? Theater, Javier Llanos and Juan Carlos Tirado; the coordinator of ‘Cinema aestas’, David Garrido; the producer of the parade ‘The Passions of Zeus’ and its director, Diego Espinosa y Ana Garcíarespectively, and the director of ‘Heroes and heroines’, Esteban G. Ballesteros.
The director of the Festival has highlighted that all these proposals “essentially enrich and complete the Festival’s program and contribute decisively to our goal of disseminating Greco-Latin culture to all audiences and to all corners of the city”. The mayor has emphasized the “cultural power of the city of Mérida”, of which these activities are an example of it. “Mérida has enormous potential, we are the Mérida brand in terms of culture, we have great producers, actors and actresses”, in reference to the companies involved in this alternative programming.
More theatrical programming in the streets of Mérida
The Festival still has the TAPTC school? Theater to entrust the direction of this programming Augustus in Meridawhich contributes to revitalizing the city’s monuments and sites, such as the Temple of Diana, the Portico of the Forum and the Pontezuelas Street Baths, returning classical Greco-Latin culture to these settings during the months of July and August, and also extending the festival to other neighborhoods of the city further away from the center.
Thus, we will see theater titles such as Medusa, The Charms of Guilt, Casina, The Eumenides, Golfus, Tiresias (Metamorphosis 1), 50,000 pesetas, Medea y punished.
Cinema Aestas: film sessions at the Forum Porch
And, within the programming Summer Cinemacoordinated this year by David Garrido, will be screened at the Pórtico del Foro every Monday from July 4 to August 15 the films Petite maman, Language Lessons, Cinco Lobitos, Hive (Beehive), Ama, On a dock in Normandy y Delicious. “These are very recent and contemporary films and highlight different aspects of women trying to cover different themes”, said the coordinator of the cycle, David Garrido. “We will find films in which women fighters appear, also themes that concern us all in these times and that are, in some way, related to the wars we are currently experiencing and the heteropatriarchal and macho vision that concerns us”,
family theater: (Many more) Heroes and heroines
This year our now classic storytellers from (Many more) Heroes and heroines, which will offer children three new stories inspired by Greco-Latin mythology with the aim of bringing classical culture closer to children and spreading values among young viewers. The activity will take place every Sunday from July 3 to August 21 in the Plaza de España in Mérida.
“This year we have opted to guide the shows towards an unconventional mythology that has nothing to do with monsters with dark souls. The viewers will discover throughout the works that destiny is not written, but that we are the ones who shape our own future. It is a way of approaching classical mythology in a didactic and playful way”, explained the director and head of the Las 4 Esquinas company, Esteban García Ballesteros.
Parades: The Passions of Zeus
This year we have the parade The Passions of Zeus, an extraordinary character, god of gods, much more powerful than most of the gods of antiquity and certainly than any of the current gods of today. This parade, a co-production of the Mérida Festival and Culture in my Heels, with a cast of 10 actors-actresses with stilts, dancers, music and lots of color, will tour the streets of Mérida on Saturdays from July 2 to August 20. In Medellin, Friday, July 22.
Its director, Ana García, explained that it is “a parade that enters through the eyes, we have taken care of the costumes and we have also produced specific music that feeds on this deep mythological theme”.
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