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The “Films” section offers a first-class lineup of movies for today at Sala 1 of the Centro Cultural San Martín. Romeo Castellucci’s Inferno-Purgatorio-Paradiso trilogy, premiered at the Festival d’Avignon in 2009 and freely based on Dante’s “Divine Comedy”, will be showcased in the afternoon. Screenings start at 4 PM with “Inferno”, the first part of the trilogy in which, according to Catalonian critic Octavi Martí, “Castellucci has achieved it in his own genius and arguable way: through poetry-based theatre. Castellucci says ‘he doesn’t know how to adapt poetry to the stage because theatre is itself poetry,’ what allows him not to pronounce a single verse in the entire performance.” The second and third parts, “Purgatorio – Paradiso”, will be screened at 6 PM. At the end of the screenings, the acclaimed Italian dramatist will answer questions from the attending audience. Later comes the documentary “Marina Abramovic. The Artist Is Present” at 8.30 PM, on the life and work of the provocative and risk-taking Serbian performer, who uses her own body as a vehicle for art. Tickets for these outstanding films can be picked up at the box office (a maximum of 2 per person) 2 hours before show time.

Today at 6.30 PM, the stunning choral work by Congolese dramatist Dieudonné Niangouna, performed by the company Les Bruits de la Rue, will be staged once again at the comfortable Anfiteatro de Parque Centenario. In his creation, Niangouna uses his expressive, hybrid and vivid language to create a mechanism to fight against injustice. In this way, he uses his theatre to reflect the violence and anger in the streets of Congo. With regards to his production, the African actor and director has said, “It’s simple. I just put some people in the space. And then they can fight amongst each other to prove that they are worthy to be called actors. In this way, everyone contributes in his or her own unique way.” Tickets to see this magnificent production can be picked up (a maximum of 2 per person) 2 hours before show time.

Today at 6.30 PM at the Anfiteatro de Parque Centenario, “Shéda” – the monumental production by Congolese playwright Dieudonné Niangouna – will be staged by the company Les Bruits de la Rue. The creation was first performed last June at Amsterdam’s Holland Festival and then dazzled the audience at the Festival d’ Avignon (where it was staged in a natural landscape, the Boulbon Quarry, in the suburbs of the French city). During 4 hours (yes, four!), characters will embody fallen gods from time immemorial, who after an apocalyptic event have returned to this world as ghosts or dreamlike apparitions. “The story is like a collection of voices, the dialogues revolving around their mutual physical and verbal conflicts. The monologues are like wild cries, as from a frightened animal hiding in its lair,” wrote journalist Rosslyn Hyams on the website of Radio France International. Important: this show requires a ticket for admission: a maximum of two tickets will be given out per person two hours before the performance.

Today at 2 PM at the Meeting Point – Salón Real (Sarmiento 1272), an open discussion on “New Latin American Dramaturgy” will take place, featuring actors and playwrights Roberto Suárez (Uruguay), Luisa Pardo and Gabino Rodriguez (México), Romina Paula and Sergio Boris (Argentina), with director Alejandro Ullúa as the moderator. An hour later, at Sala 1 of the Centro Cultural San Martín, the Festival’s “Films” section will showcase “Tambours sur la digue” at 4 PM (based on the work by Hélène Cixous, about an imminent flood in the year 1000 in a fictional Asian country), “La tragedie d´Hamlet” at 6.30 PM (a film by Peter Brook based on his production of Shakespeare’s play) and “Brook par Brook” at 9 PM (a documentary-portrait of Peter Brook made by his son, Simon). For these screenings, a maximum of 2 tickets per person will be available for pickup 2 hours before show time.

The company founded and directed by dancer Moira Finucane and dramatist Jackie Smith is legendary in Australian theatre; it has performed worldwide and garnered awards, praise and admiration all around. Now, it is time for Buenos Aires to taste the exquisite mix of provocation and joyfulness that is “Glory Box”, coming to Latin America for the first time. “There are only three things you need to work with us. Talent, in huge abundance; hard work; and to really love the audience,” said Moira Finucane with regards to the reasons for creating this singular multidisciplinary group of artists. This exciting combination of cabaret, circus and disco will be presented during the Festival from Tuesday 15 to Saturday 19 at 10.30 PM, and on Sunday 20 at 8 PM, at La Trastienda Club. Tickets for this show are on sale on this website or can be purchased in person at the box office of the following theatres: San Martín (Av. Corrientes 1530), Regio (Av. Córdoba 6056), Presidente Alvear (Av. Corrientes 1659) and CCC 25 de Mayo (Av. Triunvirato 4444), every day from 11 AM to 7 PM.

The Festival is in full bloom, so here are some recommended activities and shows with free admission for tomorrow, Thursday. For instance, among diverse open meetings, a discussion on “New Latin American Dramaturgy” will take place at 2 PM at the Meeting Point – Salón Real (Sarmiento 1272), featuring Uruguayan Roberto Suárez, Mexican Luisa Pardo and Gabino Rodriguez, and Argentine Romina Paula and Sergio Boris, with director Alejandro Ullúa as the moderator. Later, the day’s film programming at sala 1 of the Centro Cultural San Martín will offer “Tambours sur la digue” at 4 PM, “La tragedie d´Hamlet” at 6.30 PM and “Brook par Brook” at 9 PM. Tickets to see these films can be picked up 2 hours before the screening at the venue’s box office (a maximum of 2 per person). And also tomorrow, one of the most singular shows of this ninth edition will start at 6.30 PM at the Anfiteatro de Parque Centenario (with additional performances on Friday and Saturday at the same time) – “Shéda”, by Congolese dramatist Dieudonné Niangouna (photo), performed by the company Les Bruits de la Rue. Presented as a "choral odyssey", partly theatrical, partly musical, the play leads performers to a place of shelter after the “apocalypse”, where they will try to redeem their humanity by sharing personal stories and memories. Tickets for this spectacle, a maximum of 2 per person, can be picked up at the venue 2 hours before show time.

On Sunday, Oct 13 at 7 PM at Sala Martín Coronado of the Teatro San Martín, “La canción de la Tierra / La consagración de la primavera” will be performed by the San Martín Theatre Contemporary Ballet as a premiere for this year’s Festival. These pieces have been especially selected by Argentine director and choreographer Wainrot, who explains, “Gustav Mahler’s ‘The Song of the Earth’ is a wonderful composition laid out in six separate movements… It is an unusually beautiful and emotionally-charged, dramatic musical piece, which inspired my choreographic version. ‘The Rite of Spring’ was conceived by great Russian composer Igor Stravinsky: my work is a constant ritual of spirituality, birth, death and love between men and women. With this show, the Contemporary Ballet joins the celebration of the 100th anniversary of Stravinsky’s piece, premiered in 1913.” Tickets for this outstanding show are on sale on this website and on-site at the San Martín, Regio, Presidente Alvear and CCC Teatro 25 de Mayo theatres, every day from 11 AM to 7 PM.

The Deutsches Theater Berlin, one of Europe’s most renowned theatrical institutions, comes to the Festival to present “Diebe” (Thieves), directed by Andreas Kriegenburg and featuring an outstanding cast. According to author Dea Loher, the play portrays those scenes from the main characters’ seemingly ordinary life, in which “everyday experiences become essential and are worth telling precisely because they might seem meaningless.” In this way Loher weaves together the different episodes; the characters bump into each other in different constellations and then meet again in surprising ways. Director and set designer Andreas Kriegenburg mounts these humorous and dark stories from everyday life on a wonderful versatile set, which resembles a gigantic windmill wheel. Each turn of the wheel leads actors to new interactions with the ever-changing set. This amazing show will be performed on Friday, Oct 18 and Saturday, Oct 19 at 6.30 PM, and on Sunday, Oct 20 at 4 PM at Sala Martín Coronado of the Teatro San Martín. Tickets can be purchased online on this website or in person at the San Martín, Regio, Presidente Alvear and CCC Teatro 25 de Mayo theatres, every day from 11 AM to 7 PM.

En medio de la euforia del Festival, una noticia trajo un manto de tristeza: murió el maestro Patrice Chéreau. Para los que amamos esta actividad, se fue un hombre imprescindible. Revolucionó la opera con su osada lectura de Wagner, fue un notable director de cine, un impresionante director teatral y un gran actor. Lo habíamos programado en el FIBA pasado y debió cancelar porque se le había desatado la enfermedad.

The exhibition titled “The Theatrical Spaces of Juan Carlos Gené, by Set Designer Carlos Di Pasquo”, open from 10 AM to 8 PM until Sunday, October 20 at the photography gallery of the CCC Teatro 25 de Mayo (Av. Triunvirato 4444, Villa Urquiza), encompasses Di Pasquo’s stage design projects commissioned by notable director and playwright Juan Carlos Gené between 1991 and 2011 (when he staged "Hamlet", photo). The collection includes sketches, photos and scale models that reveal the complex and conflictive relationship between the director and the set designer over two decades. The exhibition was produced by the Institute of Scenographic Studies of the Universidad Nacional del Centro de la Provincia de Buenos Aires, and curated by Marcelo Jaureguiberry.