Maniganses

  • ManiganSes—Festival Internationale des Arts de la Marionette 
  • Blaise Gagnon, directeur général 
  • Artistic director: Éric Chalifour
  • Mid-September, held biennially
  • 3865, rue du Roi-Georges, C.P. 503. Jonquière, QC G7X 7W3 Canada
  • www.maniganses.com
  • Tél. : 418 695-4649 ou 1 888 PANTINS (726-8467) Téléc. :  418 695-2873
  • Courriel : info@maniganses.com Marionnette géante
  • Canada’s only international puppet festival, ManiganSes—Festival internationale des Arts de la Marionette, brings together puppet artists from various Canadian provinces and other world regions to the Quebec region of Saguenay. More than a dozen companies representing nearly every continent put on performances for local residents and puppetry enthusiasts from all over.
  • The festival was called World Puppet Week when it was first held in 1990. Along with setting up performances, event organizers offered workshops and exhibitions and provided networking opportunities, components that remain part of the six-day festival today.
  • During the 1990s, the festival attracted the general population with entertaining outdoor shows featuring giant puppets. In 2006, the festival adopted its present name, and moved its date from its traditional slot in July to September so that it would held in conjunction with an autumn cultural festival held in the Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean region. Many of the 51 performances that took place that year were staged at an outdoor venue, the Parc de la Rivière-aux-Sables, in the town of Jonquière.