Puppetring » Entries tagged with "Cengiz Ozek"
500 YEARS OF KARAGÖZ, by Cengiz Özek

Turkey, in 2017, is celebrating the 500th anniversary of the character of Karagöz, the hero of Ottoman folk shadow theatre. He is a character found in all countries that lived under the Ottoman Empire. In Greece, he became Karagosis, a Greek hero par excellence, with his own particular personality traits. In this article Cengiz Özek, renowned shadow player of Karagöz Theatre and director of the International Puppet Festival in Istanbul, situates historically this endearing tradition; a tradition that goes back 500 years and which, at the present time, is experiencing a … Read entire article »
Filed under: Books, Magazines and Exhibitions, Featured Article, History and traditions
The 17 İstanbul’s International Puppet Festival

The İstanbul’s International Puppet Festival, directed and led by actor and shadow player Cengiz Özek and coordinated by Stefan Carelius, reaches its 17th edition with a program consisting of 70 performances by a total of 30 companies from 15 countries, with a special focus on Shakespeare’s 450th birthday and the 600th year of Turkish-Polish relations. Scheduled from Oct. 16 to 26 in different locations across İstanbul, the Festival welcomes South Korea, Kazakhstan and Belarus for the … Read entire article »
Filed under: Festivals, News, Performances
“Karagöz Plays”, by Cengiz Özek

To satisfy the requests received to publish the papers presented at the “Symposium Punch: Between Myth, Tradition and contemporaneity” (21, 22 and 23 November 2013, at the Theatre Institute of Barcelona, organized by the magazine Puppetring see here), and having already published the English version of Karim Dakroub the shadow theater in the Arab world (see articles here), that the presentation by Cengiz Özek, Karagöz Master and director of the International Puppet Festival of Istanbul. People … Read entire article »
Filed under: Books, Magazines and Exhibitions, History and traditions, News
News from the Istanbul International Puppet Festival

To talk about Istanbul Puppet Festival is to talk about Cengiz Özek, its artistic director. Sixteen years of thinking about the city from the perspective of the puppets, and thinking about puppets looking at them through Istanbul. It was a coincidence that the first show that I saw today was “The Magic Tree” by Cengiz Özek, and because I already know the show very well, I asked to see it from back stage. I must also … Read entire article »
Filed under: Books, Magazines and Exhibitions, Front page, History and traditions, Puppeteers
The 16 Istanbul International Puppet Festival has begun

The 16 Istanbul International Puppet Festival these days has begun. The program is rich in shows and events held in parallel: workshops, lectures, films … The companies come from many different countries: Spain, Holland, England, Czech Republic, Italy, Mexico, Norway, Romania, Greece, Hungary, France and, of course, Turkey. A festival thus very complete and attractive, which takes place in many different theaters of the city.The interested can find information on the following website:http://www.kuklaistanbul.com/ We reproduce here … Read entire article »
The voyages of Karagöz across the world

The activity of shadow player master Ozek Cengiz is really extraordinary. Besides organizing the Istanbul Puppet Festival, Ozek has just premiered a significant co-production with the Taiyuan Puppet Theatre Company. As we said in an article published on 19 May (see here), “The story starts with a shadow puppeteer in modern day Istanbul who finds a mysterious text written in Chinese which reads: “To the East and to the West, between man and shadow, the … Read entire article »
Filed under: Festivals, News, Performances, Veteran Puppeteers, Videos
‘Shadows of Love’

This year’s Taiwan International Festival of the Arts opened with ‘Shadows of Love’, a unique three-way collaboration between the local Taiyuan Puppet Theatre Company, the Cengiz Ozek Shadow Theatre of Istanbul and the Beijing Shadow Puppet Theatre Company. The show mixes shadow puppets, actors, acrobats, music, film and animation. The story starts with a shadow puppeteer in modern day Istanbul who finds a mysterious text written in Chinese which reads: “To the East and to the … Read entire article »
Filed under: Front page, Performances
Lebanon-Egypt Spring Festival going on!

These days, the theatre and music Spring Festival is being held. (See the program here.) This is celebrated simoultaneously in Egypt and Lebanon, in the Egyptian cities of Cairo, Alexandria, Minya, and Assiut, and in Lebanon at the Horsh and the Sunflower Theatre in Beirut and Beit El Fan in Tripoli. The opening of this festival was by Cengiz Özek, from Turkey, with his show ‘Garbage Monster’. Özek is one of the most acclaimed shadow … Read entire article »
Filed under: Festivals