Documentary

Here are a few short documentaries, which have been chosen to provide a taste of puppetry documentary films, which shall be uploaded to this page in the upcoming weeks. Stay tuned for more inspiring content!

The Puppeteer

"The Puppeteer" - The University of Utah's Department of Theatre opened 'Avenue Q' at the Babcock Theatre. It's a bawdy musical that features puppets dealing with decidedly adult themes like sex, racism and being broke. Master puppeteer and actor Jennifer Barnhart was brought out to Utah to train the actors. Barnhart was an original cast member of the Broadway production of Avenue Q.
Man with Puppet
"Man With Puppet"  - This charming short documentary, by Alexander Monelli, tells the story of Robert Brock and his Hole In The Wall Puppet Theatre in Lancaster, PA in the United States.
Man with Puppet (Deleted Scenes)

These clips are the deleted scenes from "Man With Puppet."
Show your support for Robert Brock and his Hole In The Wall Puppet Theatre by visiting their site here! 

Hyundai Puppets

Part of Hyundai's New Thinkers Index, this campaign is about new thinking and new possibilities. 
For this short documentary we follow puppeteering group, Folded Feather as they are set the task to build two large-scale puppets using only car parts. They have only two weeks before a performance at the Hyundai HQ in Germany.
Puppetry in the Colombian Circus

This is a short film of the puppetry workshops and rehearsals led by Oliver James Hymans at the Escuela Nacional Circo Para Todos (National Circus School Circus for Everyone) based in Cali, Colombia. The rehearsals formed part Lotos Collective's 'El Ensueño del Dorado' (The Waking-dream of El Dorado), based partially on the search of the gypsies in the epic Colombian novel '100 years of Solitude' by Gabriel García Márquez and the legend of El Dorado.
Working with graduating artists and their circus numbers, Lotos Collective, have developed a work of contemporary circus in 3 acts with 16 performers, fusing puppetry, magical set changes, and breath-taking circus acts. For more information about their work, click here.
A Life in Puppetry

A documentary on British puppeteer, Mak Wilson, who has been a puppeteer, who was trained by his heroes, Jim Henson and Frank Oz and worked on iconic classics like Babe, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and Dinosaurs.
Traditional Thai Puppetry

The group of Thai puppetry shows at Artist House in Klongbanglung community.  Traditional Thai Puppet Theatre, known as Nattayasala Hun Lakhon Lek—is Thailand’s first institution dedicated to Thai theatrical puppetry performance, which has revived and preserved its traditions and performance in Thai society; a modern society engulfed with influences from western cultures. Among these changes and external cultural influences, the uniqueness, traditions, and aesthetic values of Thai theatrical puppetry have been successfully sustained. Therefore, the present research on the survival and adaptation of the Traditional Thai Puppet Theatre explores the history and development of Thai theatrical puppetry, the factors helping the survival of the art in the globalised world, as well as its adaptation to the changing society.
Phantom Limb
Jess & Erik are an interesting duo that we first met early in 2013 on a previous trip to New York. So interesting in fact, that we promised them and ourselves that the next time we came back the first thing we would do is shoot their story.

Jess & Erik have been together for 16 years and live and work in the Brooklyn borough of East Williamsburg. Their studio space is full of character – an unwitting film set. However, despite Jess describing the area they live in as ‘dangerous’, it is clear that East Williamsburg is in an exciting flux of creative gentrification.

In a world that is constantly trying to tie people together socially in the digital domain – ‘Phantom Limb’ aim to pull at the heartstrings of both children and adult audiences alike in the physical world. In a nutshell, they innovate, produce and perform theatrical puppetry to an exceptional standard. It didn’t take long for us to appreciate the sheer level of skill and expert knowledge required to engineer each marionette from scratch and then bring it to life on stage.

It is this talent and dedication to their creations that leads us to believe it won’t be long before opportunities arise that thrust them into national consciousness.

If you get the chance, we highly recommend you catch one of their rare international tours and experience them for yourselves. ‘Phantom Limb’ is a wonderful example that art in its purest physical form still exists, despite the virtual realms we may inhabit all too frequently these days.
Warhorse - The Puppeteers

From South Africa, via London, comes Warhorse, the extraordinarily successful theater and puppetry collaboration between Cape Town’s Handspring Puppet Company and the Royal National Theatre of Great Britain. Warhorse is based on the celebrated novel by British writer Michael Morpurgo. Set in World War I, the novel speaks of the immense slaughter of soldiers on all sides told from the perspective of an English farm horse.