Cambodian circus Phare Ponleu Selpak has announced the return of the Tini Tinou circus festival later this year after having to cancel it when it was last scheduled to take place in 2020.

The festival is a celebration of contemporary circuses and circus arts from around the world which was founded in 2003 and has been held at irregular intervals over the years depending on the amount of funding required and the availability of other circuses to participate .

“We are delighted that Phare – with the support of Battambang Province Governor Sok Lou – can once again host the Tini Tinou International Circus Festival after the cancellation of the 2020 edition due to the pandemic,” said the director of Phare Ponleu Selpak, Osman Khawaja.

“I believe the festival will be held primarily outdoors, although some events may take place under our marquee or other circus arenas,” Khawaja told the Post.

Tini Tinou means “here and there” in Khmer and it is an international celebration of the circus, its culture and its history which will bring together artists from Cambodia, Thailand, Taiwan and France for the 2022 edition.

There have been 10 Tini Tinou festivals organized by Phare Ponleu Selpak – first with the French Institute – but from 2008 this is a Phare production only, with the last festival taking place in 2016 before the canceled rerun of 2020.

Khawaja said the festival was initially only held in Battambang and later expanded to Phnom Penh and then Siem Reap for festivals that took place in 2014, 2015 and 2016.

The 2016 Tini Tinou International Circus Festival brought together circus troupes from France, Australia, Canada, Nepal, Indonesia, Afghanistan and Cambodia, who all worked together to bring out their collective performances and individuals in the streets and on stage indoors.

This 12-day festival was held in Phnom Penh, Battambang and Siem Reap, and in addition to various performances by the international troupe, Phare also launched its latest show around 2016 titled Influence.

The 2018 edition was canceled due to financial difficulties, but the festival was postponed and was supposed to take place in 2020, but the new coronavirus arrived and closed all or most international borders for long periods as well as orders to stay indoors at all times – some places lock down neighborhoods and other places lock down entire cities or countries.

For the relaunched festival this year, artists will gather in the city of Battambang to perform and hold an open dialogue forum for their circus arts students to inspire them to pursue their dreams through the arts, according to Phare.

“Organizing festivals is part of Phare’s strategy to bring the arts to the people and engage with the community to build cultural identity around a common heritage,” says Khawaja.

The Battambang Festival will be held from May 29 to June 3, 2022 for the 11th edition, serving as a platform that artists can use to share experiences, participate in workshops, inspire young people, engage with the local community and promote the arts in Cambodian society, which helps the nation by bringing unity and understanding through shared values.

“We hope festivals like this will raise the profile of Battambang as we strive to make it the creative cultural and artistic hub of Cambodia,” Khawaja said.

He said Battambang is the ideal city for festivals given its size, large population of creative professionals and availability of artists to participate. He said he hoped more festivals like Tini Tinou would come to Battambang and help it reclaim its historic title as the true home of art and culture in Cambodia.

Including all circus exchanges and workshops, puppet and circus parades, performances and concerts, there are around 150 artists involved in the festival, 85 of whom are circus artists and the rest are a wide mix of dancers, musicians, singers and visual artists. according to Khawaja.

costumes. Jeremy Montessuis”/>

The acrobats of Phare Ponleu Selpak perform in one of the many breathtaking circus extravaganzas that use circus arts to tell dramatic stories amid stunning sets and costumes. Jeremy Montessuis

The six-day festival will feature different circus performances every night at the Phare Ponleu Selpak campus, where festival-goers can also take part in arts activities, attend free performances and sample local culinary delights, according to Phare.

This year the festival will again only be held in Battambang for several reasons, one of them being that there was little time to plan a festival spanning three cities and it would have took a lot more money and support to achieve this.

“Even for the current festival, we don’t have big sponsors this year. Foreign artists can travel here and perform mainly thanks to the support of their own country’s culture ministries.

“Without the support of these big sponsorships, it is too expensive to organize a festival involving hundreds of artists in three different cities,” said Khawaja. “Despite the short preparation time since the country reopened, we will ensure there is plenty of fun and shared laughter for everyone.”

This year, the festival was helped in the organization and coordination of the event by La Région Occitanie, the International Organization of La Francophonie and the Ministry of Culture of Taipei as well as Phare Ponleu Selpak.

Khawaja said it was the perfect opportunity to start receiving international troupes and artists again and that they would hopefully encourage regular tourists to return to Battambang.

Phare faced an acute financial crisis during the pandemic because its funding relied heavily on ticket sales to global travelers and tourists attending its performances.

The financial losses have left Phare in a state of emergency that could lead to cuts to both its regular school services and its arts education services, which will deprive hundreds of disadvantaged Cambodians of access to proper education. or life opportunities offered to them by training in the arts.

Nonetheless, they are determined that their arts programs, circus school, regular public school and social support work will all survive the Covid-19 crisis no matter what.

During the pandemic, Phare Circus and its Battambang-based non-profit Cambodian art school made history by setting the Guinness World Record for the “longest circus performance of all time”.

The festival will kick off on Sunday May 29 with its Circus Puppet Parade. Oyen Rodriguez

Phare’s 90 circus performers successfully staged a 24-hour non-stop circus performance to set the world record on March 7-8.

The performers took turns taking the stage, ensuring that there were no repetitions of acts or songs and they were able to take breaks between their performances thanks to this rotation system.

Since 1994, Phare Ponleu Selpak (PPS) – which stands for The Splendor of the Arts – has empowered children, youth and communities through artistic, educational, social and community outreach programs.

Phare Ponleu Selpak was founded by eight Cambodians who were evacuated from Phnom Penh by the Khmer Rouge but managed to survive the perils of Democratic Kampuchea until they all ended up living together in the Site 2 refugee camp .

Phare aims to improve the development of their local communities and now the association welcomes more than 1,000 students all over the country through different classes and workshops.

Tini Tinou kicks off on Sunday, May 29 with a captivating puppet and circus parade through the heritage neighborhoods of Battambang.

The week’s festivities will end on Friday June 3 with a final concert by artists from Cambodian independent hip-hop and alternative music label Klapyahandz.

Going forward, the Tini Tinou International Circus Festival will hopefully be held on a regular schedule every two years with the next event in 2024, with plans to alternate years with the S’Urban Art Festival. Art, which was also launched by Phare in 2019 and is planning its next edition in 2023.

People can book their tickets via: [email protected] or by calling 077-93-554-0413

For more information on Phare, you can visit their website http://www.phareps.org or their Facebook page: @phareponleuselpak