PUF Festival
The Festival presents street musicians, pantomime, clowns, acrobats and jongleurs, with a special focus on puppetry. The festival includes premieres of new Slovene puppetry productions and presentations of prize-winning performances. Past festivals have featured performances by visiting artists and arts groups from Germany, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, France, Spain and Italy, as well as groups from Slovenia.
The Alpe Adria PUF Festival involves participation by various local cultural institutions, including Koper Theatre and PINA Primorje Information Atelier. It has regularly collaborated with festivals in Italy (Mittelfest-Valli di Natisone, Čedad, ENTE Teatrale and Burattini senza confini, FVG Videm, Alpe Adria Puppet Festival, Gorica), Austria (Cikl Cakl Šmihel) and Croatia (PIF Zagreb) as well as Slovenia (Trnfest Festival, Emonska promenada and Ana Desetnica International Street Theatre Festival from Ljubljana, Summer Pier International Puppetry Festival, Maribor, Lutke brez meja, Nova Gorica and Ulični Festival, Izola). PUF Festival co-operates also with Teatro matita, DAMU Academy in Prague and various other European puppetry schools.
In recent years the Festival has expanded its programme from its original base at Ankaran to nearby towns, including Izola, Piran, Ankaran, Hrvatini, Moretini, Dekani and Škofije. Some of the festival performances are staged again in early September for schoolchildren. In 2006 the festival also took place in Bovec and Kobarid in Goriška Region.