5. edition of the festival
25. – 27. 9.2020
The topic of the 5th year of the festival was closeness vs. distance in the time of the corona-crisis. Art creates understanding.
The topic of the 5th year of the festival was closeness vs. distance in the time of the corona-crisis. Art creates understanding.
Traditional festival prize of this edition went to
Džumelec
Umami Dancetheatre
Ján Markoš
Ponorka
Special award
Jiří Suchý a Jitka Molavcová & Divadlo SEMAFOR
The fifth annual edition of AMPLIFIER, returning to its original autumn date became a true managerial challenge due to the ever-shifting rules and regulations of organizing public events. But it turned out magically!
The anniversary edition was a full-fledged three-day event with 25 programmes with 75 artists from 7 European countries, and included 4 Slovak premieres. And there was no shortage of viewers, either.
As one of the few, AMPLIFIER decided to persevere and let the festival take place despite the overall chaos. It was possible to secure various exceptions for foreign artists, who travelled to the festival with negative PCR-tests, and exceptions were also in place for Czech artists. It was one of the reasons why the festival was able to introduce the famous Theatre Semafor with Jiří Suchý and Jitka Molavcová for the first time ever in Banská Štiavnica after several years of effort, as well as The Theatre Goose on a String and the expert and European cabaret song aficionado, professor Přemysl Rut.
For the first time, the festival introduced BUSKERS ̶ foreign street artists who, chosen based on an open call, strengthened the genius loci of the streets and cafés of Štiavnica. The atmosphere of the event was strongly freshened up by the Clown health unit, which handed out healthy laughter and merrily watched over following all the hygienic regulations.
The second edition of the Czecho-Slovak competition for supporting new cabarets, SKETCH UP, featuring a great clown band and duo of hosts. The winner was the new-found Prague band Ponorka, whose full-length programme is already anticipated for the AMPLIFIER programme for the following year.
For the second time, the French-Italian group Mattatoio Sospeso visited the festival, this time, with the romantic acrobatic show OUT! An amazing interactive improvisation with the crowd was conducted by the Argentinian artist El Goma. The AMPLION ARGENTUM prize in the New Cabaret was awarded to Erik Sikora, a.k.a. Džumelec (SK) for his performative lecture for adults, EXPLAINER, and the CONCERT AGAINST ADULTHOOD for children.
In the Street art category, the prize was accepted by the Spanish duo Umami Dancetheatre (ES/FR) with their acrobatic-dance performance BITTER-SWEET about understanding, and in the category Civically engaged production, JÁN MARKOŠ (SK) earned his award by the interactive lecture with a quiz about critical thought THE POWER OF REASON, which enjoyed a very significant interest from the viewers.
The organizers also awarded a special award for life-long achievements in the field of cabaret to the Theatre SEMAFOR (CZ).
The 5th annual edition has shown how important it is to spread understanding among people and how art stands as a great means to do so. The receiver becomes inspired, is able to relax, to be entertained, but also , their mental health is enriched ̶ that is why art is a matter of life and death!
We would like to thank everyone who visited, and thereby supported the fifth AMPLIFIER. We also thank our selfless donors who understand the need for quality culture for the life in the region.
