Int’l Circus Festival to Hit Three Cities

In May, circus artists from Phnom Penh, Battambang City and Siem Reap City will come together for the ninth Tini Tinou International Circus Festival, which was relaunched last year after being canceled in 2011 for financial reasons.

This year’s program will include artists from France, Switzerland, Taiwan and Vietnam, and take place over 10 days in the three cities, starting in Phnom Penh on May 7.

The event aims “to put Cambodia on the [circus] map of the region,” said Huot Dara of the NGO Phare Ponleu Selpak’s professional circus company in Siem Reap City.

The Tini Tinou festival was launched in Cambodia in 2004 by the French Cultural Center—now the Institut Francais—but canceled in 2011 due to budget cuts and donor withdrawals.

Restarted in 2014 with the help of corporate sponsors, the performances in Phnom Penh last year attracted more than 1,000 people per night, leading Phare and Cambodia’s National Circus School to hold Tini Tinou again this year.

They plan to start the festival with a parade through Phnom Penh and will invite all Cambodian circus artists to take part, Mr. Dara said.

[email protected]

Related Stories

Latest News