The 79th edition of the Festival d’Avignon, taking place in July 2025, will spotlight the Arabic language. Through performances, tributes and debates, theater, dance, and music will open spaces for cultural dialogue and resist hateful discourse.
Cape Verdean choreographer Marlene Monteiro Freitas will open the 79th edition of the Festival d’Avignon next July in southeastern France, in a program that gives prominence to Arabic, described as a "language of light" and "knowledge" — one that organizers intend to celebrate in response to the "merchants of hate."
This major international theater event, running from 5 to 26 July, includes 42 productions (300 performances), of which 32 are the premieres for 2025, and 20 will be held in Avignon proper. The program is "strictly gender-balanced," according to festival director Tiago Rodrigues, who unveiled the line-up on Wednesday both in Avignon and on the festival’s social media channels.
A Choreographer to Open the Festivities
Marlene Monteiro Freitas, a key figure in contemporary dance and winner of the Silver Lion at the Venice Biennale in 2018, is this year’s featured ("complice") artist. Having trained in Lisbon and Brussels, she will launch the festival in the Cour d'honneur of the Palais des Papes with her piece Nôt, inspired by One Thousand and One Nights.
Rodrigues described her as a "powerful and moving" artist, known for crafting “visual poems and striking imagery on stage,” blending “physical intensity” bordering on fever with “a rare philosophical and conceptual density.”
Arabic, the Invited Language
“A language of light, dialogue, knowledge and transmission, Arabic is too often — in an increasingly polarized context — hijacked by the merchants of violence and hate, who link it to ideas of isolation, retreat, and fundamentalism,” said the festival director from Avignon.
“To invite it is to confront political complexity head-on, rather than dodge it — and to believe in the arts' power to create spaces for dialogue and community,” he added.
It’s also a way to "celebrate" the "fifth most spoken language in the world, and the second in France," he told AFP.
Twelve productions and events will highlight the Arabic language and culture, featuring artists such as Moroccan choreographer Bouchra Ouizguen (participatory performance), Lebanese multidisciplinary artist Ali Chahrour (dance, music, theater), Tunisian duo Selma and Sofiane Ouissi (dance), Moroccan choreographer Radouan Mriziga (dance), Franco-Iraqi director Tamara Al-Saadi (theater), Palestinian artists Bashar Murkus and Khulood Basel (theater), and Syrian playwright Wael Kadour (theater).
A musical tribute to the legendary Egyptian diva Oum Kalthoum, who passed away 50 years ago, will be presented by Lebanese musician Zeid Hamdan. The show will feature French singer Camélia Jordana, Franco-Algerian singer Souad Massi and rapper Danyl, following a debut performance at the Printemps de Bourges.
A special night called Nour will offer concerts, performances, readings, and screenings in collaboration with the Institut du Monde Arabe (IMA) in Paris.
Talks, debates and "cafés of ideas" will also be held, featuring speakers such as Franco-Moroccan author Leïla Slimani, Lebanese journalist Nabil Wakim, and Palestinian writer Elias Sanbar.
A Tribute to Jacques Brel
At the Boulbon quarry, a tribute will be paid to Belgian singer Jacques Brel through a performance by Belgian choreographer Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker and French breakdancer Solal Mariotte.
A Reading Dedicated to the Pelicot Trial
In partnership with the Vienna Festival (southeastern France), playwright Servane Dècle and director Milo Rau will stage a night of readings centered on the trial surrounding the Mazan sexual assaults — a high-profile case involving Gisèle Pelicot, who was drugged for years by her husband Dominique and delivered to strangers. The case garnered international attention.
Familiar Faces and New Talents
Several renowned stage directors will return, including German director Thomas Ostermeier, presenting Ibsen’s The Wild Duck, and Swiss director Christoph Marthaler with his new 2025 work The Summit.
The festival also revives the radical theater of François Tanguy’s Théâtre du Radeau, following his death in 2022.
A milestone piece in the festival’s history, The Satin Slipper by Paul Claudel, directed by Comédie-Française director Eric Ruf, will once again take over the Cour d’honneur of the Palais des Papes.
Meanwhile, “more than half of the artists (58%) are participating for the first time,” noted Tiago Rodrigues, citing Danish choreographer Mette Ingvartsen and multidisciplinary Albanian artist Mario Banushi.
Finally, Rodrigues himself will present his latest creation La Distance, a dystopian piece where part of humanity, affected by climate change, has fled to Mars.
Notably, for the first time in 25 years, the "In" and "Off" festivals will kick off on the same day.
With AFP
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