Valentina Valentini

Meetings with the public to make and manipulate wood puppets

Entering the magical world of puppetry, a multidisciplinary art that touches on writing, acting, music and fine arts, allows to free expression, develop an imagination and express it.

Each participant makes a puppet from various recycled materials. The emphasis is on expressiveness, lightness and manoeuvrability. An introduction to the puppeteer's game and a demonstration of the work carried out with the characters can be scheduled in the final sessions.

A quotation is available on request via the  contact form.

Download the pedagogical programme 

Puppets made by the participants of the workshop held at the Accorderie du Grand Belleville.

Puppets made by adults with disabilities from Simon de Cyrène organization

Excerpt from the Simon de Cyrène association's newspaper "Ensemble" n° 3 June 2018

Puppets made by the participants in the TAP (Temps d'Animation Périscolaire) workshops in schools in the 17-19-20 arrondissements of Paris.

Meetings with families to make, manipulate and create a papier mâché puppet show.

The children first choose which type of character to build: animal or human. Then, with recycled materials, they model, decorate and dress the hobbyists to finally manipulate them behind a castelet through improvisation exercises. Workshop can be carried out in 1, 2 or 3 sessions depending on the number of participants.

Parents / children workshop for the construction of articulated silhouetted puppets in colored cardboard, Les Mureaux, July 25, 2021

She was born and raised in the south of Italy. One day in 1998, she took the train to Paris to partecipate in an international demonstration against the war in Kosovo. She’s been living in Paris since then. There, she discovered drama and street arts festivals, cinema, photography, music... She enrolled at Paris 8 University to study cinema and she completed her studies with a Master’s degree. Meanwhile she trained in creation of puppets, working regularly on various artistic projects such as the making of an animation film with articulated characters Kitsch Kong and the direction of a puppet workshop for the town of Paris.

After graduating as a film programmer, Valentina Valentini worked in various fields as video editor, cameraman, in charge of astronomy film collections at the Observatoire de Paris and then documentary movies on art at the Centre Pompidou.

During her free time, between two films, two editing, she continues making puppets.

One day in 2015, she decides to leave the professional world of cinema to dedicate herself entirely to the puppet arts. She joins the team of puppeteers of Manipulés du lundi at La Nef Manufacture d’Utopie, then goes to Naples to meet and train with Bruno Leone, before working with Diego Stirman for a year on the technical direction of his shows and the construction of latex puppets.

In 2017 she produces her first puppet show Imbroglio with the help of director Anne Carrard of Les Anges Mi-chus and of Diego Stirman’s scenographic design team.

In 2018 she joined the annual professional puppeteer training course provided by the Théâtre aux mains nues where she discovered the work of various artists such as Samuel Beck, Alice Laloy, Mathieu Enderlin, Claire Heggen...

Hired by various compagnies and associations such as La fabrique des histoires, Le collectif Fokus, Noël aux Halles, Simon de Cyrène, the Montessori School of the 11 arrondissement, Môm’artre, she leads puppet workshops for people with disabilities, elderly people and children.

In 2020 she created the show The Pulcinella’s song, inspired by the canvases of guarattelle, traditional Neapolitan puppet showses and is the artistic director of the puppet theatre company Les abougazelles cent têtes.