Bhubaneswar: The four-day storytelling festival, BhuFeSto of .FEST began with enthusiastic participation of residents of Bhubaneswar, young and old alike, on Saturday.
On first day of the festival at IG Park, renowned American storyteller Antonio Rocha rendered his mime performances and oral storytelling in English, which focused on tales with animal characters. A passionate storyteller, Nupur Agarwal narrated tales using 900-year-old Japanese storytelling technique known as Kamishi Bai, which combines visual and verbal components.
Odia folklore and grandparents’ tales were told by Kuna Tripathy, a well-known storyteller and anchor. During the narration of his own self-written Hindi stories, Neelesh Mishra, a widely respected Hindi storyteller, actively engaged with the audience.
Talking about his experience at the BhuFeSto, Antonio said, “I have many topics to talk about as I have been doing this for over 30 years. For the audience today, I told some folk tales which are good entertainment with a good lesson. Everyone here is a fantastic host, the city is wonderful, the festival was wonderfully organiaed and the facilities are amazing.”
Reviving the wonderful memories of bedtime stories, BhuFeSto, which is curated by Sujit Mohapatra, founder of Bakul Foundation, will continue for three more days.
International and national professionals will perform at the Kala Bhoomi, IG Park, Buddha Jayanti Park, and APJ Abdul Kalam Park. Four storytelling sessions are conducted simultaneously every day from 2.30 pm to 7.30 pm in these parks.
