Synergy of creative expression through various art forms, the Timișoara International Festival of Funambulism (FIF Tm) is intended for the general public, local and international, and it brings together Romanian and European artists, but also local people from the community. The theme of the first edition is "Thread, threads, thread of water, thread of life", and the artistic concept is around the interdisciplinary co-production called "The Story of Ageb", a personification for Bega, the thread of water that runs through Timișoara and breathes the emotions of the city since 1728.
The preparation period includes a county tour with the "Familia Firescu" tightrope walk show that will publicly announce the festival, an international residency and an internship for amateurs and professional artists.
The central event of the project will take place on October 18 - 19, 2024. The illustrator Dan Ungureanu will give shape and color to the character Ageb (the mirrored Bega), in an exhibition on the two banks, and artisans from the county will contribute to the scenography. On the first day, amateurs and emerging artists will cross the Bega, to the live music of Beck Corlan. Experienced tightrope walkers, Romanian and European, will work together for 5 days in Timișoara, so that on the second evening they will stage the stories of Ageb, whose voice will be the actress Ana-Maria Ursu, to the music of Petre Ionuțescu band. Original texts will be designed by the playwright Andrei Ursu starting from the historical documentation made by the high school students, coordinated by Tamara Farcaș (Bănățean National College).
The climax will be a performance of amazing technical excellence by tightrope walker Laurence Tremblay Vu, winner of the silver medal at the "Cirque de Demain" Festival. During the project, a sustainability plan will be drawn up for the festival, as a pole of contemporary performing art in Eastern Europe.