PESTA BONEKA is an international puppet theatre festival initiated and organized by Papermoon Puppet Theatre, bringing artists and audiences together in Yogyakarta every two years since 2008.

Pesta Boneka began from a simple desire: to create a space where puppetry artists could meet, share their works, exchange ideas, and build friendships across cultures and borders.

The festival was initiated by Papermoon Puppet Theatre, an independent contemporary puppet theatre company based in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. For nearly two decades, Papermoon has developed its artistic practice while building relationships with artists and puppetry communities across Indonesia and around the world. Pesta Boneka grew naturally from these encounters and connections.

Yogyakarta itself carries a long and living relationship with puppetry. Indonesia's rich traditions of wayang—particularly shadow puppetry—have shaped generations of artists and remain an important part of the country's cultural landscape. Growing from this context, Pesta Boneka creates a meeting point between tradition and contemporary practice, between local stories and international perspectives, and between artists from different disciplines and generations.

Since its first edition in 2008, Pesta Boneka has developed its own character among international puppetry festivals. Rather than simply presenting performances, the festival is built around encounters: artists and audiences sharing spaces, conversations happening between programs, meals eaten together, ideas exchanged, and friendships continuing long after everyone returns home.

Over the years, Papermoon's international network and the growing puppetry community surrounding the festival have helped Pesta Boneka become an important platform for contemporary puppetry in Southeast Asia.

In 2026, this journey reaches its 10th edition.

For PESTA BONEKA #10, Papermoon received 106 proposals from artists across 36 countries. Following the curatorial process, we are grateful to welcome 193 artists, representing 33 groups from 24 countries, gathering together at Ruang Pana, Komplek Kampoeng Media, Sleman, Yogyakarta, Indonesia.

Under the theme HOLDING HANDS, they come not simply as performers and participants, but as one extended Pesta Boneka family—meeting one another, sharing stories, exchanging knowledge, and imagining what puppetry can become when we create and grow together.

This is Pesta Boneka: a festival built from puppetry, encounters, friendships, and the simple act of holding hands.