59th PIF, International Puppet Theatre Festival
One of Europe's oldest puppet festivals returns to Zagreb with performances for children and adults across several city stages.
Photo: Vhorvat / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0
About this event
One of Europe's oldest puppet festivals returns to Zagreb with performances for children and adults across several city stages.
PIF Zagreb 2026: 11 to 17 September, and much of it needs no language- Date
- September 11 – 17, 2026
Fifty-nine years of puppets, and not only for children
PIF has been running since 1968, which makes it one of the oldest puppet theatre festivals in Europe, and the 59th edition plays from 11 to 17 September 2026 on several stages across Zagreb. Half the programme is written for adults. Puppetry in this part of Europe never became a children's genre exclusively, and a week of it is the easiest way to find that out.
Where it plays
The festival uses several venues across the city rather than one house, so read the address on the ticket. Performances for children run in the afternoon, the adult programme in the evening, and the international companies bring work that does not translate into a language at all: object theatre, shadow, marionette on strings a metre long. Tickets are cheap and the halls are small.
Curated places, guides and more events for Zagreb.
More events in Croatia
Other dates worth adding to your trip.
Keep Croatia's best events close
Plan for free from home and use CroVenture while you explore.