What does this festival have to do with this world?

What does this festival have to do with this world?

In 2026, Alkantara is a festival that begins with an ending.

It is a space of sensuality, where bodies are drawn to one another and whirl.

Of humour — of irony and the ridiculous — used to unsettle and open up possibilities.

A place of intimacy.

A place where some things are very simple and others complex.
And where one thing can be several things at once.

Where we encounter an obscene array of masculinities: violent, patriarchal, fragile, contradictory, desired, deviant.

There are archives and images, cities, journeys, people and fictions that carry echoes of trauma, wars and colonial empires.

A collage of absurdities, small and large. Of things that make sense and things that don’t.

There are mythological figures. There are diasporic experiences. There are forms of knowledge that cannot be put into words.

A festival of many dances, from many places.
Of performance.
Of theatre without theatre. And theatre that tells stories.

And, once again, a place of chance, encounters and relationships. Through food (on stage and off), through the works of art in the museum, through parties, through the music we dance to or sing at karaoke. Through conversations that begin before the shows, or continue afterwards.

Of spaces, full or empty, that we inhabit — or realise no longer include us, and perhaps never did.

A festival where endings, beginnings and new beginnings coexist. What do we choose to hold on to as we move forward?

But above all, this is a festival of desire and curiosity. Of being drawn towards what we want to know better. Of the vertigo that brings us, with a certain fascination, closer to what we do not understand, to what we cannot accept.

Where desire also draws us towards uncomfortable places, bringing us face to face with perversity and brutality. A festival where we continue to find love. A crucial love, one that moves us, even when it seems unbearable or ridiculously out of place.

A festival that says: we will not give in to cynicism. We will not give up trying to build spaces where life can be better, where encounters are possible and bring us pleasure.

Does this festival have anything to do with you? Does it have anything to do with the city you live in? With the world you live in?

We believe it does, and that at Alkantara Festival 2026 — in its shows, performances, workshops, masterclasses, conferences, parties and nights at the meeting point — we can keep trying. We can celebrate endings and try out new beginnings, once again, together.

Shall we?


David Cabecinha
Co-artistic director
with Carla Nobre Sousa

Lisbon
08.09.2026