Organized under the support of Istanbul 2010 European Capital of Culture Agency Theatre and Performing Arts Directorate, the 12th International Puppet Festival was held on 5 to 20 May at the following venues: Institute of French Studies, Kukla Istanbul, Taksim Square, Profilo Culture Center in Mecidiyeköy, Sultanahmet Square, Caddebostan Cultural Center and Ümraniye Shopping Center.

^{This year the festival was dedicated to the memory of Prof. Dr. Metin And, a touchstone in the Turkish theater history, who provided a significant contribution to the traditional Turkish theater.}

Like previous years the festival featured modern and traditional puppet shows from various cultures along with a documentary by Larry Read on an Indonesian shadow-play artist and manufacturing and playing techniques of Karagöz by Metin Özlen the Karagöz shadow-play artist. Furthermore three separate documentary films (Shadow Master, Soul of the Shadow and Imagination) various workshops and the Mediterranean Puppet Symposium puppet were organized.

This year the festival was joined by distinguished groups coming from France, Russian Federation, Hungary, Spain, Brazil, Japan, Czech Republic, Germany, Greece, Iran, Italy and Turkey. Enriched by different techniques and insights by a program with 16 shows from 10 countries and 7 shows from 5 Turkish groups, the 12the International Puppet Festival embraced the audience with the support of Istanbul 2010 European Capital of Culture Agency.