La Bande Passante

What La Bande Passante does

La Bande Passante is a French performing arts association (association loi 1901) founded in 2007 and headquartered in Metz, France, that develops documentary object theater — performances and installations crafted from real objects, archives, images, and testimonies. The company combines paper manipulation, live video projection, and sound design into immersive theatrical works organized around recurring creative cycles, including the Paper Worlds cycle (launched 2014), the Devenir(s) cycle (launched 2019), and newer Comics & Music and Justice/Social Body streams (launched 2023). Flagship productions include Devenir (premiered November 2022 at Théâtre de Laval), Vies de Papier (2017), and the upcoming Force Bleus (April 2026); ancillary outputs include the Devenir(s) webdocumentary platform, the Refermez ce journal book (2024), and the Le Monde à l'Intérieur documentary album (April 2024).

The company operates with an artistic and technical team of roughly fifteen people led by three co-artistic directors — founder Benoît Faivre, Tommy Laszlo (joined 2014), and Thomas Gourdy (joined 2020) — supported by an administrative manager, technical director, composer, graphic designer, illustrator, performers, and associate artists. Revenue is generated primarily through recurring conventionnement subsidies from French public institutions (DRAC Grand Est, Région Grand Est, Ville de Metz, Conseil Départemental de la Moselle and Meurthe-et-Moselle, Ville de Nancy), supplemented by project grants (ARTCENA, DICRéAM/CNC, ONDA, Agence culturelle Grand Est), ticket and performance fees at national stages and international festivals (Luxembourg, Germany), commissioned territorial projects (e.g., Scènes et Territoires), and professional training revenue from universities, art schools, libraries, and social work institutions.

Customers span national stages and CNMa venues (Le TANDEM, Le Sablier, Théâtre de Laval, Le Mouffetard, CCAM, CDN de l'Océan Indien, Kulturfabrik Esch-sur-Alzette), educational institutions (schools, lycées, Université de Lorraine), community and healthcare partners (EHPAD de Monein, municipal councils), and cultural/heritage institutions (Musée de la Faïence, Archives départementales, Musée Olympique Lausanne). Distribution is event-driven through touring networks and community-led through participatory residencies, with lightweight formats enabling performances in unequipped venues such as schools, media libraries, and museums.

Name

La Bande Passante

Legal name

La Bande Passante

Website

https://ciebandepassante.fr

Company type

Private

Founded year

2007

Operating status

Operating

Short description

La Bande Passante is a French non-profit theater company founded in 2007 in Metz that creates documentary object theater performances and installations from archives, objects, and testimonies, serving national stages, schools, communities, and international cultural venues across France, Luxembourg, and Germany.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Performing Arts

NAICS

Theater Companies and Dinner Theaters (711110), Theater Companies and Dinner Theaters (71111), Other Performing Arts Companies (711190), Performing Arts Companies (7111)

SIC

Services-Amusement & Recreation Services (7900)

akta.pro primary industry

Performing Arts Organizations (Theater, Dance, Opera, Music) (BPAGAHAB)

akta.pro secondary industries

Touring Theatre Productions (MPAGABAC), Performing Arts Centers & Presenters (Programming/Booking) (MPAGABAM)

Keywords

• Documentary theater
• Object theater
• Paper arts
• Participatory creation
• Performing arts

Headquarters

HQ city

Metz

HQ country

France

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Public Subsidies and Institutional Funding: The company receives ongoing support from DRAC Grand Est, Région Grand Est, Ville de Metz, and additional support from Conseil Départemental de Moselle and Meurthe-et-Moselle, and Ville de Nancy. This constitutes the primary financial foundation for operations.
2. Ticket Sales and Performance Revenue: Revenue generated from performances at theaters, cultural venues, and festivals across France and internationally. Performances include school shows and public presentations.
3. Project Grants and Commissioned Work: Additional funding through specific project grants from organizations including ARTCENA, DICRéAM (CNC), ONDA, and the Agence culturelle Grand Est. Also commissioned work from cultural institutions and territorial partners.
4. Professional Training and Transmission Services: Revenue from professional training programs, workshops, and educational transmission activities for students, cultural professionals, librarians, and institutions. Programs include modules on exposing books, performing archives, and documentary theater methods.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels6 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

La Bande Passante creates documentary object theater performances, participatory installations, and educational workshops built from real objects, paper archives, images, and testimonies collected through years of research. Each project combines scenic, graphic, and sound designs into lightweight formats that can be staged at equipped theaters, schools, libraries, museums, and other unequipped venues across France and internationally.

Product overview

La Bande Passante is a documentary theater company founded in 2007 and based in Metz, France, that develops artistic work around the reinvention of documentary creation. The company creates theatrical performances (including Devenir, Vies de Papier, Force Bleus, and Folk Clubs), participatory documentary installations (such as Culture Fabrique and Once Upon a Time in the East), and educational/workshop programs (Mondes de Papier workshops and professional training). The company also operates a digital platform (Devenir(s) webdocumentary) and publishes books and music albums derived from their documentary collections. Their work centers on documentary object theater, paper manipulation, archive performance, and adolescent narrative collection, with over 8,000 pages of collected writings forming the basis of various artistic outputs.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Devenir [Becoming] Documentary object theater performance exploring teenage diaries and adolescent narratives, featuring two performers (Kathleen Fortin and Maxime Kerzanet) navigating collected intimate writings and personal memories. Targeted at national stages, festivals, and schools.
• Vies de Papier Documentary theater show following the search for Christa, a young girl born in Berlin in 1933, discovered through a photo album; combines paper documents, film, and theatrical performance for national and international touring.
• Folk Clubs Flexible performance format combining talks, live music, drawn storytelling, and live video creation; presented as narrative concerts where live songs dialogue with projected images and visual manipulations. Designed to tour to equipped and unequipped venues.
• Culture Fabrique Participatory documentary installation co-created with local residents for the 40+1 anniversary of the Kulturfabrik in Esch-sur-Alzette; nearly 850 archives are printed, cut out and recomposed into three-dimensional collages.
• Once Upon a Time in the East (Il était une fois dans l'Est) Bespoke territorial creation in the Cœur de Pays Haut region collecting residents' stories on the theme of adolescence, involving middle school students, sound capsules, and illustrated testimonials.
• Devenir(s) Webdocumentary Digital platform hosting collected teenage stories, diaries, sound recordings, videos and visual creations from the Devenir(s) cycle; presented as a navigable space for exploring adolescent self-narratives.
• Refermez ce journal (Book) Published book presenting extracted diary texts from the company's collection of more than 8,000 pages of adolescent writings, compiled without commentary as a sensitive literary work.
• Le Monde à l'Intérieur (Documentary Album) Documentary music album featuring songs composed by Maxime Kerzanet from texts drawn from the company's collected teenage diaries, released as a standalone artistic output of the Devenir(s) cycle.
• Mondes de Papier Workshops Series of documentary object theater and paper cinema workshops exploring archives, albums, cards, plans, books, and herbariums; includes Vies de Papier, Villes de Papier, Jardin de Papier, Cités de Papier, and Mine de Papier.
• Devenir(s) Participatory Creations Participatory creation projects including school residencies, intergenerational correspondences, writing workshops, and territorial projects adapted to schools, media libraries, and cultural centers.
• Professional Training Programs Professional transmission programs for higher education and cultural industry professionals covering Exposer le livre, Performer l'archive, Mock Trial, scenography, object theater, and social work documentation methods.

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 8,000 pages of adolescent diaries read and catalogued
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers11 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Ten partnerships are on record, tiered core, strategic and minor.

• DRAC Grand EstcoreOthersNational public funding body providing ongoing institutional support to the company. The company is conventioned by DRAC Grand Est as part of their multi-year agreement.
• Région Grand EstcoreOthersRegional government providing ongoing institutional support. Part of the conventionnement arrangement with the company.
• Ville de MetzcoreOthersMunicipal government of Metz providing ongoing institutional support. Part of the core funding arrangement.
• Le TANDEM – Scène nationale de Douai/ArrascoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNational stage that co-produces and presents company performances including Devenir. One of the key national partners.
• Le Sablier – Centre national de la marionnettecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNational Puppetry Center that co-produced Devenir and presents company performances.
• Théâtre de Laval – Centre national de la marionnettecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNational Puppetry Center that hosted the premiere of Devenir in November 2022.
• Kulturfabrik Esch-sur-Alzette (KuFa)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCultural center in Luxembourg that co-produced Culture Fabrique and Force Bleus projects. Hosts residencies for the company.
• Scènes et TerritoirescoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerRegional cultural network in Lorraine that initiates and supports territorial projects including Once Upon a Time in the East in Cœur de Pays Haut.
• Université de Lorraine - Faculty of Law MetzstrategicStrategic or Co-development PartnerAcademic partner for Mock Trial project exploring judicial mechanisms and for Force Bleus documentary creation.
• Musée Olympique LausanneminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerInitial partner for Le Stade project focused on 1924 and 2024 Olympic Games.

Scale indicators8 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Emerging players

• PuceAndPunez: Puppetry and object theater company led by Kathleen Fortin, who is also an Associate Artist of La Bande Passante. Directly comparable in the use of puppetry, object work, and documentary material on stage.
• Compagnie 36 Éleusis: French theater company founded by Maxime Kerzanet, who is also an Associate Artist of La Bande Passante. Shares artistic DNA with La Bande Passante through Kerzanet and operates in the same French independent theater ecosystem.

Direct peers

• Paper Cinema: UK-based company that uses paper cut-outs, live camera projection, and original music to create animated narratives on stage. Directly comparable in materials (paper, projection) and theatrical form (live cinematic storytelling).
• Rimini Protokoll: Berlin-based documentary theater collective that creates performances from real-life testimonies, expert interviews, and documentary material. Most directly comparable to La Bande Passante's documentary creation methodology; explicitly cited as a past collaborator of co-artistic director Thomas Gourdy.
• 600 Highwaymen: New York-based company that creates documentary and participatory theater from real people, testimonies, and structured encounters. Comparable in its commitment to non-fiction stage work and audience-as-source methodology.
• The Civilians: US investigative theater company that develops plays from real-life interviews and documentary research. Shares La Bande Passante's core practice of building theatrical works from documentary source material and personal testimony.
• Manuel Cinema: Chicago-based company that uses paper, shadow, puppetry, and live projection to create cinematic theater without screens. Closely comparable to La Bande Passante's paper manipulation and live image projection techniques combined with documentary storytelling.
• Compagnie MAPS: French documentary theater company that creates performances from archives, testimonials, and field investigations. Operates in the same French conventionné ecosystem and shares the documentary-creation-from-reality methodology with La Bande Passante.

Broad incumbents

• Joël Pommerat: Major French theater director whose work blends documentary material, intimate narratives, and contemporary staging. Cited as a collaborator of Thomas Gourdy, and serves as a French benchmark for documentary-influenced theater at a larger scale than La Bande Passante.

Regional players

• CDN de Nancy-Lorraine / La Manufacture: National drama center (Centre Dramatique National) located in Nancy, in the same Grand Est region as La Bande Passante. Tommy Laszlo has created videos for this venue, illustrating ongoing artistic exchange and shared regional audience.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/ciebandepassante
• Instagraminstagram.com/cielabandepassante

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles12 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about La Bande Passante