Photo: BFI
Belgrade Games Festival, Irish Festival and BlokadniFest are held in the capital. This means that both the Fest and the March Festival could have kept their traditional dates - if only the City Assembly had done its part on time
On Friday, March 7th, during the general strike because of which all theater events were canceled and when Serbia was without cultural programs, the 22nd Belgrade Festival of Games began.
More precisely, it was the beginning of the Introduction to the BFI, which lasted three days, and consisted of two performances of the pieces "Beitna" and "Igra nije za nas" by the Omar Razih Company "Maqamat" from Beirut. The official opening of the 22nd BFI is on Wednesday, March 13, with the dance performance "Mana" by the company "Vertigo" from Jerusalem.
Introduction to BFI
All three opening performances were in the "Balkan" cinema, which is in the immediate vicinity of Trg Republike, where there were many and very noisy protests on Friday and Saturday.
We did not manage to find out from Omar Razih whether the noise of the Protestants from the Republic Square interfered with the performance of his dance performances, especially during the performance "Igra nije za nas", which is his one-hour solo.
The BFI told us that Omar Razih left the next morning, and reminded us that he is from Beirut, where bombs fall, so vuvuzelas do not bother him at all. They also said that the "Balkan" cinema is an old building, with thick walls, so outside noise does not penetrate through them, which means that it did not bother the audience either.
Given that Omar Razih, a choreographer and performer, is one of the leading artistic figures of the Arab world and that he is welcome all over the planet, as well as that his performances are an opportunity to learn about the dance art that we know little about, it is understandable that the tickets for all three opening dates were sold out long before the BFI began.
Was it necessary?
At the beginning of last week, we tried to talk to Aya Jung, director of the Belgrade Game Festival, but despite her best intentions, she did not have time to tell the "Vremena" portal about possible difficulties due to the socio-political circumstances in which this year's BFI will take place and, of course, about the peculiarities of the program itself.
Only she can answer whether she should have joined the general strike in which the ballet ensembles of the National Theater and the Terazije Theater also participated. But whether she could, can be assumed by anyone who knows that festivals like this one in Belgrade, led and realized by Aja Jung, are created at least a year in advance.
This year's program was announced in September 2024, and tickets have been on sale ever since. By then, the dates of the artists had already been booked, and the purchase of plane tickets had begun.
From March 7 to April 15, 17 companies from 13 countries, with 28 new choreographic settings, will be presented in Belgrade, Subotica and Novi Sad.
Festus and Martovski
Party i March Festival who had to give up their traditional appointments, they gave up because they depend on the City Assembly, and the City Assembly judged that because of the students in the blockade, this is not a safe time even though the real reasons have nothing to do with the students.
Belgrade Dance Festival, Irish festival, BlockadeFest students or anything else is obviously not in the way.
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