Bitef

22.May 2026. Sonja Ciric

The list of performances for this year's Bitef has been compiled

With the budget increase, Spasoje Ž. Milovanović chose plays for Bitef. He says that he chose the ensemble of the plays and that they come from the "white world"

Bitef festival

23.march 2026 Sonja Ciric

Bitef without a selector, plays are chosen by Spasoje Ž. Milovanović and members of the Board

As the law allows, the plays for this year's Bitef will not be chosen by the selector but by the Board of that festival, headed by Spasoje Ž. Milovanovic

State negligence

19.February 2026. Sonja Ciric

Chronology of the devastation of Bitef

Bitef did not want to distance itself from Milo Rau's speech, which opened the 58th festival, as the authorities asked him to do, and after that everything went downhill - the subject of the publication "The Dossier" of the Bitef Theater

The Bitef case

13.February 2026. Sonja Ciric

Who manages Bitef if it is not the Board, as prescribed by law

Given that the City Assembly rejected the Bitef Board's proposal that Andraš Urban prepare the program for this year's festival, does this mean that the Board is not actually at the head of Bitef, as stated in the decision of the same City Assembly

Personnel

20.January 2026 Sonja Ciric

Changes in the leading positions of culture: the Philharmonic will not have Sudjic

The Government of Serbia has appointed conductor Bojan Suđić as acting director of the Belgrade Philharmonic. "Vreme" unofficially learns that the orchestra is not at all happy with this choice and will take appropriate measures

Changes in culture

20.January 2026 Sonja Ciric

Fest, Bitef, Bemus...: 56 new officials were appointed to leading positions in culture

At the session of the Belgrade City Assembly, 56 officials were appointed to management positions in cultural institutions and events. So now Lazar Ristovski is on the Festa Board, and the president is Jelena Medaković, Secretary for Culture of Belgrade

Personnel

18.January 2026 S. Ć.

Bitef got a new Board and President Spasoj Ž. Milovanović

Playwright Spasoje Ž. Milovanović is the new president of the Bitef Board. He likes to drive fast, so the National Theater in Nis, where he was the director until recently, has to pay a fine

Theater and its surroundings (2025)

14.January 2026 Marina Milivojević Madjarev

Playing on a rebel scene

At the end of "ordinary" years, lists of books, films and theater performances are made. However, this year was one of those that we will remember for the intense struggle for social change, so it makes no sense to act as if everything is regular. That is why in this text I will write not only about the performances but also about the theatrical impressions that we will take with us from 2025.

Interview

06.January 2026 Sonja Ciric

Jelena Medaković: 2025 is a warning for everyone who will decide on Bitef and Fest

The festival remake in February, the introduction of festival artistic directors, fairer distribution of the budget, are some of the announcements for 2026 by the secretary of culture of Belgrade, Jelena Medaković

Culture

02.January 2026 Sonja Ciric

Bitef, Fest and others: The survival of the festival in 2026 is uncertain

The experience of 2025 allows for the fear that there will probably not be some usual festivals this year, and that holding most of them is questionable

Milena Radulović won the Grand prix: Bitefa not only for her role in the "Peliko Process", but also for everything she did for all women in the region.

"not:Bitef"

19.December 2025 B. B.

Milena Radulović Gran pri "ne:Bitefa"

Milena Radulović received the Grand pri no: Bitefa not only for her role in the "Peliko Process", but also for everything she did for all women in the region

Personal attitude

17.December 2025 Jovana Karaulić

Captive Culture: Release from Shackles and a Minister Above the Law

It is plainly clear that artistic practice, both institutional and independent in Serbia, is not only in crisis for a long time. She is trapped politically, systemically, repressively

Bitef

16.December 2025 Sonja Ciric

What did the "no: Bitef" festival achieve already at its opening?

It was opened and will be held, it defeated the censorship of this government, it united the Balkans - all this is the "no: Bitef" festival, the unofficial/guerrilla edition of the 59th Bitef, succeeded in an unimaginably short time and without money

Resistance to censorship

05.December 2025 S. Ć.

Ne:Bitef begins with performances rejected by the Bitef Board

Everything that could not be seen at the 59th Bitef will be shown at Ne:Bitef as a sign of disapproval of censorship and other types of restrictions on freedom.

Festivals

14.November 2025 S. Ć.

Jelena Medaković: Fest in February, and Bitef has no legal basis to hold it

Secretary of Culture Jelena Medaković believes that the next Fest should be held in February, and that the Bitef festival has no legal basis to be held this year. At the same time, Miloš Lolić is preparing the guerilla Bitef for December

The fate of the festival

10.November 2025 Sonja Ciric

There is every chance that Bitef and Fest will not take place this year

This year's 59th Bitef should start in about fifteen days, and the Fest in less than a month and a half. However, they are silent about them. It seems like they are waiting for time to run out for them

Interview: Miloš Lolić and Borisav Matić

05.November 2025 Sonja Ciric

Bitef's unruly artistic team

We will be remembered as the phantom artistic director who prevented our most important festival from being suitable for those who are incompetent

New issue of Vremena

05.November 2025 S. Ć.

Lolić and Matić for the first time about the obstacles that were placed before the 59th Bitef

Miloš Lolić and Borisav Matić, curator and member of the Artistic Directorate of the 59th Bitef, in the first interview about the reasons and problems why, three weeks before the announced start, it is still not known whether this festival will be held

Culture of the City of Belgrade

27.October 2025 S. Ć.

Jelena Medaković: I will work to ensure that Bitef and Fest remain big festivals

The new secretary of culture of the City of Belgrade, Jelena Medaković, announces the changes in the atmosphere in culture this "inconvenient year", and believes that Bitef and Fest should be helped to remain great festivals

The Bitef case

27.October 2025 Sonja Ciric

What is happening with Bitef?

The historic year of the Bitef festival, in which its fate is decided, is coming to an end. It is already clear why the biggest crisis of this important European festival has occurred, and who is its author

President of the Board of Bitref Svetozar Cvetković

Bitef

24.October 2025 Sonja Ciric

Svetozar Cvetković: How to save Bitef

The holding of this year's Bitef is under a big question mark. The president of the festival board, Svetozar Cvetković, presents a proposal for "Vreme" on how to overcome disagreements between key people, should Bitef not take place after all

New Bitef

22.October 2025 Sonja Ciric

Svetozar Cvetković: We will soon publish the Bitef repertoire

Although, according to unofficial information, three members of the Bitef Board have resigned, including the president Svetozar Cvetković, the Board is still preparing the program for this year's edition of the festival and will soon announce its repertoire

Belgrade Festivals

18.October 2025 Sonja Ciric

BEMUS is ongoing, and FEST and BITEF may not even start

The 57th Bemus is in progress, but Bitef and Festus are silent. What is Bemus' recipe? The president of the Bemus Committee says that the festival received the same budget as Fest and Bitef

In memoriam: Robert Bob Wilson (1941-2025)

03.August 2025 Marina Magyarev

We watched and listened to him breathlessly

We know Robert Bob Wilson, one of the greatest visual and theater artists, for his performances that were at Bitef, and especially for the great lecture he gave during the wars of the nineties.

City and Bitef

20.May 2025. Sonja Ciric

Svetozar Cvetković: Miloš Lolić is the new artistic director of Bitef

As "Vreme" learns, the new artistic director of Bitef is Miloš Lolić, and the new date of the festival is the end of November. To make this decision, the Bitef Board waited for the new rules of the City Assembly

Beograd

25.April 2025. Sonja Ciric

Festival rush in September

September will be the month of festivals in Belgrade this year: Fest, Bitef, March Festival, "Seven Magnificent"... Unless the City Assembly decides that some of them will take a break this year

Bitef and the City Assembly

23.April 2025. Sonja Ciric

Svetozar Cvetković: We will make a decision about Bitef that we will not be ashamed of

The city assembly did not respond to the proposal of the Bitef Board that Nikita Milivojević, the previous artistic director of the festival, continue the work he had started, and he wrote a letter thanking him for the offer. Svetozar Cvetković, chairman of the Board, believes that a solution will be reached after all