This year's 57th Bitef attracts attention because it is simply Bitef, but also because it is the first after Ivan Medenica.
Judging by the titles and basic information about the performances announced today by director Nikita Milivojević, the new artistic director of this festival, Bitef will continue to speak boldly about the present.
This year's Bitef will be from October 3 to 10. Nine plays from Germany, Lithuania, Hungary, Sweden, Greece, Burkina Faso, Belgium and Serbia will be performed on the stages of Belgrade. Its slogan is the verse by Radmila Petrović "Strong, don't agree to be nobody's".
The performances were selected by a co-selector team consisting of playwright Tijana Grumić and producer of the Main Program Ksenija Đurović. As Milivojević explained, this is important in order to design the program and look at it from several sides, and it is more democratic, "and why should one person decide on everything".
The program will begin with the Prologue, as it has been until now, in order to connect with the previous Bitefs. Prolog is a program that was one of Ivan Medenica's innovations, which Nikita Milivojević particularly points out, pointing out that for him Bitef means continuity. The audience will see the play "Divine Comedy", directed by Frank Kastroff and produced by the Belgrade Drama Theater, selected by Ivan Medenica.
Among the plays that follow, as an illustration of the theme of Bitef, is "Children of the Sun" by Maxim Gorky, directed by Matej Kolezhnik of the "Schauschpilhaus" theater from Germany, about the upper class of citizens who are not interested in what is happening on the streets where protests, rebellions, and uprisings of the proletariat take place .
Also on the program is "Singing Youth" from Hungary, which deals with the turbulent history of this country. Two nights on October 7 and 8 are reserved for "Sun and Sea" in the Art Pavilion "Cvijeta Zuzorić" in Kalemegdan, and it is about the laureate of the "Golden Lion" at the Venice Biennale. This unusual opera-performance is signed by three authors - Rugile Barzžukaite, Vaiva Hranita and Lina Lapelita, for the troupe "Neon Realism" from the city of Kaunas, Lithuania.
The selectors also highlight the play of the National Theater from Greece "Farewell to Lindita", directed by Mario Banushi of Albanian origin, which deals with Balkan funeral customs.
Of the domestic titles, Nikita Milivojević chose Atelje 212's play "Like All Single Girls" by Tanja Šljivar, directed by Selma Spahić, as it was said, because it relates to the entire program of Bitef, which is empowering and giving a voice to the marginalized.
It is impossible not to notice in a positive sense that Milivojević also chose one performance of the domestic independent scene, the play piece "The desire to make solid history will end in failure" by the author and choreographer Igor Koruga, in front of the Service Station for Contemporary Dance from Belgrade. It is an overview of the development of the dance scene in Serbia and the various problems and obstacles it encounters.
S.Ć./NovaS
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