"I am very happy to be here in Belgrade at the Bitef festival. I love this festival for many reasons: It is a festival that is both international and local. A festival that is as committed to beauty as it is to protest. A brave, diverse festival", Milo Rau said at the beginning of his speech. His work Antigone in the Amazon, a contemporary interpretation of the Greek tragedy, this time placed in the middle of the fight for the land and conservation of the Amazon, is part of the main programme of the festival.
"The Amazon is 10000 kilometres from here, but we live in a globalised world: the same tragedy, the same wastelands everywhere. Like in a teenage monster movie, it is the exact same company, Rio Tinto, that mines lithium in Serbia and bauxite in the Amazon - minerals for the 'sustainable' future of Volkswagen. No wonder there is a saying in the Amazon: When you hear the word sustainable, run for your life", Rau added.
"There is something monstrous, something wrong with us, humans. There is something that, sometimes, makes me sit down and howl. I therefore ask you: Let us all be like Antigone. Let us all be like the “Idiot” from Dostoyevsky: let us be naïve, let us say NO to the deadly ideology of our time. Let us fight for Beauty, the Beauty of life, the Beauty of nature - our true homeland", Rau said, reminding us all of the slogan of this year's festival, "Beauty Will (Not) Save the World", inspired by the famous Dostoevsky quote.
The audience will have the opportunity to see Antigone in the Amazon 2 and 3 October at the Atelje 212 Theatre, at the stage which carries the name of one of the founders of Bitef, Mira Trailović.
This year's edition of the festival, organised with the generous help of the general sponsor of the festival, the 1664 Blanc brand, opened with the performance Mellowing of the Dance On Ensemble from Berlin, co-produced with Onassis Stegi from Greece and the National Choreographic Centre Rillieux-la-Pape from France, and choreographed by Greek artist Christos Papadopoulos.
The dancers - all of which are over forty years old - have demonstrated lavish talent which doesn't fade with time, but on the contrary, only intensifies in its strength and beauty. The mellowing of the body is, thus, represented as its maturing, while the audience awarded this subtle embodiment of the idea of an individual rebellion by shattering the limitations the society has forced upon us with minutes of applause.
The opening was attended by the Assistant Minister of Culture for Contemporary Arts Radovan Jokić, ambassador of Germany Her Excellency Anke Konrad, ambassador of Belgium Her Excellency Cathy Buggenhout, ambassador of Greece Her Excellency Maria Levanti, ambassador of the Czech Republic His Excellency Tomaš Kuchta, ambassador of Great Britain His Excellency Edward Ferguson, ambassador of France His Excellency Pierre Cochard, ambassador of Spain His Excellency Raul Bartolomé Molina, as well as the director of the Goethe Institute Christoph Feldhues, cultural attaché of the French Institute Caroline Sotta, director of the British Council Clare Sears, director of the Autrian Cultural Forum Amadeus Faltheiner, director of the Czech Centre Lucie Orbók, rector of the University of Arts in Belgrade Mirjana Nikolić, dean of the Faculty of Dramatic Arts Miloš Pavlović, the previous art director of the Bitef festival Ivan Medenica, directors Bojan Đorđev and Jug Đorđević, managers of numerous theatres, as well as the stars of our theatre scene - Milena Vasić, Tamara Krcunović, Vladimir Aleksić and many others.
PERFORMANCES OF STELLAR POPULARITY
The main programme of the festival continues with a historic visit by the famous French theatre company Comédie Française which will be performing at Bitef for the first time in its centuries long history. Hecuba, Not Hecuba was directed by Tiago Rodrigues, the current art director of the Avignon Theatre Festival. The contemporary interpretation of the myth of Hecuba, in which some of the greatest names of the French theatre will appear, will be presented to the Bitef audience 26 and 27 September at the Main Stage of the National Theatre in Belgrade.
The programme then continues with two evenings of the Slovenian hit show Sex Education II: Fight 27 and 28 September at the Bitef Theatre. Young director Tjaša Črnigoj and her team are showing us the fight for reproductive rights at Yugoslavia through the figure of Vida Tomšić, one of the most deserving women to establish these practices in the country, highly progressive compared to the rest of the world.
The weekend at Bitef will be marked by the domestic production We Are Going to Make Something About War, Gender and Liberty, It Will Be Titled: What Would Chelsea Say, a piece by Irena Ristić and Đorđe Živadinović Grgur. The two of them, along with the visitors of the Podroom Gallery of the Cultural Centre of Belgrade, will be conducting a theatrical inquiry of the case of the transgender activist and whistleblower Chelsea Manning 28 and 29 September.
Croatian author Jasna Žmak will continue this lecture-performance line with an original and humourous review of her career as a dramaturge, looking into themes such as misogyny, work in culture and homophobia. Her performance this is my truth, tell me yours will be presented to the Belgrade audience 30 September and 1 October.
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This year's Bitef will be taking place until 4 October, with the main programme curated by Nikita Milivojević, Tijana Grumić and Ksenija Đurović, comprising of 10 performances hailing from Germany, France, Switzerland, Bolivia, Brazil, the Netherlands, Belgium, Slovenia, Croatia and Serbia.
Patrons of the festival are the Secretariat for Culture of the City of Belgrade and the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Serbia. The general sponsor of the 58Bitef24 is 1664 Blanc, which has recognised the significance of the festival as a cultural event and contributes to its success. Traditionally, the festival has received support from the Goethe Institut, the French Institute and the EU Delegation. Partner and friend of the Bitef festival is the New Moment New Ideas Company, creative agency of the festival. Generali osiguranje Srbija, Erste Bank a.d. Novi Sad and Coca-Cola HBC Serbia are once again partners of the festival.
