Meeting the Authors is the oldest Bitef side programme. This year, in an intimate and creative atmosphere, the follow-up talks will be led by the director and pedagogue Anna Pinter. As always, audience participation is welcome.
"Audience participation in a theatrical event is of key importance. It has long been out of the realm of passive observation of a stage event," explains Pinter. "My role will be to create the conditions for the dialogue between the audience and the artist to be as pleasant and relevant as possible for all."
The twenty-fourth Bitef Polyphony, a festival programme specially designed for a younger audience, will be held from 5-9th October under the slogan "Backyard, Forest, Jungle".
"The keywords of this year's Polyphony were defined even without us: violence, youth, education, strength, change." After we had sent the first invitation, we were surprised by the number of responses," said the programme co-editors Irena Ristić and Ljubica Beljanski-Ristić, adding that 5 thematic workshops, 15 performances and 3 new initiatives sought their place in this year's programme. "Only some will be shown in their full form, but everyone's experiences will cross paths in new sample formats, announcing Polyphony in Duration." Admission to all Bitef Polyphony programmes is free, but the number of seats is limited.
The regional travelling festival of contemporary circus, Cirkobalkana, will be held from September 21st to October 7th in a tent set up near Silos in the Port of Belgrade. It will bring together artists from Spain, Syria, France, Mexico, Italy, Hungary, Slovenia and Serbia, whose performances address current global issues.
"We are entering the second decade with an undiminished desire to promote contemporary circus in the region and its importance not only as an art form but also as a powerful tool for social engagement," CirkoBalkana stated. Their accompanying programme will consist of workshops, concerts, screenings and numerous other activities. Tickets for all the performances within this programme can be purchased through Bitef's website, as well as at the location itself, one hour before each performance.
The lecture "From the Proletariat to the Precariat - and Back" by Prof. Ana Vujanović, PhD, the president of the international jury of the 57th Bitef, will be held in the Marshall's salon in the MTS hall on October 5th, starting at 6 p.m. The focus of the lecture will be on the "neglected, erased and suppressed class analysis of art" since class issue and poverty constitute one of the biggest existential problems and obstacles in the career of cultural workers and students of arts and humanities. Free entry.
The goal of the festival is to offer and develop a theoretical discourse that will accompany the selection of the main programme this year through the side programme designed in this way.
TICKET SALES
Tickets for this year's Bitef can be purchased on the festival's official website at a 10% discount. At regular prices, tickets can be purchased at the Bitef box office, where you can also buy ticket packages at a 30% discount. The box office is also open this year in the festival press center, on the first floor of the MTS hall, on Nikola Pašić Square.
The festival is traditionally supported by the Secretariat for Culture of the City of Belgrade and the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Serbia, as well as the Delegation of the European Union to Serbia, the Goethe Institute, the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany, and the Embassy of Greece. New Moment New Ideas Company, the festival's creative agency, is a partner and friend of Bitef. Festival partners this year are Generali Insurance Serbia, Erste Bank a.d. Novi Sad, as well as the friends of the Coca-Cola Hellenic Serbia festival, 1664 Blanc and Somersby, Rajićeva Shopping Center, Alma Quattro, Info media group, Acibadem Bel medic, the programme "Every Can Counts", as well as Hello Creative team.
