Sarajevo Fest, which this year is held under the slogan “Peace,” organized by the East West Center Sarajevo, begins on September 5th, and will be opened at the National Theatre Sarajevo with the play “Bosko and Admira” directed by Ziva Bizovicar from the Slovenian Youth Theatre Ljubljana.
Director of Sarajevo Fest, Haris Pasovic, said that together with partners, they prepared a rich program that will be realized at the National Theatre Sarajevo, the Art Gallery of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), Chamber Theatre, Sarajevo War Theatre (SARTR), and the National Museum of BiH.
The theme of the festival, Pasovic explained, is peace, “30 years of peace in BiH, 80 years since the victory over fascism and Nazism in the whole world and in Europe.”
The need for peace, he added, shows itself every day, because people are shaken by wars that are happening in the world, daily fears exist among people, sometimes produced by politicians, the media, sometimes by people from culture, academia…
“But what is a fact is that we in BiH, after the biggest war, the greatest suffering in Europe after World War II, have lived in peace for 30 years, travel to all parts of BiH, have a joint government, a joint currency, joint institutions. Regardless of all problems, this country functions; it is a member of the United Nations (UN). We believe it is important to speak about that, but also to speak about how destructive war is,” he emphasized.
The program of the 7th Sarajevo Fest has several segments, artistic, within which plays from Slovenia, Germany, Greece, Serbia, and BiH will be presented – ‘Mrzim pozoriste’ (I Hate Theatre) by Milena Bogavac, ‘Tebe ljubi dusa moja’ (My Soul Loves You) and Svijet mogucnosti (World of Possibilities) by Haris Pasovic, ‘Inkubator’ (Incubator) by Oliver Frljic, and others.
Also, panel discussions will be organized, UNESCO talks about the play ‘Tebe ljubi dusa moja’, UNESCO networking event, European Dialogues, as well as exhibitions, 20 Years of the East West Center Sarajevo, Notre Dame, and photography workshops with Tomas Van Houtryve.
Support for the festival was provided by collaborators who prepared special programs for the 7th Sarajevo Fest: director of the French Institute Loe Lagrange, director of the Goethe Institute Simone Voigt, BiH photographer Zijah Gafic, and director of the Art Gallery Strajo Krsmanovic.
For Pasovic, a special honor is the fact that part of the program of the 7th Sarajevo Fest is realized in cooperation with UNESCO, and another part with the Republic of France in the program “European Dialogues.”
Head of the UNESCO Office in BiH, Sinisa Sesum, said that culture is a very significant promoter of peace, and that is why they provided support to the Festival, because it is an opportunity to promote the importance of culture and the promotion of peace, the importance of multilateralism in the world, but also the importance of preserving peace.
Also, the Prime Minister of Canton Sarajevo (CS), Nihad Uk, provided support to the festival and said that the Government of CS is a partner of cultural festivals, emphasizing that “Sarajevo is a city of festivals.”
Partners in some of the programs are also the British Council and the Italian Development Agency.
Sarajevo Fest ends on September 19th with the play ‘Oslobodjenje Sarajeva’ (Liberation of Sarajevo) directed by Haris Pasovic, based on the text by Dusan Jovanovic. It will be performed at SARTR, Fena news agency writes.
