Bitef

Founded in 1967, Bitef (Belgrade International Theatre Festival) has continually followed and supported the latest theatre trends. Growing and developing, it has become one of five most important and biggest European festivals and has, as such, secured itself an unmistakable place at the theatre map of the world. It has become one of the most significant culture institutions of our country, but also much more than that. The importance of Bitef surpasses all political and cultural borders. For this reason we can identify the history of Bitef with a history of contemporary theatre. During the revolutionary nineteen sixties, the founders of this festival (Mira Trailović, Jpvan Cirilov and their associates) courageously followed tumultuous events in global theatre teeming with avant-garde explorations. In the nineteen eighties, Bitef has shown Belgrade the highest reaches of the art of theatre, thus becoming one of the few festivals comprising both experimental forms and significant classic achievements. In spite of political-economic crisis and embargo, in the final decade of the twentieth century, Bitef has, thanks to the generous help of international culture centers, government and non-government organizations, managed to keep up with the world, through promoting new theatre trends and ultimate theatre values. Bitef has thus preserved its place in the family of major international festivals, serving as a living proof that, in the society it had been created in, it represents an anti-traditional phenomenon and an epochal value of Serbian culture. Instead of explaining the history of Bitef at great length, it will suffice to list the names of the artists who have, thanks to this festival, visited Belgrade in the past 39 years. Some of them were discovered at Bitef festival, while, for others, Bitef has been another in the series of affirmations of their artistic significance and value. Jerzy Grotowski * Living Theatre * David Esrig * Judith Malina * Julian Beck * Victor Garcia * Otomar Kréjca * Georgij Tovstonogov * Richard Schechner * Luca Ronconi * Peter Schumann * Jirži Menzel * William Gaskill * Klaus Peymann * Eugene lonesco * Božidar Violić * Peter Zadek * Eugenio Barba * La Mamma * Andrei Scherban * Hans Lietzau * Ingmar Bergman * Branko Pleša * Petar Selem * Roger Planchón * Charles Ludlam * Carmello Bene * Dino Radojević * Shuji Terayama * Arianne Mnouchkine * Joseph Chaikin * Pip Simmons * Dušan Jovanović * Peter Stein * Georgij Paro * Arsa Jovanović * Miklos Jancso * Peter Brook * Giles Havergal * Memè Perlini * Paolo Magelli * Robert Wilson * Anatolij Efros * Patrice Cherau * Konrad Swinarski * George Tabori * Roger Planchón * Jurij Ljubimov * Samuel Beckett * Andrzej Wajda * Philip Glass * Miroslav Belović * Tadeusz Kantor * Dejan Mijač * Lindsay Kemp * Pina Bausch * Georges Lavaudant * Benno Besson * Ljubiša Ristić * Nuria Espert * Antoine Vitez * Kazimierz Dejmek * Jerome Savary * Roberto Ciulli * Aleksandar Petrović * Jerzy Jarocki * Igor Vasiljev * Jerzy Grzegorzewski * Robert Sturua * Ivica Kunčević * Alexander Lang * Janusz Wisniewski * Janez Pipan * Eimuntas Nekrošius * Jan Fabre * Petar Živadinov* Jürgen Flimm * Hansgünter Heyme* Karge Langhoff *SaburoTeshigawara * Erik Appelgrin * Erwin Piplits* Johann Kresnik * Jorma Uotinen * Tamás Ascher * Michael Clark * Wolfgang Engel * Carolyn Carson * Haris Pašović * Janos Szikora * Hinderik de Groot * La fura dels baus *Tomaž Pandur * Slobodan Unkovski * Henrijeta Janowska * Gábór Zsámbéki * Kama Ginkas * Frederick Flamand * François Michel Pesenti * Meredith Monk * De la Guarda * Roman Viktjuk * Wim Vandekeybus * Gorgio Strehler * Theodoras Terzopoulos * Lev Dodin * Silviu Purcarete * Joseph Nadj * Nigei Charnock * Frank Castorf * Simon Mcßurney * Angelin Preijocaj * Théâtre de Complicité * Ivan Popovski * Margaret Jenkins * Valerij Fokin * Christoph Marthaler * Michael Nyman * Steven Berkoff * Sacha Waltz * Thomas Ostermeier * Regis Obadia * Eric Lacascade * Arpad Sopsits * Susanne Linke * Nicolas Stemann * Vito Täufer * Grzegorz Jarzyna * Krystian Lupa * Michael Thalheimer * Marius Kurkinski * Krysztof Warlikowski * Rezo Gabriadze * Pjotr Fomenko * Johan Simons * Oskaras Korsunovas * Egon Savin * lan Grieve * Daniela Nicolo * Enriko Casagrande * Jagoš Marković * Yossi Yungman * Bojan Đorđev * Mira Erceg * José Montavlo * Lorenzo Bazzocchi * Dalija Adn * Biljana Srbljanović *Tomi Janežić * Alisa Stojanović * Matjaž Farič * Robert Alföldi * Heiner Goebbels * René Pollesch * Alvis Hermanis * Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker * Lloyd Newson etc. In 1999, Bitef has been awarded Special Prize PREMIO EUROPA PER IL TEATRO, Taormina arte. Bitef is the first international theatre festival awarded by Premio Europa.