27. 09. 2010.

50 Years of MESS – Forever Young

The 50^th MESS International Festival Theatre will be held from 15 to 31 October, under the title "Forever Young". This was announced today by Dino Mustafić, the Festival director, at a press conference held today. This is the oldest theatre festival the Balkans and since it is celebrating its 50^th anniversary, it will not be a competition festival, but rather a celebration of theatre.

Speaking about the names bound to attract major attention both of the audience and the media, Mustafić mentioned Bob Wilson, Matthias de Koning, last year's laureate Jan Lauwers ("Isabella's Room" won the Festival), and Docolomanski and the double winner of the Golden Laurel for directing, Frank Castorf, who is coming with the Volksbϋhne theatre. As for regional names, Mustafić underlined Oliver Frljić, Borut Šeparović, Iva Milošević, and Diego de Brea. He also announced the first post-premiere presentation of a play about the siege of Sarajevo, "Elijah's Chair" by Igor Štiks. "The play will soon premiere at the Yugoslav Drama Theatre in Belgrade, and the lead role is played by Maja, Izetbegović, actress from Sarajevo", announced Mustafić.

The festive edition of MESS will offer an excellent programme for its youngest audience, entitled Children's MESS. This year, there will also be a programme entitled Future MESS, for theatre directors under the age of 30. The programmer of Future Mess is the young BiH director Selma Spahić. "The novelty I am happy to announce is that as of next year, Future MESS will be a festival in his own right, parallel to the main programme. Devised as the forum for numerous workshops, its aim is to promote students and young directors," said Mustafić. In addition to this, MESS will also offer a rich OFF programme (concerts, films…) as well as a panel discussion on "Resistance in Arts", and a collaborative project with the Youth Initiative for Human Rights.

"Our budget for this year is the lowest since 1997 and it amounts to some 250,000 Euros. Despite that, we will host almost 600 guests and artists (Paolo Magelli, Damir Zlatar Frey, Slobodan Unkovski...), and again part of the Festival programmes will be hosted in Zenica, in collaboration with the Bosnian National Theatre. This year too, we will do our utmost to continue spreading the mission of theatre in an environment where there is no year-round theatre infrastructure", concluded Mustafić.