This year was meant to mark the 60th anniversary of Bitef, a festival that has, for the local and international theatre scene alike, represented a space for artistic experimentation, critical thought, international dialogue, and freedom of expression. Instead, for the past two years, alongside numerous other actors on the cultural scene, Bitef has been subjected to various forms of financial, programming, and administrative repression. In the process, Bitef has become a prime example of a public cultural good being effectively held hostage by a government with a mind of its own.
Yet last year demonstrated that what makes Bitef relevant—both locally and internationally—is not its administrative structures, but the artistic community that has built it, and that Bitef itself has helped build over the course of six decades. Last year, prompted by the ongoing crisis surrounding Bitef, as well as the overt censorship of last year’s festival selection by the Board, numerous cultural workers chose to speak out and say “no” to such practices. Their response resulted in a self-organised, guerrilla edition of the festival, named ne:Bitef. The initiative resonated both across the region and internationally.
This year, solidarity from the international artistic community has resulted in six out of seven productions withdrawing from the originally announced official Bitef selection. The seventh show remained in the programme despite its director’s opposition to it. The acts of solidarity witnessed last year and this year demonstrate that those in power may be able to seize an institution, but they cannot seize the people that need it and for whom that institution holds meaning.
This is why ne:Bitef continues this year: as a collective, rebellious and liberatory act of civil disobedience and creativity—as the historically independent Užice Republic in the midst of the otherwise occupied culture. This year’s edition will take the form of a collectively organised, horizontally structured festival of micro-stages, welcoming audiences across the city on 20 September, from 12:00 to 18:00. Admission to all sixty locations will be free.
Each micro-stage will be curated by one local cultural worker, nominated by the broader artistic community, who will present an artist, collective, or work that has marked Bitef’s 60-year history. Specially conceived performances, exhibitions, workshops, conversations about theatre productions, and encounters with artists and cultural workers will take place at numerous addresses outside the institutional theatre system—in independent social and cultural centres, bookshops, cafés, pastry shops, private apartments, and other spaces of freedom.
Following the map and schedule of events, that will be published on the festival’s website, audiences will be able to create their own “Bitef” journey through Belgrade: choosing which micro-stages to visit, how long to stay at each, and at what pace to move between them.
From 19:00 onwards, all participants and audiences will gather at the Centre for Cultural Decontamination, where the final part of the programme will transform into a shared space for encounter, dialogue, and artistic action. Through performance and conversation, with the participation of local and international artists and other actors connected to Bitef throughout its history, the evening will be an open space to reflect on Bitef’s legacy, as well as on the possible ways going forward. The evening will be dedicated to resistance and solidarity—the values that remain at the heart of a living, open, and free theatre.
It is worth noting that the first ne:Bitef was created in response to last year’s censorship and the historic absence of the institutional festival. It took place in December 2025 as an act of self-organisation by a large part of the cultural sector and the wider public, with immense support from students. Against virtually impossible odds, this guerrilla undertaking was successfully realised, continuing the avant-garde tradition for which Bitef has become known around the world.
Tomi Janezic
Curated by: Radivoje Dinulović, Zoran Dmitrović and Zoja Erdeljan Stepanović (SCEN Center and Kolektiv Gallery)
Micro-scene: Galerija Kolektiv
Address: Drinčićeva 20
When: September 20 from 12 noon to 6 p.m
Short description: The event is dedicated to Tomi Janežič, with a focus on the play “The Seagull”, by A.P. Chekhov, which he directed at SNP in 2012, and which was performed at the 47th Bitef in 2013. Although we will talk about the overall work and Janežič’s authorial approach, this play was chosen, among other things, because of its specific and highly developed relationship to the spaces of the play. The event is conceived as a hybrid, and includes the presence of Tomi Janežič and communication with him via video link during the entire duration of the event, the projection of exclusive video material from the film about the play (which is currently in the editing stage), an audio recording of the original music of Isidore Žebeljan and a workshop format in which various documents (predominantly texts and photos) will be used for reading, viewing, study, dialogue and interventions. Internet radio station radioAPARAT will also be included in the work.
Ove godine trebalo je da se održi jubilarno, šezdeseto po redu izdanje Bitefa, festivala koji je za domaću i međunarodnu pozorišnu scenu predstavljao prostor umetničkog eksperimenta, kritičke misli, međunarodnog dijaloga i slobode izražavanja. Međutim, već dve godine, zajedno sa brojnim drugim akterima na kulturnoj sceni, Bitef trpi različite oblike finansijske, programske i administrativne represije, postajući primer kidnapovanja javnog kulturnog dobra od strane samovoljne vlasti.
Ipak, prošle godine pokazalo se da ono što Bitef čini kako lokalno, tako i međunarodno relevantnim nisu administrativne strukture, već kulturna zajednica koja ga je gradila i koju je sam Bitef gradio tokom šest decenija. Podstaknuti aktuelnom krizom Bitefa, kao i otvorenom cenzurom prošlogodišnje selekcije od strane Odbora, brojni kulturni radnici odlučili su da se oglase i kažu „ne” tim praksama, što je rezultiralo samoorganizovanim, gerilskim izdanjem festivala, nazvanog ne:Bitef. Ovaj razvoj događaja odjeknuo je i regionalno i internacionalno. Solidarnost međunarodne kulturne scene ove godine pokazala se i kroz povlačenje 6 od 7 predstava iz prvobitno predstavljene selekcije zvaničnog Bitefa, dok je sedma ostala u programu uprkos protivljenju reditelja. Solidarne akcije prošle i ove godine dokazuju da vlast može da zarobi instituciju, ali ne i ljude kojima ona treba i nešto im znači.
Zato se ne:Bitef nastavlja i ove godine kao zajednički, pobunjenički i slobodarski čin građanske neposlušni i kreativnosti, kao Užička republika dok je kultura pod okupacijom. Ovogodišnje izdanje donosi kolektivni, horizontalno organizovan festival mikro-scena, koje će širom grada dočekivati posetioce 20. septembra od 12 do 18 časova. Ulaz na svih šezdeset lokacija biće besplatan.
Svaku od ovih mikro-scena kuriraće po jedan lokalni kulturni radnik / radnica, nominovan/a od strane zajednice, koji će na svojoj sceni predstaviti jednog umetnika, kolektiv ili delo koje je obeležilo 60 godina dugu istoriju Bitefa. Za ovu priliku posebno osmišljeni performansi, izložbe, radionice, razgovori o predstavama i druženja sa umetnicima i kulturnim radnicima održavaće se na brojnim adresama izvan institucionalnog sistema pozorišta – u nezavisnim društvenim i kulturnim centrima, knjižarama, kafićima, poslastičarnicama, stanovima i drugim prostorima slobode.
Prateći mapu i satnicu dešavanja, koja će biti objavljena na sajtu festivala, publika će moći da samostalno kreira sopstvenu „bitefovsku” šetnju kroz Beograd, da bira koje će mikro-scene posetiti, koliko će se na njima zadržati i kojim će se tempom kretati između njih.
Od 19 časova, svi učesnici i publika okupiće se u Centru za kulturnu dekontaminaciju, gde će se završni deo programa pretvoriti u zajednički prostor susreta, razgovora i umetničkog delovanja. Kroz performans i razgovor, uz učešće domaćih i međunarodnih umetnika i drugih aktera koji su tokom decenija bili povezani sa Bitefom, biće otvoren prostor za promišljanje njegovog nasleđa, ali i njegovog mogućeg budućeg puta. Veče će biti posvećeno otporu i solidarnosti – vrednostima koje ostaju temelj živog, otvorenog i slobodnog pozorišta.
Podsetićemo, nastao kao reakcija na prošlogodišnje cenzurisanje i istorijski izostanak institucionalnog festivala, prvi ne:Bitef održan je u decembru 2025. godine kao čin samoorganizovanja velikog dela kulturnog sektora i šire javnosti, uz neizmernu podršku studenata i studentkinja. Tako je ovaj gerilski poduhvat uspešno izveden u gotovo nemogućim uslovima, nastavljajući avangardnu tradiciju po kojoj je Bitef poznat širom sveta.
Tomi Janežič
Kurira: Radivoje Dinulović, Zoran Dmitrović i Zoja Erdeljan Stepanović (SCEN centar i Galerija Kolektiv)
Mikro-scena: Galerija Kolektiv
Adresa: Drinčićeva 20
Kada: 20. septembar od 12 do 18 časova
Kratak opis: Događaj je posvećen Tomiju Janežiču, sa fokusom na predstavu „Galeb“, A. P. Čehova, koju je režirao u SNP-u 2012, a izvedena je na 47. Bitefu, 2013. godine. Iako će biti reči o ukupnom radu i Janežičevom autorskom pristupu, ova predstava je izabrana, između ostalog, i zbog specifičnog i vrlo razvijenog odnosa prema prostorima igre. Događaj je zamišljen kao hibridni, a uključuje prisustvo Tomija Janežiča i komunikaciju sa njim putem video linka tokom ukupnog trajanja događaja, projekciju ekskluzivnog video materijala iz filma o predstavi (koji je trenutno u fazi montaže), audio zapisa originalne muzike Isidore Žebeljan i radionički format u kom će različiti dokumenti (dominantno tekstovi i fotografije) poslužiti za čitanje, gledanje, proučavanje, dijalog i intervencije. U rad će biti uključena i internet radio-stanica radioAPARAT.