Belgrade Summer Festival, BELEF 06, will last from July 10 until August 12 this year. Somewhat shorter duration of the festival when compared to the previous years is the consequence of an emphasis in the programme now placed on bigger events, which should become a mark of distinction for this fifteen-year-old festival in the future as well.

The theatre programme will explore the topic of ancient Greek polis and its relationship with the present time and modern city. This thematic line will feature the show My Homeland – Seven Dreams, directed by Nikita Milivojevic, which will have its world premiere in Greece, at the Delphi Festival, while its Belgrade premiere will take place at BELEF. In addition, we will see Brecht’s Antigone directed by Ivana Vujic and Aeschylus' Prometheus Bound directed by Stevan Bodroza. Aleksandra Glovacki’s The Ugly, directed by Petar Strbac, which will have its premiere at BELEF; Suffering for Freedom – four one-act plays by a group of foreign authors directed by Vida Ognjenovic; and Enda Walsh’s Disco Pigs directed by Kokan Mladenovic; will seek to explore existential postulates of modern man like the canons of beauty, freedom and meaning.

With its own and visiting productions BELEF particularly aims to cherish modern dance. The new productions are Self-Erase by Isidora Stanišic and a show by British choreographer Charles Linehan, featuring local artists, in coproduction with the British Council in Belgrade. We will also have the opportunity to see in action the award-winning Israeli ensemble Vertigo Dance Company.

Film and comics event MangaDrome, following in the footsteps of enormously successful last year’s Kung Fu at BELEF; several artists, notably Florent Asiomanoff, with their works from the French festival Le Cube, in collaboration with the French Cultural Centre; and a multidisciplinary project entitled No More Reality featuring, amongst others, Jeremy Dellera, the winner of the prestigious Turner Prize; will mark this year’s visual arts programme.

Several big names in the world of popular music, including Laurie Anderson and Eric Burdon, as well as Mozart Film Festival taking place over a period of several days in the Republic Square at the very end of BELEF clearly corroborate the high quality of this year’s music programme. In this segment we have high expectations of our already traditional collaboration with Sava Centar (two concerts there – Gocoo Drummers from Japan and Roxy Music).

Finally, in keeping with this year’s festival slogan Go!, there is nothing else for us to do but say go and see the shows which we have prepared for you this summer. May you truly enjoy!