"Here and There is Over Here", this year’s slogan of BELEF summarizes the dilemma of many generations of our country in transition, which always and again stands before the choice – to go or to stay. To what extent actually "here and there" corresponds with their ambitions, dreams, desires and illusions and to what extent do they really know what is "over here"? When contemplating the concept of the theatre selection, it was exactly my desire to define the "over here", this environment at this moment, that led me to the selection of authors and artists, as well as the projects themselves. Although it does not show at the first glance, exactly the definition "over here" to the greatest extent eludes the precise outlining and to the greatest extent is a slave to the commonplaces. For decades, we have been made used to think of ourselves and this environment through an assembly of borrowed theses and learned premises, remaining blind for the real life that has conquered new spaces in the meantime, got permeated by new strength and is now pouring forth with unexpected and violent energy. I wanted to put into the foreground of this year’s BELEF theatre selection exactly this new, underground and unknown to us energy of the coming generations. The energy that emerged somewhere in the cellars of the residential blocks, garages, but also in alternative galleries and informal theatre groups, where young people create their own, original expression, resulting from consideration about "this" moment and "this" way of life. Hence so much mixing of forms and genres; hence unexpected concoctions of elite art and street skills, of classic with underground, hip hop with opera. Therefore there is such a clear and secure turning to experiment, investigation of new spaces and new forms. All performances were prepared specially for this opportunity, trying to think over or illustrate the dilemma summarized in the BELEF slogan, in the most different possible manners.

Belgrade, July 2007