“A Clockwork Orange” by the members of “Kulturociklin” and Cultural Centre Kruševac from Kruševac is the winner of the Grand Prix for the best play of the 11th international festival of high school theatre Juventafest, which was organized by the Association “Medija-Art” and was held from September 6 to 10 in Sarajevo.
At the closing ceremony, held last night at the Sarajevo Youth Theatre, the expert jury consisting of Serbian director Milica Kralj, Bosnian-Herzegovinian actress Gordana Boban and graphic designer and professor Sandro Drinovac also awarded the Special Award to the play “The Fallibility of Man” performed by high school students from Budapest.
The eleventh Juventafest once again provided an opportunity for over a hundred young participants from Hungary, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina to showcase their talents on stage and also to socialize and work diligently during all five festival days.
Last night, the audience at the Youth Theatre witnessed an unforgettable presentation of inclusive workshops, realized in cooperation with the Association “Life with Down Syndrome of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina”, which the festival participants were able to create and present on stage with incredible success. In just four days of inclusive workshops, including character masks, object animation basics, dance and musical theatre workshops, in cooperation with mentors who are experts in these fields, the young participants created entirely new theatrical stories, showcasing their talent and reaffirming the importance of Juventafest’s existence.
The audience had the opportunity to see the plays selected by Emina Omerović from Wednesday to Sunday at the Centre for culture and youth of Municipality Centre Sarajevo, where workshops were also held for participants, as well as in the Sarajevo Youth Theatre, where, as part of a workshop for professors, leaders of drama clubs in high schools, the presentation “Drama pedagogy in schools, key factors for the success of inclusive drama creativity” was held.
Traditionally, on the last day of Juventafest, there was a parade of all participants from the Eiffel’s Bridge at Skenderija to the Sarajevo Youth Theatre, accompanied by the “Drum Orchestra”.
The 11th Juventafest was officially closed with a brief address to the participants and audience at the Sarajevo Youth Theatre by Jasna Diklić, the director of Juventafest and the president of the Association “Medija-Art”.
The main sponsor of the 11th Juventafest is the City of Sarajevo and mayor Benjamina Karić. The sponsors of the festival are the United States of America Embassy in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Federal Ministry of Culture and Sports Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Ministry of Culture and Sports – Canton of Sarajevo, the Ministry of Education of the Sarajevo Canton, Foundation for Music, Performing and Visual Arts Sarajevo.
The friends of this year’s Juventafest are The Bosnian-Herzegovinian American Academy of Arts and Sciences and Good Sign, and the partners are the Sarajevo Youth Theatre, the Centre for culture and youth of Municipality Centre Sarajevo, the Bosnian Cultural Centre, the Academy of Fine Arts in Sarajevo, the “Ibes” restaurant and the Sarajevo student dormitory.
