Jubilee 10th international festival of high school theatre Juventafest was opened tonight with a solemn ceremony in the packed National Theatre of Sarajevo.
Over the past years, Juventafest, which is organized by the “Medija – Art” Association, has become a kind of youth movement and has so far gathered more than three thousand young people, hosted more than 60 plays from Bosnia and Herzegovina and the region, Sweden, Poland, Russia, Norway… This year Juventafest will host more than 150 participants from Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The jubilee edition of the festival had a wonderful atmosphere and a large number of high school students in the audience, and among the guests were the Minister of Culture and Sports of the Sarajevo Canton Samir Avdić, the Deputy Head of the Delegation of the European Union to Bosnia and Herzegovina Ekaterina Dorodnova, the director of Konrad Adenauer, Sven Petke, and Ambassador of Slovenia Damijan Sedar.
The tenth Juventafest was opened by the director of the festival and the “Medija-Art” Association, Jasna Diklić, followed by a great performance of the musical “The Marriage of Figaro” by the English Student Theatre, the II Gymnasium Maribor.
The play from Maribor is one of six plays that will be performed as part of the competition programme of the 10th Juventafest. Out of competition, on the last day of the festival, September 11, the play “Interspace” from Bosnia and Herzegovina will be performed. The jury consisting of actress Jelena Rusjan, actress Mirna Jogunčić and director Selma Spahić, after watching the plays chosen by selector Emina Omerović, will decide on the Grand Prix and the Special Jury Prize.
This year the festival activities started a day earlier, with the screening of the documentary film “Some New Broadway ” directed by Denis Bojić, which was created in cooperation with Down Syndrome Centre Banja Luka.
The organization of the 10th Juventafest was supported by the City of Sarajevo and Mayor Benjamina Karić, the Ministry of Culture and Sports of Sarajevo Canton, the “Open Society” Fund of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Tourist Board of Sarajevo Canton, the “Konrad Adenauer Stiftung” Foundation, the European Union, the Foundation for Music, Performing and Visual Arts Sarajevo, BH Telecom and the Bosnian-Herzegovinian American Academy of Arts and Sciences
The host of the opening ceremony was Simonida Mandić, a young actress and former Juventafest participant.
On the second day of the 10th Juventafest at the Sarajevo Youth Theatre, starting at 8:00 pm, the play “Solo for Seven” will be performed by the Drama and dance studio, Istrian National Theatre Pula, Croatia.
