Hundred years since the birth of Mesa Selimovic

Belgrade, April 26. 2010 (Serbia Today) - On Tuesday, April 27th, Serbia, marks 100th anniversary since the birth of the great Serbian writer Mehmed Mesa Selimovic. As the part of the celebration of hundred years since the birth of writer Mese Selimovića Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts (SANU) will hold special conference in the on April 27 and 28. The conference will be open by the president of Academy Nikola Hajdin. Writings of the Mesa Selimovic will be read by actor Gojko Santic, and after that the lecture about famous writer will be given by Dobrica Cosic and Matija Beckovic. Svetozar Koljevic, Predrag Palavestra, Milan Đurčinov, Radovan Vuckovic Slavko Gordić, Marko Krstic, Miro Vuksanovic, Ivan Majic, Miroslav Egerić, Ranko Risojević, Staniša Tutnjević, Milos Djordjevic, Svetlana Velmar Jankovic, will be talking during this conference as well. About Mesa Selimović’s work and life will also speak Jasmina Ahmetagić, Aleksandar Gatalica, Vladimir Pistalo, Vladimir Kecmanović, Marko Nedic, Aleksandar Jerkov, Milan Radulovic, Nebojsa Bradic, Radomir Ivanovic, Milorad Radovanovic and Predrag Piper. Mesa Selimovic was born on April 26, 1910 in Tuzla. He graduated at the Faculty of Philosophy in Belgrade, Department of Serbo-Croatian language and Yugoslav literature. His first book, a collection of short stories "Prva ceta" was publish in 1950., and then the novel "Tisina" (1961), a collection of short stories "Tudja zemlja" (1962) and poetic novel "Magla I mesecina" (1965). His most famous work is a novel "Dervis I smrt", published in 1966 , and was written as a reaction to the regime in the former Yugoslavia, which persecuted the political prisoners. Mesa Selimovic also wrote the novels "Za I protiv Vuka", "Tvrdjava", "Ostrvo", "Krug". Mesa Selimovic was the President of the Asociation of the Writers of Yugoslavia, Honorary Doctor of the University of Sarajevo and the regular member of the Academy of Sciences of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Serbian Academy of Arts and Sciences. He received NIN award for the novel "Dervis i smrt" in 1967. He died on July 11, 1982 in Belgrade.

Uzice on a “Halfway road”

By: Bojana Jankovic

Belgrade,/Uzice April 25. 2010 (Serbia Today) - Uzice, town in the western part of Serbia, is located exactly halfway between Sarajevo and Belgrade, and for this reason Literary Festival started five years ago in this city has been named “Halfway Road”. It is organized by the high school “Modrag Milovanovic Lune” and with the support of the City of Uzice. This year, “Halfway road ” will be held form April 26 to April 30, when the participants (writers) from Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia will hold the literature lecture to the students of this school, and present their latest works to the general public. Karmen Loncarek (Rijeka), Enes Kurtovic (Sanski Most), Dinko Telecan (Zagreb), Vladimir Pistalo (Beograd), Nenad Velickovic (Sarajevo), Neven Usumovic (Umag), Dejan Ilic (Beograd), Sreten Ugricic (Beograd), Vladislav Bajaca (Beograd), Stefan Arsenijević (Beograd) and group of young poets from Belgrade will be participants of this year's Literary Festival. Recently, “Halfway road” Festival has received an award from the “Jelena Santic” Fund for the results achieved in development of ethnic understanding through the nurturing of social values.

Teamwork of the Theatres of former Yugoslavia

Belgrade, April 23. 2010 (Serbia Today) - The Theater Atelje 212 has decided to organize a festival under the name “Mucije’s Days” in the honor of one of the leading directors of the former Yugoslavia, Ljubomir Mucije Draskic. He was also the famous manager of Theater Atelje 212 and the artist that marked the theater life of the generations. The festival will be held from May 18-24 at this theater. The manager of Theater Atelje 212, Kokan Mladenovic, said at press conference on Monday, that the basic idea of this Festival is to gather together the people who works in the theatres in which Draskic has directed- Sombor, Ujvideki sinhaza, Serbian National Theatre, Theater 212, theatres from Krusevac, Zagreb and Sarajevo. The performance will take place in Grand Hall and in the Theater in the basement. The Festival is not competitive, but the silver coin with Draskic’s image will be given to the awarded actor of the evening, and who would that be is the decision of the Festival Council. The following program in the Upper foyer will be a video projection of the most famous Draskic direction and the TV series “ Theatre Practicum” in which the artist talked about his life and work in the theater. It will also be organized the exhibition of the photos and texts which testify about his work in Atelje 212. The guests and the audience at the performance will be the artists who will come to Belgrade on the occasion of “Sarajevo Days”, which will take place from Apri 19-23.The support to the Festival was given by the Ministry of Culture, City of Belgrade Dept. of Culture and the Municipality of Stari Grad.

The Book Fair in New Belgrade

Belgrade, 22. 2010 (Serbia Today) - For the second time the Municipality of New Belgrade will organize The Book Fair to be held in the Hall of Sports from April 22 to 28, it was announced by the spokesman for the municipality. The Book Fair will be open on April 22th at 5 PM by writer Zoran Zivkovic and the president of municipality of Novi Beograd Nenad Milenkovic. About 60 exhibitors will participate in the fair, including Laguna, Geopoetika, Mono & Manjana, Lom, Creative Centre, Euro Giunti, Dereta, Kairos, Prometheus, White Road, Solaris, Globosino, Department of textbooks, JRJ, BIGZ( Belgrade publishing graphic institute) and others. As a special guest of the Fair will be one of the famous British writer Tariq Ali, the author of the story Pirates of the Caribbean and he will present his new book on Monday, April 26 . Radoslav Pavlovic, author of scripts for movies and plays "Balkan Rules", "Little", "Chauvinistic farce" will also presents his works Comic books fair and antique comic books will be a part of the book fair as well. The old maps exhibition, the school of drawing and workshops for making comics will be presented to visitors. Ticket prices for the New Belgrade Book Fair will be 80 RSD, and the fair will be open every day from 10 AM to 8 PM.

Momo Kapor in Memoriam

Belgrade, April 21. 2010 (Serbia Today) - During the manifestation "The Days of Belgrade", Gallery "In the cellar” organized the exhibition of paintings and drawings by Momo Kapor. The grand opening of the exhibition was on Monday. The exhibition was opened by the writer and academic Matija Beckovic, and the journalist Radmila Stankovic talked about famous artist. Momo Kapor’s articles about Belgrade, were read by actress Vjera Mujović. The Winery "Vineco - Radenkovic, opened an exhibition-sale of wine and art in the gallery in Kosancicev Venac Street , and on this occasion released the new wine brand for which the name and label was designed from the drawing made by Momo Kapor.

“Open Eyes Dream”

Belgrade, April 17. 2010 (Serbia Today) - "The Open Eyes Dream" is the motto of the seventh "The Nights of the Museums", which will connect 48 cities in Serbia on May 15. More than a hundred cultural institutions will open their doors to present its new, interesting and selected programs. Tickets will soon be released for sale in Belgrade, Novi Sad and Valjevo, while in other cities the entrance will be free. The history of tattooing since the time of Maori, the house where George Vajfert lived, and the art of puppets making from 19th century to the present, will be all part of the program among others. The exhibition Halls of Belgrade will be divided into seven zones. Novi Sad is preparing a program at 40 location with the ideas that conects all generations. Visitors of the 'The Nights of the Museums "will be able to learn the secrets of the “zolnaj” jewelry making, to walk down the 19th century streets of Vojvodina and to participate in the "Archaeologist as a detective” program, and also win numerous awards. Although there is no Municipal Museum in Svilajnac, the City decided that for the first time they take a part in the event and present the program " Resava Museum trail”. Interesting features are designed in Subotica ,Sremski Karlovci, Bela Crkva, Zrenjanin, as well as in Sabac, Valjevo, Loznica, Kragujevac, Bor, Zajecar, Nis, Aleksandrovac.

Mesa Selimovic’s “Dervis I Smrt” (“Dervish and Death") opened Yugoslav Theatre Festival

Belgrade/Uzice April 16. 2010 (Serbia Today) - The first applause at the 14th Yugoslav Theatre Festival in Uzice was received last night by the Ensemble of Belgrade National Theatre, which performed the play "The Dervish and Death", directed by Egon Savin . Although this performance, the dramatization of the novel Mese Selimovic, which was prepared by Borislav Mihajlovic Mihiz, is for a long time at the repertoire of the Belgrade Theatre, auditorium of Uzice was fascinated by the cast, which played they roles with passion as if it was a premiere. The director Egon Savin said after the performance that he was glad that he came to the level in which he can be able to direct the texts of writers who he personally appreciates, like Selimović’s "Dervish and Death". Yugoslav Theatre Festival was supposed to be held in November, but a new flu epidemic then moved it to a mid of April. A five-member jury will give out nine festival awards - for best play, director, men's and women's role, set design and costume design, best walk-on, a young actor and a special prize. The jury is chaired by the Belgrade drama artist Djurdjija Cvetic, while other members are Dr. Ivan Medenica, theatreologist and theater critic in Belgrade, Dr. Darko Gasparovic, theatreologist, dramatist and writer together with the Croatian, Macedonian film director Martin Kočovski and Snezana Kovacevic, Costume National Theatre of Uzice. The second day of the festival, whose sponsors are the Ministry of Culture and the City of Uzice, performed Montenegrin National Theatre from Podgorica with the play "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf," Edward Olbija, directed by Dino Mustafic.