Henry the Sixth, a Belgrade National Theatre production staged by Nikita Milovojevic after a play by Shakespeare, was premiered in London as part of the Cultural Olympics. A film in which one of the stories was directed by Serbian film director Stefan Arsenijevic won two awards at the South East European Film Festival in Los Angeles. An exhibition of paintings of naïve artists – Slovaks from the town of Kovacica, Serbia, has been opened in Brussels. More in the Cultural Chronicle, prepared by Milena Gluvacevic.
Henry the Sixth, a Belgrade National Theatre production staged by Nikita Milovojevic after a play by Shakespeare, was premiered in the Globe Theatre in London as part of the Cultural Olympics and a festival dedicated to Shakespeare. For the first time in the 400 years’ history of this theatre the Serbian language was spoken on the stage, which, according to the director of the Belgrade National Theatre, Bozidar Djurovic, represents a great honour to the Serbian national theatre and to Serbia as a country. The production forms part of the programme of the Cultural Olympics and a festival dedicated to Shakespeare, which was opened on April 23 (the day Shakespeare died and possibly his birthday as well) and which encompasses all the 37 Shakespeare plays, each staged by a different country, in a different language. The title role in the Belgrade production, Henry the Sixth, is played by actor Hadzi Nenad Maricic and other actors include Predrag Ejdus, Tanasije Uzunovic, Boris Pingovic, Nebojša Kundacina, etc. as well as musicians Bora Dugic, Zoran Živkovic and Slobodan Prodanovic. The play was performed on May 11 and May 13. Two exhibitions representing Serbia have been opened as well – the Theatre of Laza Kostic (famous Serbian Romantic poet and translator of Shakespeare), by Zoran Maksimovic, and Homage to Shakespeare, by Dragan Stojkov.
An international omnibus film, Do Not Forget Me Istanbul, a collection of seven stories by seven directors, one of which is Serbian director Stefan Arsenijević, won two awards at the South East European Film Festival in Los Angeles (SEE Fest), held from May 3 to May 7, Belgrade producer "Art & popcorn" announced. An honourable mention and best cinematography award went to this film. Besides, the rights for the worldwide distribution of the film have been purchased by Sony Pictures. Do Not Forget Me Istanbul was the result of a project Istanbul – the Cultural Capital of Europe in 2010, when six internationally affirmed authors were invited to make films inspired by this fascinating city on the Bosphorus. Arsenijevic’s film stars Mira Furlan and Svetozar Cvetković, who play a married couple on a holiday in Istanbul. When the wife accidentally gets lost in streets crowded with people, she unexpectedly catches a glimpse of her son, whom she thought to have died a long time ago…
An exhibition of paintings of naïve artists – Slovaks from the town of Kovacica, in Vojvodina, northern Serbia, has been opened in the seat of the European Commission in Brussels. Visitors to the Presidential Gallery will be able to see the works from the Babka Gallery in Kovacica until June 4. The exhibition, entitled Slovakian Naïve Art in Serbia, has been staged under the auspices of the Serbian Ministry of Culture, the Province of Vojvodina and the Slovakian Office for Slovaks Living Abroad.