Serbian National Brands: BITEF

Belgrade International Theater Festival (BITEF) was initiated in 1967 and then from it has continually followed and acknowledged the latest trends of theater art.
As the festival grew and developed, it has become one of the top five European festivals and won a most respectable place in the theter world map. It is one of the major national cultural institutions. The importance of BITEF is strong enough to overcome all political and cultural boundaries. Therefore the history of BITEF may be regarded as the history of modern theater art.
In the revolutionary sixties and seventies of the 20th century, the initiators and pioneers of the festival – Mira Trailović, Jovan Ćirilov and their assocoates – were courageous in following tumultuous events in the world theater stage, the program of which was aboundant with avantgarde experiments.
In the eighties, BITEF presented to Belgrade the top achievements of the theater art and became one of a few festivals where experimental forms and important classic masperpieces were equally represented. In spite of the political and economic crisis and the sanctions in the last decade of the 20th century, owing to generous support from foreign cultural centers, government and NGOs, BITEF managed to keep peace with the world by promoting new trends in theater art and ultimate theater values. In this way BITEF has stayed in the family of great world festivals and proved that in the society it originated from it represents an antitraditional phenomenon and epochal value of the Serbian culture.