Heartefact Pride Theater Festival Hartefaktov Prajd Pozorišni Festival

Heartefact          Hartefaktov
Pride               Prajd
Theater             Pozorišni
Festival            Festival

12.09-17.09.2021.

The third edition of the Heartefact’s Pride Theater Festival is being
                 held at the moment when the LGBTIQ+ community of Serbia is wai-
                 ting for same-sex partnerships to be legally regulated and when, owing
                 to the coronavirus pandemic, the issues of violence, discrimination and
                 freedom conquering have been relegated to the periphery. LGBTIQ+
                 persons are faced with additional pressure, besides those regular, silent
                 and established practices of denying their problems. Besides the con-
                 stant need to fight untruths as well as the intimidation of the majori-
                 ty of population, using various means such as the improvement of the
Heartefact       community’s position by adopting solidarity and fairer practices, being
                 at the same time well aware of the fact that the space of the common
Pride            has been seriously threatened by contemporary life and business, we are
Theater          organizing this festival with the intention of opening new spaces, que-
Festival         stions and poetics that rethink the key phenomena – important for the
                 community itself.
                      The thematic framework of this year’s festival is manipulations, whi-
                 ch represent an extension of the worrying right-wing political discourses
                 that exist across Europe and the world, but also in Serbia, as well as of
                 the fear of violence and regression caused by the growing intolerance,
                 hatred and open violence towards members of the LGBTIQ+ communi-
Theater rules.   ty in different countries.
                      In light of the fact that Belgrade will be the host of EuroPride 2022,
                 we feel it is important to speak out about all those marginalized, forgo-
                 tten or implied issues which may eventually contribute to improving the
                 life conditions of the LGBTIQ+ community in Serbia. This year’s festival
                 encourages a circle of exchange, dialogue, as well as horizontally conne-
                 cting authors, audiences, students, professionals and all those who may
                 be interested in attending it.
                      Through the selection of this year’s program, the artistic team of the
                 festival wishes to rethink various forms of manipulation, that is, why and
                 how we manipulate (the truth, situations and the given circumstances)
                 to protect ourselves, as well as manipulation for political purposes, no
                 matter whether we are the ones who are manipulated or the ones who
                 actively participate in the manipulation process. The plays, performan-

ces and lectures included in the festival program all provide different
perspectives on the theme.
     The play which will open this year’s festival, “An Ongoing Song”, by
Polish author Szymon Adamczak, is concerned with the issues of HIV
from a very intimate perspective, encountering, confronting and accep-
ting one’s altered state of health. By problematizing the issue of the HIV
virus which seemingly manipulates the body, the life circumstances, as
well as the choice of the partner and the surroundings, the author co-
urageously speaks about his own experience, therefore providing the
audience with one of the many possible perspectives for the coexistence
with HIV. The play “Mind the Gap” by Romano Nikolić (Croatia) rethinks
those hasty choices we make while defining the Other and the different.
By means of a station situation where the protagonists meet, the play
becomes an encounter of drag performances, tragic heroes and “moral”
revelations from the documentary material. The play “Water Drops on
Burning Rocks” by Fassbinder, directed by Jug Đorđević, deals with the
issue of the abuse of power positions, both from the predator’s and the
victim’s perspective. It further exploits the nature of the relationship
between two homosexual men in heterosexual marriages to illustrate
the full complexity of a woman’s position in contemporary society. The
play “Fear of Butterflies”, directed by Isidora Goncić, by taking a form of
duodrama, rethinks the limits of freedom, those who set the limits and
the price we have to pay for crossing the limits, as well as whether and
to what extent we are truly free. Carolina Bianchi will open a new festi-
val movement of art studio and audience’s insight into the process of
creating, exploring and producing performative art forms. This Brazilian
artist, who is currently living in Amsterdam, raises important questions
of the role and vulnerable position of women in performance practices.
     This year’s Heartefact’s Theater Festival has been supported by the
Ministry of Culture and Information of the Republic of Serbia, the City
of Belgrade and the national platform “Serbia Creates”. We are greatly
indebted to the Belgrade Drama Theater, the National Theater in Belgra-
de, the Institution of Culture “Vuk”, the Endžio HAB Gallery, the Cultu-
ral Center “Grad”, and to the whole team of Belgrade Pride.

“An Ongoing Song”                                           Beyond           Pride theater matinee
(The Netherlands, DAS Theater)                              nostalgia &      with the author of the play “An Ongoing Song” and
                                                            stigma.          the “Potent” organization
Sunday, September 12, 8:00 p.m.
“Raša Plaović” Stage, the National Theater in Belgrade
                                                                             Monday, September 13, 12 p.m., the Cultural Center “Grad”
                                                                             Participants: Szymon Adamczak, the “Potent” organization
“An Ongoing Song” is a piece of visual and physical theater which
addresses the issue of mistrust towards one own’s body. Using props
                                                                             On the first day of the festival, within its special program unit – the
made of latex and wood, as well as plants in medicine bottles alongsi-
                                                                             Pride theater matinee, the audience and young artists of various edu-
de laboratory glass containers, Szymon Adamczak and Billy Mullaney
                                                                             cational profiles will have an opportunity to talk to the author about
examine the corresponding agents between humans and the virus.
                                                                             his work on the play, his experience during the creation process, as
The play, which takes a form of a duet, attempts to understand and
                                                                             well as about what it means to be queer and an HIV positive artist in
manage the relationships in the presence of the HIV virus. Through
                                                                             today’s performance art practices. The members of the community
the reiteration and reinvestment of the inherited performative ge-
                                                                             and the guests of the festival will also have an opportunity to talk to
stures, the artists juggle the complexity of human relationships, ri-
                                                                             the partners from the “Potent” organization – the National Center
sk-taking, danger, desire, vulnerability, self-harm, dependency, loss of
                                                                             for Sexual and Reproductive Health. Besides, free testing for HIV will
innocence, morbid humor and affection. This performance piece is
                                                                             be provided at the Cultural Center “Grad” during the entire day.
the result of the artists’ wish to understand what it is like to live with
HIV nowadays. It intends to provide the audience with the insight
into the perspective which aims beyond nostalgia and stigma – the
concepts commonly related to HIV and AIDS.

Duration: 60 minutes
Directed by: Szymon Adamczak
Cast: Szymon Adamczak and Billy Mullaney
Set design: Paweł Szubert
Dramaturgy and music: Panna Adorjáni
Costume: Stefan Vella
Associates: Manolis Tsipos, Zhana Ivanova
Mentor: Jeroen Fabius

“Fear of Butterflies”                               The
(Serbia, The Institution of Culture “Vuk”           metamorphosis
and “Optimist” magazine)                            to freedom.

Monday, September 13, 8:00 p.m.,
The Institution of Culture “Vuk””

The play “Fear of Butterflies” concerns the issue of personal freedom,
betrayal and love which is viewed through the relationship among
actors from a number of different perspectives (gender, sexual and
political). Based on the biography of Vjeran Miladinović Merlinka
and the motifs of the novel “Kiss of the Spider Woman”, the play
attempts to answer the question of how we fight for freedom, what
freedom means and what its price is. The space of prison where the
action of the play is being performed forces its protagonists, Vjeran
and Nikola, to engage in an interesting activity of inventing, retelling
and imagining various film templates as a means of sheltering them-
selves, at least temporarily, from the reality they live in. By means of
interesting directorial ideas, through manipulation and passing over
in silence, the play brings to the stage two marginalized people (a
political prisoner and a male prostitute), thus showing all the dangers
of the Otherness in today’s world.

Duration: 80 minutes
Directed by: Isidora Goncić
Dramaturgy: Galina Maksimović
Cast: Dušan Kaličanin, Zoran Pajić, Svetislav Goncić
Set design: Milan Miladinović
Costume: Mina Miladinović
Producer: Predrag Azdejković
Organizer: Jovana Stojković

“Mind the Gap”                                 There are so many
(Croatia, The Croatian National                topics in the world
Theater in Varaždin)                           to talk about.

Tuesday, September 14, 8:00 p.m.
“Raša Plaović” Stage, the National Theater in Belgrade

The third festival day will see the performance of the play “Mind the
Gap” by Romano Nikolić. By situating the play’s protagonists at the
station, the director creates a drama situation whereby, according to
the author, “he raises the question of what it means to be the Other
and different, as well as of the extent to which we are actually diffe-
rent, being the Other”. By adopting a documentary approach to the
play, the protagonists’ encounters become the ground for the inter-
pretation of the many ways we see other people through different ste-
reotypes and prejudices that we bring to our relationships. By means
of intimate confessions and interwoven storylines, the play attempts
to stress the need for viewing all differences in identities, outlooks
on the world and policies from the perspectives of empathy and simi-
larities rather than from those of hatred, lack of understanding and
differences.

Duration: 80 minutes
Directed by: Romano Nikolić
Dramaturg: Olja Lozica
Cast: Hana Hegedušić, Rober Plemić, Iva Kraljević, Beti Lučić, Spa-
zam Orgazam
Costume and set designer: Zdravka Ivandija Kirigin
Music: Damir Šimunović
Video: Ivan Lik
Lighting designer: Vesna Kolarec
Production: The Croatian National Theater in Varaždin

“Water Drops on Burning Rocks ”                             Our limits
(Serbia, the Belgrade Drama Theater)                        determine
                                                            our lives.
Wednesday, September 15, 8:00 p.m.
“Predrag Pepi Laković” Stage, the Belgrade Drama Theater

The play “Water Drops on Burning Rocks” by Jug Đorđević, based on the
text by Rainer Fassbinder, aims at revealing, by means of the relations-
hip between the actor and the director working together on the play, the
dynamics of power(lessness) which frequently dominates the relation-
ships outside the professional domain. To point that out more cleraly,
using the relationships between two homosexual couples as well as the
relationships of two men onstage and offstage, the play further attempts
to answer the questions as to why it is so difficult for us to jump out of
our own roles and to what extent the dynamics of heteronormative re-
lationships determine our life – more often than not to a greater extent
than it is determined by those decisions we consider our own.

Duration: 90 minutes
Directed by: Jug Đorđević
Text: Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Translated by: Jelena Kostić Tomović
Dramaturg: Tijana Grumić
Cast: Ljubinka Klarić, Iva Ilinčić, Pavle Pekić, Aleksandar Vučković
Set designer: Andreja Rondović
Costume designer: Velimirka Damjanović
Composer: Julija Đorđević
Stage movement: Damjan Kecojević
Lighting designer: Srđan Jovanović
Organizer: Biljana Ramić, PhD
Stage manager: Jovana Matić

“Cadela Força – Chapter One: The Bride
and Goodnight Cinderella” (Brazil)
                                                       Send me to
Thursday, September 16, 8:00 p.m.
                                                       sleep.
Endžio HAB, 4 Dobračina Street

Carolina Bianchi, a Brazilian artist, will close the festival week by
working, through studio visits, on her new project “Cadela Força –
Chapter One: The Bride and Goodnight Cinderella”. By rethinking
the boundaries of women’s art, a woman’s position in performative
art practices and the way some of them treated the issues of violence,
abuse and neglect, the author will present the results of her seven-day
work in the form of a performance. This unique theater prologue evo-
kes the tragic story of the last performance by Italian performance
artist Pippa Bacca, who was killed during her performance of “Brides
on Tour”, and makes the author reflect on performance and theater
while reviving the play that sends her to sleep. During her stay in
Belgrade, Carolina Bianchi will be collaborating with applied music
composer Irena Dragović Popović.

Directors’ biographies:                                                                Prohić and produced by the Marin Držić Theater from Dubrovnik, he received
                                                                                       the Croatian Actor Award for Outstanding Achievement of Young Artists Under
SZYMON ADAMCZAK is a Polish artist, writer and dramaturg, who works                    Age 28 in 2016. He is a founder and an artistic director of the Arterarij organi-
with theater and performance. He studied art history and philosophy at the Uni-        zation. As an artistic director of Arterarij, he directed the plays “Pogledaj me”
versity of Poznań, and graduated from DAS Theater in Amsterdam. He worked              (“Look at me”), “Posljedice” (“Consequences”) and “Tužne pjesme za sretne
as a dramaturg at the National Theater in Kraków from 2015 to 2017. Currently,         susrete” (“Sad Songs for Happy Encounters”) and co-directed the play “Čeka-
Szymon is concerned with developing art practices related to cultural, artistic        nja” (“The Waiting Hours”). In 2017, the play “Look at me” was awarded for its
and socio-political legacy from the HIV/AIDS struggle over the past few deca-          outstanding contribution to theater arts by the Croatian Association of Drama
des. “An Ongoing Song” is a result of his working with DAS Theater. After its          Artists and Croatian Radiotelevision.
premiere in 2019, “An Ongoing Song” was presented at the third edition of the
HIV Howler. Szymon is currently working for the STUDIO theater gallery in              JUG ĐORĐEVIĆ, a director and translator. He worked as assistant director
Warsaw as the Head of Dramaturgy and is volunteering for the HIV Vereniging,           on the musicals “Mamma Mia!” and “The Phantom of the Opera” (directed by
the organization for people with HIV.                                                  Jug Radivojević, the Theater on Terazije), as well as on the plays “Mary Stuart”,
                                                                                       Friedrich Schiller (directed by Miloš Lolić) and “Cyrano”, Edmond Rostand (di-
ISIDORA GONCIĆ has graduated from the Theater and Radio Directing Depar-               rected by Ivan Vuković), both produced by the National Theater in Belgrade.
tment at the Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Belgrade (FDA), in the class of prof. Ivana   He worked as an assistant to the director Jernej Lorenci on his authorial pro-
Vujić. She has worked as assistant director on the following plays: “Grk Zorba”        ject “Kingdom of Heaven” (co-produced by BITEF and the National Theater
(“Zorba the Greek”) (Mihajlo Vukobratović, The Theater on Terazije and Grad            in Belgrade). He signed his first professional directing contract with the “Bora
Theater Budva), “Play Popović” (Ivana Vujić, Atelje 212 Theater and the Cultural       Stanković” Theater in Vranje for the play “Kepler 452-b”, based on the text by
Center of Pančevo), “Glavo Luda” (“A Crazy Head”) (Nikola Bulatović, The Thea-         Tijana Grumić. In early 2019, he directed the play “Sumnja” (“Doubt”) by John
ter on Terazije and the Cultural Center of Čačak), “Zona Zamfirova” (Kokan Mla-        P. Shanley at the National Theater in Kraljevo. In the same year, his work on
denović, The Theater on Terazije), “Izdaja” (“Betrayal”) (Goran Šušljik, the Yugo-     the plays “Doubt” and “Triptih o radnicima” (“Triptych on Workers”) earned
slav Drama Theater), “Slučajevi/Lost in Serbia” (“Cases/Lost in Serbia”) (Kokan        him a special directing award at the “Joakim Vujić” Festival in Kraljevo. Late
Mladenović, the DADOV Theater), “Kazimir i Karolina” (“Kazimir and Karoline”)          in 2019, he directed the play “Nečista krv” (“Impure Blood”), dramatized by
(Snežana Trišić, Atelje 212 Theater). She has directed the following plays: “Muza“     Tijana Grumić, at the “Bora Stanković” Theater in Vranje and the play “Jedan
(“the Muse”), Muza Pavlovna (the Institution of Culture “Vuk Karadžić”, 2012),         Edip” (“One Oedipus”) by Armando Nasimento Roza at the National Theater in
“Poziv” (“A Call”), Darko Marjanović (the DADOV Theater, 2012), “Princ Žaba”           Niš. He received a directing award for the play “Impure Blood” at the “Theater
(“The Frog Prince”), David Mamet (“Mata Milošević” Stage, FDA, 2013), “Ćelava          Spring” Festival in Šabac. In early 2021, he directed the play by Rainer Werner
Pevačica” (“The Bald Soprano”), Eugène Ionesco (Atelje 212 Theater, 2014), “Lep-       Fassbinder “Water Drops on Burning Rocks” at the Belgrade Drama Theater.
tirica” (“The She-Butterfly”), Milovan Glišić / Dimitrije Kokanov (the DADOV
Theater, 2015), “Štucanje” (“Hiccups”), Vladimir Zuev (the Institution of Culture      CAROLINA BIANCHI is a Brazilian theater director, dramaturg and perfor-
“Vuk”, 2016), “Pepeljuga” (“Cinderella”), Rodgers & Hammerstein’s (Emotion             mance artist. She is currently living in Amsterdam, where she is completing her
Production), “Od a do da” (“From A to Yes”) (the Institution of Culture “Vuk”,         master’s studies at DAS Theater. Her theater research rethinks the boundary
2017) and many others.                                                                 among theater, performance and choreography and is concerned with the issues
                                                                                       of patriarchy, phantasmagoria, historical pacts, gender as crisis, colonial herita-
ROMANO NIKOLIĆ was born in 1988 in Dubrovnik. He graduated from the                    ge and overeroticism. Her research includes physical practices which are com-
Academy of Dramatic Art in Zagreb in 2015. In 2013, his work earned him the            pletely contrary to the imaginary, in an attempt to interfere with the historical
Croatian Actor Award for Best Actor in Puppet Show or Play for Children and            ground. She is a director of the collective of artists “Horse Face” in São Paulo.
Youth for the role of Son in the musical “The Little Match Girl”, directed by          Her latest projects include “The Magnificent Tremor” (2020), “LOBO” (2018),
Marko Juraga and produced by the Aplauz Theater. For the role of Mirko Brada-          the performance “I Wanna Make Love” (2017) and the lecture performance
rić in the play “Duša od krumpira” (“A Soul Made of Potato”), directed by Ozren        “Kill Me with Pleasure” (2016).

About the Heartefact Fund:

Ever since its establishment in 2009, the Heartefact Fund has organi-
zed and co-organized numerous events in the field of arts and culture
which focus on critical rethinking of contemporary society. Heartefact
pays special attention to those marginalized and discriminated social
groups, thus creating space for artistic communication about poignant
social issues. The center of its activity is socio-politically engaged thea-
ter and visual production. Being one of the members of the Organizing
Committee of Pride Week, Heartefact has actively participated in the
development, organization and implementation of the programs which
aim at promoting, protecting and fighting for the rights of LGBTIQ+
community in Serbia and the region for more than 10 years.

                                                                               Theater rules.