This year was meant to mark the 60th anniversary of Bitef, a festival that has, for the local and international theatre scene alike, represented a space for artistic experimentation, critical thought, international dialogue, and freedom of expression. Instead, for the past two years, alongside numerous other actors on the cultural scene, Bitef has been subjected to various forms of financial, programming, and administrative repression. In the process, Bitef has become a prime example of a public cultural good being effectively held hostage by a government with a mind of its own.

Yet last year demonstrated that what makes Bitef relevant—both locally and internationally—is not its administrative structures, but the artistic community that has built it, and that Bitef itself has helped build over the course of six decades. Last year, prompted by the ongoing crisis surrounding Bitef, as well as the overt censorship of last year’s festival selection by the Board, numerous cultural workers chose to speak out and say “no” to such practices. Their response resulted in a self-organised, guerrilla edition of the festival, named ne:Bitef. The initiative resonated both across the region and internationally.
This year, solidarity from the international artistic community has resulted in six out of seven productions withdrawing from the originally announced official Bitef selection. The seventh show remained in the programme despite its director’s opposition to it. The acts of solidarity witnessed last year and this year demonstrate that those in power may be able to seize an institution, but they cannot seize the people that need it and for whom that institution holds meaning.
This is why ne:Bitef continues this year: as a collective, rebellious and liberatory act of civil disobedience and creativity—as the historically independent Užice Republic in the midst of the otherwise occupied culture. This year’s edition took the form of a collectively organised, horizontally structured festival of micro-stages, welcoming audiences across the city on 20 September, from 12:00 to 18:00. Admission to all sixty locations was free.

It is worth noting that the first ne:Bitef was created in response to last year’s censorship and the historic absence of the institutional festival. It took place in December 2025 as an act of self-organisation by a large part of the cultural sector and the wider public, with immense support from students. Against virtually impossible odds, this guerrilla undertaking was successfully realised, continuing the avant-garde tradition for which Bitef has become known around the world.

Read more about ne:Bitef here

My Balkans participated in the American Theatre Avant-Garde programme, curated by Ana Miljanić, dedicated to the legacy of American avant-garde theatre companies and artists who participated in and significantly shaped the early editions of Bitef. As part of the programme, Mia Yu and Beka Vučo were featured through video contributions.

Programme:
The Living Theatre (Judith Malina and Julian Beck), The Performance Group (Richard Schechner), Bread and Puppet Theater (Peter Schumann), La MaMa Repertory Troupe (Andrei Șerban), The Open Theatre (Joseph Chaikin), The Ridiculous Theatrical Company (Charles Ludlam), Mabou Mines, Squat Theatre, and others.

(P)artizan Microsсene reflected on the legacy of the American theatre avant-garde through themes of anti-war and social activism, protest, resistance, and the challenges that have accompanied Bitef since its beginnings.