As announced by the Youth Initiative for Human Rights, this year the festival is smaller than usual due to the coronavirus, but they find that it is very important to hold it, in compliance with all epidemiological measures.
“By restarting the negotiation process in Brussels and signing the Washington agreement, a step of a thousand miles has been made, but political and economic agreements are the framework, while the essence is in bringing the societies of Serbia and Kosovo closer together.” To get them to know each other, to hear about each other, to be with each other. To tell each other ‘Mirëdita, dobar dan!’”, said Ivan Đuric, program director of the Youth Initiative for Human Rights, which is one of the organizers of the festival.
During the three days of the festival, there will be debates on the negotiation process between Belgrade and Pristina, on Kosovo’s membership in UNESCO, as well as on cooperation between the youth of Serbian and Albanian societies. The goal of the festival is to initiate changes and create a tradition of cooperation through meetings of Serbian and Kosovo social and cultural communities, which will contribute to the permanent normalization of relations between Belgrade and Pristina.
At the festival, the Belgrade audience will be introduced to artists and performers who represent the modern Kosovo cultural scene.
The festival opens with the play “I am my own wife”, by Kushtrim Koliqi, in which Adrian Morina, the only actor on the stage, plays more than 30 characters and brings us the story of the difficult life of a transgender person – German Charlotte von Mahlsdorf, who survived the Nazi and Stasi regime.
On the second day of the festival, the audience will be able to attend the debate “Kosovo – Memory Heritage” at the Center for Cultural Decontamination, as well as to see the exhibition of the same title in the “Endžio” gallery in Dobračina.
On the last day of the festival, there will be a debate on the issues of transitional justice in Kosovo and its institutionalization and the festival will be closed by actor Tristan Halilaj reading excerpts from his book “Richard Gere was here”, a collection of stories originally published in Serbian.
Finally, the audience will be able to watch the film “Aga’s House”, which will be shown at 8.30 pm at the Center for Cultural Decontamination.
Inspiration for the festival “Mirëdita, dobar dan!” is Bekim Fehmiu, a famous Albanian, Kosovo, Belgrade, Yugoslav, and world actor, a symbol of unity and division, and the possibility of connecting two cultural spaces into a single whole.
Admission to all festival events is free, with prior registration. The unique festival “Mirëdita, dobar dan!”, which has been held in Belgrade since 2014, is organized by the Youth Initiative for Human Rights, the Civic Initiatives from Belgrade, and Integra from Pristina.
