For nearly six decades, the Belgrade International Theatre Festival (BITEF) has served as Serbia’s window to the global avant-garde. But preparations for its 59th edition in 2025 collapsed into turmoil when the festival’s Board rejected a proposed programme featuring Swiss director Milo Rau and his project The Pelicot Trial.
“What began as a program dispute has evolved into a telling reflection of Serbia’s cultural tensions.”
According to Rau and his team, the rejection amounted to an effective block of the performance . Two members of the festival’s artistic direction, Miloš Lolić and Borisav Matić, resigned in protest shortly afterward . Reports from Nova.rs indicate that the Board also discussed postponing the festival from its traditional September slot to late November.
Allegations and Counterstatements
Rau described the decision as a retaliatory act tied to his 2024 BITEF keynote, where he criticized Serbia’s lithium-mining projects . The BITEF Board, meanwhile, rejected any suggestion of political interference, citing internal approval procedures instead.
Coverage across Serbian and international media presents both accounts. While the alleged political motive remains unverified, the episode has become emblematic of how cultural and political pressures intersect in contemporary Serbia.
Broader Cultural Pressures
The dispute surfaced amid a period of tightening control within Serbia’s public cultural institutions. In mid-2025, the National Theatre in Belgrade introduced a new rulebook that restricts employees from making public political statements while performing their duties . Actors and ensemble members responded with open protest.
Independent cultural associations—including NKSS and Remont—have documented delays and opaque decision-making in state funding processes . Artists argue that such trends undermine cultural independence.
International Response and Solidarity
The blocking of The Pelicot Trial drew rapid response from Rau’s international collaborators. The networks Resistance Now and Wiener Festwochen issued public statements condemning the BITEF Board’s actions . In October 2025, the European Parliament held a plenary debate focused on the erosion of civic and artistic freedoms in Serbia . Prominent Serbian-born performance artist Marina Abramović also voiced support for students and activists earlier that year, praising their defense of democratic values.
A Festival Symbolizing a Larger Struggle
The 2025 BITEF events encapsulate a moment of reckoning for Serbia’s cultural policies. What began as an internal dispute has grown into an emblem of contested authority between artistic institutions and political governance.
“BITEF now sits at the crossroads of cultural prestige and political scrutiny.”
Whether viewed as bureaucratic mismanagement or as a form of politically motivated censorship, the debate signals how precarious artistic autonomy remains in Serbia’s public institutions. The festival that once symbolized avant-garde openness now stands as a measure of how easily that openness can be constrained.
References
The Belgrade International Theatre Festival—once a powerful engine of avant-garde culture in Southeastern Europe—is now at the center of a major debate on artistic freedom.
Following the rejection of Milo Rau’s The Pelicot Trial, resignations, public statements, and international reactions have thrust BITEF 2025 into the spotlight. The controversy highlights a broader struggle within Serbia’s cultural institutions over autonomy, transparency, and political pressure.
BITEF now stands as a test case for the future of artistic independence in the region. How cultural institutions navigate this moment will shape not only festivals, but the space artists occupy in public life.
#BITEF2025 #MiloRau #CulturalPolicy #ArtisticFreedom #SerbiaCulture #PerformingArts #Censorship #ArtsGovernance #EuropeanCulture #FreedomOfExpression
Danas, “BITEF Board Rejects Proposed Program,” September 2025
N1 Info, “Milo Rau: My Play Blocked for Political Reasons,” September 2025
Vreme Weekly, “Two Artistic Directors Resign from BITEF,” September 2025
Nova.rs, “Festival Board Suggests Postponement,” September 2025
Tages-Anzeiger, “Milo Rau slams Serbia’s lithium project,” October 2024
Politika, “BITEF Board Denies Political Interference,” September 2025
N1 Info, “Actors Protest New Rulebook at National Theatre,” June 2025
NKSS and Remont, “Statement on Cultural Funding Transparency,” July 2025
Council of Europe, Compendium of Cultural Policies and Trends in Europe, 2025 edition
Wiener Festwochen / Resistance Now Joint Statement, September 2025
European Parliament, “Debate on Serbia: Artistic and Civic Freedoms,” Plenary transcript, October 2025
The Guardian, “Marina Abramović on Serbian Students and Democracy,” May 2025
