If This Were A Movie from the Festival of Small and Experimental Theatre in Sarajevo.
If This Were a Movie (KAD BI OVO BIO FILM…]
The International Theater Festival (MESS) has been held in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina since the 1960s and welcomes numerous theaters from all over the world. It initially started out as a festival of experimental and alternative performances (MESS is literally an abbreviation for: Small and Experimental Stages, Sarajevo). However, it soon outgrew this format and became one of the major theatre events in Former Yugoslavia. The best classical plays found a place there along with the best accomplishments in alternative theatre. With the beginning of the Bosnian war (1992 – 1995), the Festival was discontinued, but, by 1993 and with a new Bosnian-centric focus, it had already changed into an International Theatre and Film Festival. Regardless of the exceptionally difficult circumstances (as Sarajevo was under siege all four years), many theater plays and documentary films were presented. The MESS also organized numerous art exhibitions and managed to publish a number of new books, as well as to organize the “After the End of the World” film festival at that time.