Bitef art director Jovan Cirilov passes away

BELGRADE - Jovan Cirilov, a Serbian theatrologist, art director and selector of the Bitef theatre festival since its establishment in 1967 and long-term director of the Belgrade-based Yugoslav Drama Theatre, died at 84 in Belgrade on Sunday, the Yugoslav Drama Theatre (JDP) said in a statement.

Cirilov was a founder of the Bitef festival, together with director Mira Trajilovic, and playwright at Atelje 212. He received numerous awards for his contribution to the theatre.

He was an "erudite, polyglot, lexicographer, chronologist of the society and theatre, modernist in constant war against conventions- one of the greatest personalities of the Serbian, Yugoslav and European culture, reads the JDP release.

As the Bitef selector, he was an extraordinary connoisseur of the world's theatre scene and brought to Belgrade the most renowned ensembles and directors (Brook, Bergman, Grotowski, Pina Bausch, Robert Wilson, Ronconi, Nuria Espert, Lyubimov, Dodin, the Living Theatre).

Cirilov authored novels, several collections of poems, theatre essays, books of memories, anthologies of plays (the Serbian contemporary drama in English, the English and American contemporary drama, the shortest plays in the world) and dictionaries.

He translated the plays by Christopher Fry, Brecht, Genet, Stoppard, Sam Shepard, Mamet, Marber and musical "Hair".

Jovan Cirilov got two Sterija awards, for his critical work and lifetime achievement, the October award from the City of Belgrade for his entire achievement, the Joakim Vujic award for contribution to the Serbian theatre, and France awarded him the distinction of Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters.

He was a selector of the international festival in Nancy...