Awards 2019

PRESS RELEASE

The first festival of the Balkan cultural space Theatre at the Crossroads was held at the National Theatre in Niš between March 11th and 19th. In the past 9 days, the audience had an opportunity to see ten plays from eight countries, out of which eight took part in the contest (If Only Sombor Were Hollywood – National Theatre Sombor, We Are Born Naked and the Rest Is… MESS Sarajevo, Capital by the Royal Theatre Zetski dom Cetinje, Philoctetes by the Croatian National Theatre in Varaždin, Balkan Spy by the National Theatre in Belgrade, the Cherry Orchard by Ivan Radoev Drama and Puppet Theatre from Pleven in Bulgaria, Festen by Drama Theatre from Skopje Macedonia and the Twilight of the Gods by Slovene National Theatre in Maribor Slovenia). Over five thousand people visited the auditorium of the National Theatre in Niš, and over one hundred actors performed for them on stage. We hosted four hundred seventeen guests from the country and abroad, eighty-four participants took part in the accompanying program, and some seven hundred people attended the round table discussions and accompanying programs.

The three juries made the decisions: the professional jury, the jury of the round table of critics and the jury of journalists.

The professional jury composed of the president Mia Begović, an actress from Zagreb and the members: Katarina Kocevska, an actress from Skopje, Bogdan Costea, an actor and director from Arad, Branislav Mićunović, His Excellency Ambassador of Montenegro to Serbia and a director from Podgorica, and Enver Petrovci, an actor and professor from Priština, have reached the following decision:

THE AWARDS DECISION BY THE NATIONAL THEATRE IN NIŠ AT THE 2019 FESTIVAL THEATRE AT THE CROSSROADS

The professional jury made the unanimous decision and presented the following awards:

Award for Best Play……………………………THE TWILIGHT OF THE GODS
Award for Best Director………………………DALIBOR MATANIĆ

Acting Awards:

-Award for Best Actress…………………NATAŠA MATJAŠEC ROŠKER
– Award for Best Actor…………………..MARKO MARKOVIĆ
-Award for Best Young Actress……….JELENA LABAN
-Award for Best Young Actor………….PETJA LABOVIĆ
Award for Best Scenic Design …………MARKO JAPELJ
Award for Best Costume Design……….TATJANA RADIŠIĆ
Award for Original Stage Music………..IRENA POPOVIĆ DRAGOVIĆ
Award for Stage Movement……………..ANDREJA KULEŠEVIĆ
Special Award……………………………ACTING ENSEMBLE OF THE PLAY CAPITAL

EXPLANATION OF THE JURY

After a number of sessions, the last one held on March 18th, 2019, and after seeing all the plays, the professional jury has reached the UNANIMOUS decisions, respecting the artistic works and achievements, as well as the fundamental criteria defining the meaning of this Festival, in other words respecting the affirmation of similarities and diversity of cultural identity of countries and peoples sharing the same crossroads of European and world roads in the challenges and perspectives of the contemporary theatre.

The Award for Best Play is presented to Slovene National Theatre in Maribor for the play the TWILIGHT OF THE GODS, which, despite a very difficult theme, has used all of its elements to build and create the authentic theatrical magic.

The Award for Best Director is presented to DALIBOR MATANIĆ for the production THE TWILIGHT OF THE GODS. Dalibor Matanić expresses his directing process in several areas: reliable directing process, the reading of the global tragic theme of the birth of fascism, and in it the hopeless position of a man and his suffering. The jury has highly appreciated the director’s sovereign transposition of the famous film reading material into the authentic theatrical form and the ability of the director Dalibor Matanić, although being a film artistic creator, to affirm and present in this production the authentic reflection of the theatre.

The Award for Best Actress is presented to NATAŠA MATJAŠEC ROŠKER for the role of the Baroness Sophie von Essenbeck in the production THE TWILIGHT OF THE GODS. Her fascinating maturity as an actress affirmed the female principle in the dominant masculine world and the miniscuously selected details, worthy of superior talent and professional impeccability, directed the energy of the entire acting ensemble.

The Award for Best Actor is presented to MARKO MARKOVIĆ for the role of Ernest Bošnjak in the play IF ONLY SOMBOR WERE HOLLYWOOD. His acting performance included the segmentation of the character, giving the basic tone to the performance of the entire ensemble furiously leading it through the epochs of Sombor.

The Award for Best Young Actress is presented to JELENA LABAN for the role in CAPITAL and for the strength of a tragedienne and playfulness of a child.

The Award for Best Young Actor is presented to PETJA LABOVIĆ for the role of Martin von Essenbeck in the production THE TWILIGHT OF THE GODS who, using the minimum acting means drifted between the feminine and masculine principle, at the same time being the legitimate successor to the monstrous family, but its executor, as well.

The Award for Best Scenic Design is presented to MARKO JAPELJ for the production THE TWILIGHT OF THE GODS by the Slovene National Theatre in Maribor (Slovenia). The minimal set design simultaneously defined the atmosphere of a decadent salon and opened up the spaces pouring into the gas chamber.

The Award for Best Costume Design is presented to TATJANA RADIŠIĆ, for the play IF ONLY SOMOBOR WERE HOLLYWOOD who created the costumes playing on the sharp edge between Eros and Thanatos displaying on the scene the stylized echoes of the past epochs, but also the spirit of Sombor.

The Award for Original Stage Music is presented to IRENA POPOVIĆ DRAGOVIĆ for the production IF ONLY SOMOBOR WERE HOLLYWOOD, whose original music not only colored the atmosphere but also allowed the actors to realize their complex tasks.

The Award for Stage Movement is presented to ANDREJA KULEŠEVIĆ for the production IF ONLY SOMBOR WERE HOLLYWOOD of the National Theatre in Sombor (Serbia), whose solutions with incredible precision contributed to the fact that the eloquence of this play required no speech.

The Special Award is presented to the ACTING ENSEMBLE OF THE PRODUCTION CAPITAL of the Royal Theatre Zetski dom in Cetinje (Montenegro), which mesmerized the audience from the stage with extraordinary energy and craftsmanship leaving a powerful effect.

The JURY OF THE ROUND TABLE OF CRITICS, composed of Prof. Jelena Lužina, Ph.D., a theatrologist from Skopje, Filip Vujošević, a dramaturge from Belgrade, the manager of the National Theatre of the Republic of Srpska Prof. Nenad Novaković, Ph.D. from Banja Luka, Prof. Milivoje Mlađenović, Ph.D. from Sombor, a theatre critic Bojan Munjin from Zagreb and Belgrade, a theatre critic Aleksandra Glovacki from Belgrade, and a theatre critic Igor Burić from Novi Sad have reached the following decision:

DECISION OF THE JURY OF THE ROUND TABLE OF CRITICS

Having seen the eight plays that took part in the Festival competition, the Jury of the Round Table of Critics of the Theatre at the Crossroads Festival, composed of Jelena Lužina, Aleksandra Glovacki, Milivoje Mlađenović, Nenad Novaković, Bojan Munjin, Igor Burić, and Filip Vujošević, have reached the following decision at the session held on March 18, 2019:

The Round Table of Critics Award for Best Play by the majority of votes is presented to the production The Twilight of the Gods of the Slovene National Theatre in Maribor, directed by Dalibor Matanić and dramatized by Ivor Martinić.

Using the maximally coherent and well-rounded language of the theatre, as well as the suggestive and precise acting performance, the authorial team and the performers showed us the contemporary and current scenic reading of the story addressing political and ethical breaking points of the time we live in.

The jury has the need to emphasize that the decision has been made with the majority of voices and that there have been other two very valuable plays shortlisted: If Only Sombor Were Hollywood by Kokan Mladenović, National Theatre in Sombor and Capital by Andraš Urban, Royal Theatre Zetski dom in Cetinje.

The Jury of Journalists composed of Borka Trebješanin (“Politika“), Tanja Mijović (RTS 3), Miljana Nikolić (“Belle Amie“), Lidija Georgijev (RTS, branch office Niš) and the president Tatjana Nježić („Blic“), has reached the following decision:

DECISION OF THE JURY OF JOURNALISTS

The Jury of Journalists of the first festival „Theatre at the Crossroads“, composed of Borka Trebješanin (“Politika“), Tanja Mijović (RTS 3), Miljana Nikolić (“Belle Amie“), Lidija Georgijev (RTS, branch office Niš) and the president Tatjana Nježić („Blic“), at the session held on March 19 late evening, decided to present the BEST PLAY award to the production „The Twilight of the Gods“ by Ivor Martinić, directed by Dalibor Matanić and performed by the Slovene National Theatre in Maribor (Slovenia).

EXPLANATION

Inspired by the famous Visconti’s film, the play The Twilight of the Gods has reached the highest artistic levels where, in a dramatically powerful, exciting and responsive way refract the mutual influences, the union and the separation, in other words the crossroads of theatre and film expression, the history and present days, the individual and the society, the man with himself…

The acute contemporary diagnosis pulses from one scene to another, through the director’s enchanting script and the praiseworthy acting performance – everyone is and we are all the culprits of the twilight we live in. And the gods, whoever they may be, and the twilights, as well, feed on our condescension, greed and fears, even longings, and mindlessness, too.

There is a lot of us in us, the great Mira Stupica used to say, and this play proves that the good theatre illuminates in a man the crossroads of the decision– whether to be a part of the solution or a part of the problem.

President of the jury

Tatjana Nježić

The awards include the Theatre at the Crossroads statuette and charter designed by the graphic designer, Dragana Nikolić, and the monetary reward provided by the City of Niš.

Award for Best Play– 1 award;

Award for Directing– 1 award;

Award for best actors: 4 awards;

–Best Female Role Award – 1 award;

–Best Male Role Award – 1 award;

–Best Young Actress Award – 1 award;

–Best Young Actor Award– 1 award;

Award for Best Set Design – 1 award;

Award for Best Costume Design – 1 award;

Award for Original Stage Music – 1 award;

Award for Stage Movement – 1 award;

Round Table of CritiqueAward – 1 award;

Special Award – 1 award;

Audience Award for Best Play – 1 award;

Jury of Journalists Award– 1 award;