Andrej Boka: “It is fascinating to see how children process the loss of a loved one”

33rd International Festival of Children’s Theatres - Subotica – Day 2 On

Monday, September 21 - the second day of the 33rd International Festival of Children’s Theatres - Subotica - three productions were featured in the competition programme: The Forgotten Story by the Children’s Theatre of the Republic of Srpska, Butterflies in Love by the Subotica Children’s Theatre, and Alice’s Dreams by the Kragujevac Theatre for Children and Youth.

The Forgotten Story, performed at the National Theatre, is a tender story about the affection between a grandson and his grandmother. The authors are Mina Petrić and Andrej Boka, who also directed the production.

“The starting point for this production was a question my daughter asked me. When she realised that people die, she asked me if Grandma would die too. So, together with Mina Petrić, we began working on the story. I felt it would be fascinating to see how children can accept or understand the loss of a loved one, while also, in some way, coming to understand that those people always remain with us. It is important to find some kind of comfort in telling or remembering the stories that our grandmothers, or other people close to us who will one day leave us, once told us. From a directorial point of view, I wanted to tell the story using minimal means, trusting that this would be enough to awaken and stimulate the children’s imagination,” said Andrej Boka.

The puppet production Butterflies in Love, written and directed by Amela Vučenović and based on an ancient Chinese legend, was performed at the Subotica Children’s Theatre using the traditional Chinese shadow theatre technique.

Actor Marko Vujević spoke about the production: “For me, this is a new form of theatre. We work with traditional Chinese theatre, combining shadow theatre and puppetry, and for me this has been a very inspiring experience. I provide the voices for several different characters, while my colleagues animate the puppets on the screen. It was challenging, but also fascinating to animate the characters solely through the voice while watching the scene unfold.”

Alice’s Dreams by the Kragujevac Theatre for Children and Youth was performed on the Jadran Stage of the National Theatre. Created by Luana Gramegna, the production is a poetic and visual exploration of the transformative power of dreams, play and wonder.

“The production is called Alice’s Dreams because it was inspired by Alice in Wonderland, but it was subsequently developed through improvisation. Children respond to the puppets and their animation, while adults recognise themselves in their own thoughts and the personal struggles they experience. We ask ourselves: at what point did we forget how to dream, how can we become children again, even for a moment, and play? The very beginning of the production addresses this topic with the character of Alice all grown up, and her younger self who tries to shake her out of that state and stop her from being so stiff and restrained. In the end, she returns to herself, to who she really is,” said actress Dubravka Brkić.

The traditional Student Festival Poster Exhibition was opened to public at the Danilo Kiš Foundation for Youth Culture and Creativity, featuring works by students of the Faculty of Applied Arts in Belgrade.

“The jury is always faced with a difficult task. It is hard to choose, from among the 16 works by students of the Faculty of Applied Arts in Belgrade, those that are first among equals, because all the solutions are highly valuable, individual and rich,” said Mile Tasić, art critic and one of the jury members who selected the best student posters. “Theatre productions are experienced live, but afterwards they remain only in our memories and in documentation. Posters, however, remain visible forever. The student posters, too, will become part of that lasting record – they will be archived at the Open University and the Theatre Museum of Vojvodina, as well as in other archives,” Tasić added.

The first prize went to Nađa Mihić, while Petar Šubarević and Ksenija Imperl took second and third place, respectively.

An exhibition dedicated to the 2026 recipients of the Little Prince Lifetime Achievement Award, Svetlana Mihajlović and Todor Valov, was opened at the Gallery of the Open University Subotica.

At the opening, Ilija Tatić, the festival’s executive producer and director of the Open University Subotica, emphasised that the exhibition offers an opportunity to showcase Svetlana Mihajlović’s rich career at her home theatre, noting that many of her productions have also been performed in Subotica. “We are also familiar with Todor Valov’s productions, as they were performed on our stages for many years. This speaks not only to the quality of his work, but also to the significance of this artist for Serbian and regional theatre, and beyond,” Tatić concluded.

At Hotel Patria, the monograph 70 Years of the Children’s Theatre of the Republika Srpska was promoted, along with the 23rd issue of the puppetry arts journal Niti and the 16th collection of essays, Theatre for Children: an Artistic Phenomenon.

As part of the film programme, the film Chickenhare and the Secret of the Groundhog was screened at Eurocinema.

The workshop Speech Disorders in Preschool and School-Age Children and the Puppet as a Medium for Speech Development, led by Branka Rudman, was held from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. at the Danilo Kiš Foundation for Youth Culture and Creativity.

The second festival day also marked the beginning of the 17th International Research Forum on Children and Youth Theatre, which will be held at the Subotica City Library through 24 September. This year’s Forum focuses on research under the theme The Phenomenon of Space and Environment in Theatre for Children and Youth. It is produced by the Open University Subotica and the Theatre Museum of Vojvodina in Novi Sad.

On the third day of the 33rd International Festival of Children’s Theatres - Subotica, Tuesday, September 22, audiences will be able to see the following productions in the competition programme: Where the Leaves Blow by Arad Goc Theatre Company from Wales (Subotica Children’s Theatre, 10 a.m.); Ojoj: The Great Story of a Little Line by Pinocchio Theatre from Łódź, Poland (National Theatre Subotica, 12 p.m.); and The Magic Flute by the Youth Theatre from Novi Sad (Jadran Stage, 5 p.m.). As part of the film programme, Heidi: the Rescue of the Lynx will be screened at Eurocinema at 11 a.m.

The entire festival programme is available on the festival website: https://www.lutfestsubotica.net/

The International Festival of Children’s Theatres - Subotica is traditionally supported by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Serbia, the Provincial Secretariat for Culture, Public Information and Relations with Religious Communities, and the City of Subotica. The Theatre Museum of Vojvodina acts as the festival’s production partner, while the Open University Subotica serves as its executive producer.