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  • We are republishing a column by Branko Rosić, originally published in Nedeljnik, exploring the connections between Serbs and Irish. In just a few years, the Belgrade Irish Festival has turned from a small event into one of the most important festivals in Belgrade. This was shown by this year’s edition, which I have no idea which edition it was…  There is this bond and love between Serbs and Ireland. Even in the depressed nineties, there were St. Patrick’s celebrations in Belgrade. Maybe it started in that decade?  In isolated, depressed Serbia, the Orthodox Celts (band) performed Irish folk music and played to people who fantasized about an Ireland you may never see. Some evenings, I even watched ‘characters’ and girls Irish dancing in Belgrade caffes. To be honest, I’ve never taken to that kind of music, so even in Dublin I dodged offers from pubs with that kind of music. I’m......

    31 March, 2026 0 Likes

  • The Belgrade Irish Festival (BIF) will open with a thematic visual arts exhibition inspired by the work and ideas of Samuel Beckett, a key figure of 20th-century Irish art and culture. Titled “Siege in the Room,” the exhibition will open on March 12 at Bioskop Balkan. Works emerging from the atmospheres of Beckett’s writings will be presented by prominent Serbian and regional artists: Vana Urošević and Zoran Todović, Marija Ćalić, Zoran Dimovski, Aleksandar Denić and Nikola Šuica. The exhibition will feature diverse forms and dimensions across media including drawing, silk embroidery, photo prints, acrylic transfer, transformed objects, and video. The curators are Nikola Šuica, professor at the Faculty of Fine Arts, and Ksenija Samardžija, director of the Saša Marčeta Foundation. “The selected works are by artists who have been immersed in Beckett’s evocative world for years and who carry forward his themes of existential collapse. Through both recent works and......

    04 March, 2026 0 Likes

  • As part of the 14th Belgrade Irish Festival, audience will have the opportunity to attend the European premiere of the performance “Beckett / Poetry”, performed by award-winning Irish actors Stephen Rea and Ruth Negga. The play is scheduled for March 15 and 16 at Atelje 212. The production is directed by Alan Gilsenan, a renowned Irish film and theatre director and former long-time director of the Irish Film Institute. The performance will be staged at Atelje 212, a theatre whose history is closely connected to the work of Samuel Beckett, the father of the Theatre of the Absurd and one of Europe’s and Ireland’s greatest literary figures. Beckett’s play “Waiting for Godot” was performed for the first time in Eastern Europe in Belgrade, on the stage of this very theatre, in the autumn of 1956. According to theatre historians, this was one of the most revolutionary moments in the history......

    26 February, 2026 0 Likes

  • As part of the Beogradski irski festival (BIF), Irish Film Week will take place from March 14 to 20 – a seven-day programme presenting a representative selection of contemporary Irish feature and documentary films, accompanied by conversations with filmmakers and special guests. This year’s film stars and guests of Belgrade are acclaimed Irish filmmakers: director Neil Jordan, actor Stephen Rea, best known for his collaborations with Jordan, and Oscar-nominated Irish actress Ruth Negga. Jordan and Rea will be presented with the Golden Seal of the Yugoslav Film Archive for their contribution to the art of film. Audiences will also have the opportunity to watch the now-classic The Crying Game, which won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay, a BAFTA for Best Film, and a total of 21 awards. (March 20, Yugoslav Film Archive). Irish Film Week opens with Christy, a notable debut feature that captured the attention of European......

    19 February, 2026 0 Likes

  • Oscar winner Neil Jordan, acclaimed actors Stephen Rea and Ruth Negga, along with numerous directors, comedians, musicians, writers and visual artists from Ireland, will present their work at the 14th Belgrade Irish Festival (BIF), the largest event dedicated to contemporary Irish culture in the region, from March 12 to 21. This year, BIF connects two eras of Irish culture: the contemporary scene, represented by leading Irish film and theatre artists, and the legacy shaped half a century ago by Samuel Beckett, one of the most influential writers of 20th-century Irish and European literature. Beckett’s legacy runs through all segments of this year’s festival programme. Audiences will have the opportunity to see an exclusive theatre piece inspired by Beckett’s poetry at Atelje 212, the theatre that introduced Beckett to Belgrade audiences 70 years ago, as well as 19 films based on his works and two exhibitions by Serbian and Irish artists......

    12 February, 2026 0 Likes

  • The Belgrade Irish Festival (BIF), the leading event dedicated to Irish culture in Serbia and Southeast Europe, invites volunteers to join the team of its 14th edition, taking place from 12 to 21 March. Volunteering at BIF offers an opportunity to gain hands-on experience in event organization, production, and promotion within an international environment. It is also a unique chance for volunteers to meet Irish artists, experience Irish culture first-hand, and connect with Irish music, film, literature, history, theatre, storytelling — and, above all, with people. The Belgrade Irish Festival is a multidisciplinary cultural festival held every March in Belgrade, showcasing contemporary Irish culture through film, music, theatre, literature, and visual arts. Taking place at various venues across the city, the festival aims to encourage cultural exchange and foster connections between the Irish and regional cultural scenes. As every year, this edition of BIF brings programs that build strong links......

    17 January, 2026 2 Likes

  • The Belgrade Irish Festival and Literature Ireland are seeking applications from creative writers for a residential bursary in Belgrade, Serbia. This is an opportunity for an Irish writer to travel to Serbia and live and work in the exciting cultural capital of Belgrade. The residency will take place from 20 February – 22 March 2026. The bursary will be awarded to a practising writer from the island of Ireland. Travel, living expenses and accommodation will be covered by Literature Ireland. The Belgrade Irish Festival will coordinate the residency locally. The successful candidate will be asked to work on their current writing project, and to immerse themselves in Belgrade’s rich literary and cultural life in the run up to the annual Belgrade Irish Festival. Towards the end of the residency, the successful candidate will participate fully in the festival, including at least one public event focusing on their work. This residency......

    26 November, 2025 0 Likes

  • Neil Jordan, one of Ireland’s most acclaimed filmmakers and the country’s most internationally recognized screenwriter and director, will be the guest of honor at the 13th Belgrade Irish Festival. The festival will open with a screening of his film Michael Collins on March 8 at 7:00 PM at the Yugoslav Film Archive. Following the screening, Jordan will engage in a conversation with the audience, moderated by Nicholas O’Neill, a writer, film producer, and curator from Dublin. On this occasion, Neil Jordan will be awarded the Golden Seal of the Yugoslav Film Archive for his outstanding contribution to cinema. With 19 feature films to his name, Neil Jordan has won an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay (The Crying Game), two BAFTA Awards, the Golden Lion, the Silver Bear, as well as the French Order of Arts and Letters. In addition to his film career, Jordan is a successful fiction writer.......

    04 March, 2025 0 Likes

  • After a successful performance at BITEF Theatre last year, the internationally acclaimed Irish theatre company Fishamble and actor Pat Kinevane return to the Belgrade Irish Festival. This time, they will present Silent—a play that earned them the prestigious Olivier Award. Silent is a touching story about homeless man McGoldrig, a man who once had a beautiful life but lost everything—including his mind. Now, he revisits his past through the romantic world of Rudolph Valentino, Hollywood’s first great screen idol. Those who saw Pat Kinevane in King last year—watching him embody Elvis Presley on stage, mop in hand, dancing, singing, and engaging with the audience—will certainly want to see him again as the lonely McGoldrig. This time, Kinevane appears not only as an actor but also as a playwright, having written the script for Silent. The play Silent will be performed at BITEF Theatre on Friday, March 14, at 8:00 PM.......

    04 March, 2025 0 Likes

  • The Belgrade Irish Festival (BIF) and the “Monolog” gallery will exclusively present the exhibition “Godard Bardo” as part of this year’s BIF. The exhibition will showcase 13 frames from the iconic Jean-Luc Godard film Contempt (French: Le Mépris), starring the legendary Brigitte Bardot. The exhibition will open on Thursday, March 6th at 7:00 PM and will run for the next month. The exhibition is curated by Irish visual artist Jean Curran, one of the few photographers in the world who uses the nearly extinct “dye-transfer” photographic technique. This technique involves manual photo processing and a special process of applying color directly to photographic paper. The result is authentic, visually striking photographs dominated by rich, saturated colors, offering a new way to portray the film’s frames. All the prints presented by Curran are based on the original film negatives from Contempt, with permission from French StudioCanal, which holds the distribution and......

    28 February, 2025 0 Likes

  • This year, during Irish Film Week (March 8-14), you will have the opportunity to watch 15 films – including classics by Neil Jordan, black comedies, love stories, and films about contemporary Ireland, as well as films tackling important social issues such as mental health and women’s empowerment. Neil Jordan, a star of Irish cinema and the most internationally acclaimed screenwriter and director from Ireland, will be the honorary guest of the 13th Belgrade Irish Festival (March 6-17, 2025) and will visit Belgrade for the first time in March. Irish Film Week will open with Jordan’s historical biographical drama Michael Collins (March 8, 19:00), about the legendary Irish revolutionary Michael Collins, celebrated for his role in the fight for Irish independence from Great Britain in the early 20th century. Liam Neeson, who plays Michael Collins, won the Best Actor award at the 53rd Venice Film Festival. Julia Roberts stars as Collins’......

    19 February, 2025 0 Likes

  • The renowned Irish jazz diva, Mary Coughlan, will perform in Serbia for the first time this March as a special guest of the 13th Belgrade Irish Festival. Often called the “Irish Billie Holiday”, Coughlan is known for her emotional and raw interpretations as well as provocative interaction with the audience. She will take the stage in Belgrade on March 13, performing at Dom omladine Beograda. Her music blends jazz, blues, folk, and rock, while music critics recognize influences of Billie Holiday, Bessie Smith, Édith Piaf, and Peggy Lee in her work. Last year, she released her latest album, “Repeat Rewind,” celebrating 40 years on the international music scene. In Belgrade, she will perform with her four-piece band, presenting a carefully selected repertoire that showcases the best of her musical legacy. Mary sings about heartbreak and lost love, but also about crises and addiction, a battle she has personally fought for......

    17 February, 2025 0 Likes

  • Renowned Irish film director Neil Jordan and exceptional jazz and blues singer Mary Coughlan will visit Serbia for the first time this March as guests of the 13th Belgrade Irish Festival (BIF), taking place from March 6 to 17. This year’s BIF lasts for 12 days and will feature over 40 events across the city. The festival will conclude, as always, with the St. Patrick’s Day celebration on March 17, a national holiday in Ireland. On that day, some of Belgrade’s most iconic buildings will be illuminated in green, following a tradition embraced by many world capitals. “This year, BIF opens with an exclusive exhibition, ‘Godard Bardot,’ inspired by Jean-Luc Godard’s film ‘Contempt’ starring Brigitte Bardot, created by Irish visual artist Jean Curran. For the first time, Bardot has allowed her nude scenes from the film to be reinterpreted using a special photographic technique and displayed in an exhibition,” said......

    06 February, 2025 0 Likes

  • With its 12th edition this year, the Belgrade Irish Festival once again confirmed its place as one of the key events in Belgrade’s cultural calendar in March. This year, a special contribution came from the legendary Irish filmmaker Jim Sheridan, whose work had Belgraders revisiting classic films and rediscovering his masterpieces. We also made a new leap forward – for two nights in a row, Bitef Theatre was sold out as the audience got to know Pat Kinevane, an extraordinary, somewhat extravagant theater actor, along with the renowned theater company Fishamble. Seven days of Irish cinema at the Yugoslav Film Archive, two photography exhibitions at Parobrod and Dorćol Platz, numerous conversations and gatherings with visiting Irish artists as well as those who have long lived and created in Belgrade – these are just some of the highlights of the 12th BIF! We extend our gratitude to this year’s partners, whose......

    01 April, 2024 0 Likes

  • Irish director and screenwriter Jim Sheridan was awarded the Golden Seal of the Yugoslav Film Archive (Jugoslovenska Kinoteka) for his outstanding contribution to the film art at the opening of the 12th Belgrade Irish Festival (BIF). The award was presented to him by Ksenija Zelenović, the editor of the film program at this institution, on behalf of the Film Archive. Addressing the audience, Sheridan expressed his delight at being back in Serbia and hoped that Serbia would remain open to the world. Following the award ceremony, the audience attended a screening of the film “My Left Foot,” which brought Sheridan and Irish cinema to worldwide acclaim. The film is a true story about the Irish poet and painter Christy Brown, who had cerebral palsy and could only use his left foot. According to Sheridan, this film symbolizes perseverance and significantly influenced the perception of people with developmental disabilities in Ireland.......

    08 March, 2024 0 Likes