Festival history
Joakimfest International Theater Festival
Princely Serbian Theatre, Kragujevac
Podeli:
International theater festival – JoakimInterFest (Joakimfest), was named after one of the most important figures of the Serbian theater, Joakim Vujić (1772-1847). Writer, comedian, translator, traveler and manager of the first Serbian theater founded in Kragujevac, at the time capital of Serbia in 1835, Joakim Vujić is one of the most controversial and intriguing figure in Serbian theater history.
His libertarian spirit, an impressive number of works, which he left behind and all that he did for the beginnings of the development of organized theater life in Serbia, earned him the epithet – “father of Serbian theater”.
Dragan Jakovljević, with the significant help of the theatrologist and theater critic Dragana Bošković, carried out the selection work until 2011.
Since 2012, curators (also artistic directors) have been elected for at least two years. With their selections, Goran Cvetković (2012–2014), Željko Jovanović (2015 and 2016), Miloš Latinović (2017 and 2018), Slobodan Savić (2019 and 2020), Branislava Ilić (2021), Miroslav Radonjić (2022 and 2023) and Miloš Latinović (2024 and 2025) made a significant contribution to the festival.
Joakimfest is a festival that strives for visibility not only in the local community but also in the wider region, so it follows the established authors of the international and domestic theatre scene with equal attention. It also provides an opportunity for young theatre authors to receive support and the possibility of wider artistic affirmation in Kragujevac, at Joakimfest. From the founding of the festival until today, more than 160 performances from 27 countries of the world have been staged at Joakimfest, with more than 700 theatre artists participating.
The three-member jury gives two awards at the festival: Grand Prix “Joakim Vujić” for best overall performance and the Special Award of the City of Kragujevac. The audience evaluates the plays in the competition program – the best-rated performance will win the Audience Award at the 20th Joakimfest.
The host and organizer of the festival is the Princely Serbian Theatre, and the main sponsor is the City of Kragujevac.
