The President of the Republic of Croatia, Ivo Josipović with his wife and associates attended the ceremonial inauguration and the first Festival performance. In the absence of mayor Obersnel, the president was hosted by deputy mayor Željko Jovanović and the founder and Festival art director, Mr. Nenad Šegvić.

Director Egon Savin placed one of the best 20th century novels, the story about dervish Ahmed Nurudin, in the fifties of the last century, in Sarajevo after the Second World War, compressing the performance atmosphere into a play accepted by the audience with enthusiasm. At the inauguration ceremony art director Nenad Šegvić addressed the audience, and so did vice mayor Željko Jovanović who emphasised that over the period of 17 years the festival had become a unique place where the theatre aesthetic and different cultures followed by a loyal audience mutually permeate. The representative of the Ministry of Culture, Nina Obuljen, stressed the support provided by the Ministry of Culture to this Festival that had gained significant reputation in theatre circles around the world.  The Festival will be open until 10 May, with ten performances competing for prizes from Croatia, Slovenia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Georgia. This year the common theme that gathers all the performances is living with a trauma or, as we more often call it, a crisis.

At the end of the performance, during a brief meeting organised at the Congress Hall of the Hotel "Neboder"(entrance from the Theatre HKD near the cloak room), President Ivo Josipović with his associates and hosts is going to welcome the team of authors and the ensemble acting in the play "Death and the Dervish ".
(I.N)