Jovan Ćirilov je bio jedna od najvećih ličnosti srpske, jugoslovenske i evropske kulture, suosnivač, umetnički direktor i selektor BITEFA (Beogradski internacionalni teatarski festival), dugogodišnji upravnik Jugoslovenskog dramskog pozorišta, dramaturg Ateljea 212 (do 1985. godine), istaknuti teatrolog, književnik, hroničar društva i teatra, kolumnista, prevodilac, poliglota, leksikograf, karikaturista – interdisciplinarni autor 21. veka. Dobitnik je brojnih nagrada za stvaralaštvo i doprinos pozorištu i kulturi.
Rođen je u Kikindi 30. avgusta 1931.godine. Diplomirao je na Filozofskom fakultetu u Beogradu 1955. godine, kada počinje da radi u Jugoslovenskom dramskom pozorištu (JDP) kao asistent režije, zatim kao dramaturg i umetnički direktor. U periodu od 1985. do 1999. godine bio je na čelu te kuće kao njen upravnik. Podigao je ovu kuću na visoki, svetski nivo, negujući domaće dramsko stvaralaštvo i postavljajući na repertoar velika svetska dela s naglaskom na ona koja su do tada bila nepoznata beogradskoj sceni.
U proleće 1967. godine, na poziv Mire Trailović, osnivača i upravnika čuvenog beogradskog pozorišta Ateljea 212, postaje dramaturg tog teatra, u kome radi do 1985. godine. Tokom tog perioda ovo pozorište je prvo u Jugoslaviji igralo komade Gombroviča, Havela, Kohouta, Milera, Vampilova, Kanetija, Vitkijeviča, Aksionova, Kreca, Aksionova, Sladeka itd.
Od 2001. do 2007. godine je bio predsednik Nacionalne komisije Jugoslavije, a potom Srbije, pri Unesku.
Godine 1967. Mira Trailović i Jovan Ćirilov osnivaju najstariji i najznačajniji međunarodni pozorišni festival u ovom delu Evrope – Beogradski internacionalni teatarski festival (BITEF), čiji podnaslov Nove pozorišne tendencije karakteriše festival narednih pedesetak godina, ali ne kao smotru takozvanih avangardnih pozorišnih tendencija, već izbor onih predstava koje pre svega na nov način prikazuju svetsku klasiku ili uvode u svoju sredinu novu dramaturgiju koja ne mora imati eksperimentalni karakter i izoštrenu modernističku formu.
Jovan Ćirilov je bio izuzetan poznavalac svetskog teatra. Vodio je BITEF kao selektor i umetnički direktor sve do svoje smrti. BITEF je Beogradu i svetskoj pozorišnoj sceni predstavio najveće ansamble i reditelje, imena avangarde i novog svetskog pozorišta, kao što su: Ježi Grotovski, David Esrig, Otomar Krejča, Viktor Garsija, Georgij Tovstonogov, Piter Gil, Džozef Čajkin, Ričard Šekner, Luka Ronkoni, Peter Šuman, Vilijam Gaskil, Viktor Garsija, Hans Licau, Ingmar Bergman, Meredit Monk, Frederik Flaman, Suzan Janković, Teatar de solej, Arijana Mnuškina, Living teatar, Šuji Terajama, Euđenio Barba, Anatolij Efros, Rože Planšon, Andrej Šerban, Piter Štajn, Jurij Ljubimov, Piter Bruk, Robert Vilson, Tadeuš Kantor, Piter Šuman, Lindsi Kemp, Pina Bauš, Elen Stjuart, Žan-Luj Baro, Alvin Nikolaj, Jozef Šajn, Jirži Mencel, Ežen Jonesko, Klaus Pajman, Sonja Vukićević, Pip Simons teatar, Pupilija Ferkevrk, Open teatar, Bred end Papit, Ridikulus teatar, Mers Kaningem, Anhel Fasio, Paolo Mađeli, Nuria Espert, Johan Kresnik, Roberto Čuli, Jan Fabr, Anžej Vajda, Teodoros Terzopulos, Žoan Grau, Gorčin Stojanović, Silvia Purkarete, Frederik Flaman, Jerži Jarocki, Aleksandar Lang, Andraš Urban, Anton Adasinjski, Vim Vandekejbus, Roman Viktjuk, Ljubiša Ristić, Haris Pašović, Dejan Mijač, Nenad Prokić, Slobodan Unkovski, La fura dels baus, Saša Valc, Meme Perlini, Jožef Nađ, Hajner Gebels, Alvis Hermanis, Kristof Martaler, Kristian Lupa, Jagoš Marković, Vito Taufer, Piter Zadek, Aleksandar Popovski, Valerij Fokin, Frank Kastorf, Sajmon Mekberni, Svetlana Vragova, Đorđo Streler, Ivan Popovski, Nikita Milivojević, Dušan Jovanović, Henrijeta Janovska, Kama Ginkas, Mecger i Simerman, Andrej Mogučij, Johan Kresnik, Sidi Larbi Šerkaui, Stiven Berkof, Tomas Ostermajer, Petr Fomenko, Oskaras Koršunovas, Kšištof Varlikovski, Johan Simons, Dijego de Brea, Revaz Gabriadze, Lojd Njuson, Eimuntas Nekrošius, Moris Bežar, Arpad Šiling, Kirsten Delholm, Moris Bežar, Romeo Kasteluči, Jirgen Goš, Boris Bakal, Janez Janša, Mihael Marmarinos, Tomi Janežič, Anželin Preljocaj, Fil Soltanov, Margaret Dženkins, Rene Poleš, Havier de Frutos, Branko Potočan, Borut Šeparović, Ana Tereza de Kersmaker, Mari Šuinar, Štefan Kegi, Konstanca Makras, Alen Platel, Lote van der Berg, Bojan Đorđev, Rodrigo Garsija, Ivo van Hove, Ema Dante, Miloš Lolić, Boris Liješević, Oliver Frljić i mnogi drugi. Mnogi su svetsku slavu počeli da stiču upravo u Beogradu.
BITEF je prvi međunarodni festival koji je dobio Specijalnu nagradu Evropske pozorišne unije (nagrada je Jovanu Ćirilovu uručena 9. aprila 2000. godine na svečanoj ceremoniji u Taormini, Sicilija) zato što je prevazišavši okvir jednog festivala, postao mesto intenzivne i produbljene razmene na kome su se, probijajući sve barijere čak i u vremenima najžešćih podela, suočavala pozorišna iskustva Istoka i Zapada, a u okviru utopijske vizije ujedinjene Evrope i neprestanog traganja za mirom.
Jovan Ćirilov je bio član žirija za Veliku evropsku nagradu za pozorište, član uprave Mitelfesta u Čividaleu u Italiji, a krajem 80-ih, dve godine selektor Festivala Mondijal u Nansiju u Francuskoj. Dobitnik je dve Sterijine nagrade – za kritiku i za životno delo, Oktobarske nagrade grada Beograda za celokupno stvaralaštvo, te nagrade Joakim Vujić za doprinos srpskom pozorištu. Bio je predsednik Nacionalne komisije pri Unesku (Jugoslavije, a potom Srbije) od 2001. do 2007. godine, a zatim predsednik Komiteta za kulturu Komisije. Od 1992. godine nosilac je francuskog odlikovanja Vitez umetnosti i književnosti.
Jovan Ćirilov je bio član Srpskog PEN centra u Beogradu. Pisao je za Student, Politiku (od 1956), Blic (od 1999), NIN, Ludus, Delo i mnoge druge časopise i listove. U novinama je pokretao svoje rubrike (Pozorištarije, Reč nedelje, Moji savremenici, Dnevnici). Bavio se leksikografskim radom i sastavio je nekoliko rečnika. Objavio je roman Neko vreme u Salcburgu (1980), knjige: Putovanje po gramatici, pesme (Nezavisna izdanja Slobodana Mašića, Beograd, 1972), Putovanje po pozorištu (Univerzitetska riječ, Nikšić, 1988), Uzaludna putovanja, pesme (Književna zajednica Kikinde, 1989), Dramski pisci, moji savremenici (Sterijino pozorje, Novi Sad, 1989), Pozorištarije (Zajednica profesionalnih pozorišta BiH, 1991), Reč nedelje, 1986-1995 (Grad teatar Budva, Oktoih, 1996), Pozorištarije (Grad teatar Budva/Oktoih, Podgorica, 1998), Najkraće drame na svetu (Kov, Vršac, 1999), Dnevnici (Grad teatar Budva, Oktoih, Podgorica, 1999), Pre i posle gneva, zbornik savremene britanske drame (Zepter Book Njorld, Beograd, 2001), Pre i posle Kose, zbornik savremene američke drame (Zepter Book Njorld, Beograd, 2002), Reč nedelje, 1995-2005 (Prosveta, Beograd, 2006), Svi moji savremenici (u dve knjige, Laguna, Beograd) i nekoliko filmskih scenarija (prikazanih u Veneciji, Moskvi i Puli).
U poslednjoj knjizi (Svi moji savremenici) sabrao je događaje, trenutke, priče i anegdote o poznatim ličnostima, kao što su Ivo Andrić, Tito, Žerar Filip, Jurij Ljubimov, Ježi Grotovski, Robert Vilson, Peter Handke, Nurija Espert, Dušan Makavejev, Žan-Pol Sartr, Džordž Soros, Nevenka Urbanova i mnogi drugi.
Autor je rečnika: Rečnik novih reči (Narodna knjiga, Beograd, 1982), Novi rečnik novih reči (Bata, Beograd, 1991), Srpsko-hrvatski rečnik varijanata/inačica (Stilos, 1989; Bata Orbis, 1994).
Ćirilov je preveo mnoga dela dramske književnosti, koja su potom izvedena na sceni.
Ćirilov se oprobao i kao reditelj – prvi put je 2004. godine režirao dramu Nedozvani, pesnika Momčila Nastasijevića, koja je premijerno izvedena u Centru za kulturnu dekontaminaciju u okviru Beogradskog letnjeg festivala (BELEF). Prema tekstu Miroslava Krleže iz 1926. godine režirao je predstavu Izlet u Rusiju 2012. godine, koja je premijerno izvedena u Centru za kulturnu dekontaminaciju (CZKD).
Bavio se i karikaturom, a na 43. BITEFU, 2009. godine, povodom 20-godišnjice smrti Mire Trailović, sa kojom je pokrenuo BITEF, predstavio se izložbom Moji savremenici u karikaturi. Među karikaturama nije bilo Mirine. Ćirilov je tada rekao da nije nikada crtao likove koji su mu bili najbliži.
Budućim pokolenjima ostavio je dragocen legat knjiga, dokumenata i neizbrisivi trag u našem pozorištu i kulturi.
Jovan Ćirilov je, uprkos teškoj bolesti, bio aktivan sve donedavno, uključujući i rad na 48. BITEF-u.
Sahranjen na Novom groblju u Aleji zaslužnih građana.
ENGLISH
Jovan Ćirilov was one of the greatest figures in the Serbian, Yugoslav and European culture, co-founder, artistic director and selector of BITEF (Belgrade International Theatre Festival), for many years the chief executive of the Yugoslav Drama Theatre, Atelje 212 dramaturgist (until 1985), prominent theatre researcher, writer, social and theatre chronicler, columnist, translator, polyglot, lexicographer, caricaturist: an international 21st century author. He was awarded many times for his creative opus and contribution to theatre and culture,
He was born in Kikinda on 30 August 1931, In 1955 he graduated from the Faculty of Philosophy in Belgrade and began to work at the Yugoslav Drama Theatre (JDP), first as an assistant director and then as its dramaturgist and artistic director. From 1985 until 1988 he was the chief executive of that theatre. He raised it to a high world level cultivating domestic drama and staging major international works with the emphasis on those not staged in Belgrade before him.
In the spring of 1967 Mira Trailović, the founder and chief executive of Atelje 212, well-known Belgrade theatre, invited him to be the theatre’s dramaturgist and he held that post until 1985. During that period of time their theatre was the first in Yugoslavia to stage pieces by Gombrowicz, Havel, Kohout, Miller, Vampilov, Canetti, Witkiewicz, Aksionov, Kroetz, Sladek etc.
From 2001 until 2007 he chaired the National Commission of Yugoslavia, subsequently Serbia at UNESCO.
In 1967, Mira Trailović and Jovan Ćirilov founded the oldest and most important international theatre festival in this part of Europe. It was the Belgrade International Theatre Festival (BITEF) the subtitle of which, New Theatre Tendencies, marked the festival for the next fifty years – not as a review of so-called avant garde theatre tendencies but as a selection of productions which prevalently showed the world classics in a novel way or introduced new dramaturgy but was not necessarily experimental and strikingly modernist in form.
Jovan Ćirilov was an outstanding connoisseur of the world theatre. He guided BITEF as its selector and artistic director until the end of his life. The festival introduced to Belgrade and the world theatre stage the greatest companies and directors, renowned names of the avant garde and new world theatre such as Jerzy Grotowski, David Esrig, Otomar Krejča, Victor Garcia, Georgi Tovstonogov, Peter Gill, Joseph Chaikin, Richard Schechner, Luca Ronconi, Peter Schumann, William Gaskill, Hans Lietzau, Ingmar Bergman, Meredith Monk, Frederic Flamand, Suzana Janković, Théâtre du Soleil, Ariane Mnouchkine, Living Theatre, Shuji Terayama, Eugenio Barba, Anatoly Efros, Roger Planchon, Andrei Serban, Peter Stein, Yuri Lyubimov, Peter Brook, Lindsay Kemp, Pina Bausch, Ellen Stewart, Jean-Louis Barrault, Alwin Nikolais, Joseph Schein, Jir`i Menzel, Eugène Ionesco, Claus Peymann, Sonja Vukićević, Pip Simmons Theatre, Pupilija Ferkeverk, Open Theatre, Bread and Puppet, The Ridiculous Theatrical Company, Merce Cunningham, Angel Fasio, Paolo Magelli, Núria Espert, Johann Kresnik, Roberto Ciulli, Jan Fabre, Andrzej Wajda, Theodoros Terzopoulos, Joan Grau, Gorčin Stojanović, Silviu Purcarete, Frédéric Flamand, Jerzy Jarocki, Alexander Lang, Andraš Urban, Anton Adasinsky, Wim Vandekeybus, Roman Viktyuk, Ljubiša Ristić, Haris Pašović, Dejan Mijač, Nenad Prokić, Slobodan Unkovski, La fura dels baus, Sasha Waltz, Memè Perlini, Josef Nadj, Heiner Goebbels, Alvis Hermanis, Christoph Marthaler, Krystian Lupa, Jagoš Marković, Vito Taufer, Piter Zadek, Aleksandar Popovski, Valeriy Fokin, Frank Castorf, Simon Mcburney, Svetlana Vragova, Giorgio Strehler, Ivan Popovski, Nikita Milivojević, Dušan Jovanović, Henrietta Janowska, Kama Ginkas, Metzger and Zimmermann, Andrey Moguchiy, Johann Kresnik, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, Steven Berkoff, Thomas Ostermeier, Pyotr Fomenko, Oskaras Koršunovas, Krzysztof Warlikowski, Johan Simons, Diego de Brea, Rezo Gabriadze, Lloyd Newson, Eimuntas Nekrošius, Maurice Béjart, Árpád Schilling, Kirsten Dehlholm, Romeo Castellucci, Jürgen Gosch, Boris Bakal, Janez Janša, Michail Marmarinos, Tomi Janežić, Angelin Preljocaj, Phil Soltanoff, Margaret Jenkins, René Pollesch, Javier de Frutos, Branko Potočan, Borut Šeparević, Ana Teresa de Keersmaeker, Marie Chouinard, Stefan Kaegi, Constanza Macras, Alain Platel, Lotte van den Berg, Bojan Đorđev, Rodrigo García, Ivo van Hove, Emma Dante, Miloš Lolić, Boris Liješević, Oliver Frljić and many others. Many of them began to acquire world fame in Belgrade..
BITEF is the first international festival awarded the Special Prize of the European Theatre Union (Ćirilov received the award on 9 April 2000 at a ceremony in Taormina, Sicily) for extending beyond the boundaries of a festival, it became a place of intensive and profound exchange which, breaking through all the barriers even at a time of strongest divisions, brought face to face the theatre experience of the East and the West within the utopian vision of united Europe and never-ending search for peace.
Jovan Ćirilov was a member of the jury for the Great European Theatre Award, member of the directorate of Mittelfest in Cividale, Italy, and towards the end of the 1980s for two years the selector of the Mondial Festival in Nancy, France. He won the Sterija Award twice: for reviews and life achievement, the October Award of the City of Belgrade for his lifetime achievement and Joakim Vujić Award for the contribution to the Serbian theatre. He chaired the National Commission of Yugoslavia and then Serbia at UNESCO from 2001 until 2007 and was then the chairman of the Board for Culture of the Commission. In 1992 France awarded him the title of Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters.
Jovan Ćirilov was a member of the Serbia PEN Centre in Belgrade. He wrote for Student, Politika (as of 1956), Blic (as of 1999), NIN, Ludus, Delo and many other periodicals and papers. He initiated his columns in newspapers (Pozorištarije, Reč nedelje, Moji savremenici, Dnevnici ). He engaged in lexicography and authored several dictionaries. Ćirilov published a novel Neko vreme (A Time) in Salzburg (1980), books Putovanje po gramatici (Voyage through grammar), poetry (Nezavisna izdanja Slobodan Mašić, Belgrade, 1972), Putovanje po pozorištu (Travelling through Theatre) (Univerzitetska Riječ, Nikšić, 1988), Uzaludna putovanja (Futile Travels), poems (Kikinda Književna zajednica, 1989), Dramski pisci, moji savremenici (Playwrights, My Contemporaries)(Sterijino pozorje, Novi Sad, 1989), Pozorištarije (Theatre Affairs)(Zajednica profesionalnih pozorišta BiH, 1991), Reč nedelje (The Word of the Week), 1986-1995 (Grad teatar Budva, Oktoih, 1996), Pozorištarije (Theatre Affairs) (Grad teatar Budva/Oktoih, Podgorica, 1998), Najkraće drame na svetu (The World’s Shortest Plays)(Kov, Vršac, 1999), Dnevnici (Diaries)(Grad teatar Budva, Oktoih, Podgorica, 1999), Pre i posle gneva, zbornik savremene britanske drame (Before and after the Anger, A Collection of Modern British Drama)(Zepter Book World, Belgrade, 2001), Pre i posle „Kose”, zbornik savremene američke drame (Before and After Hair, A Collection of Modern American Drama)(Zepter Book World, Belgrade, 2002), Reč nedelje (The Word of the Week), 1995-2005 (Prosveta, Belgrade, 2006), Svi moji savremenici in two volumes (All My Contemporaries)(Laguna, Belgrade), and several scripts for films shown in Venice, Moscow and Pula. In his last book (Svi moji savremenici – All My Contemporaries) he collected events, moments, stories and anecdotes about renowned personalities such as Ivo Andrić, Tito, Gérard Philipe, Yuri Lyubimov, Jerzy Grotowski, Robert Wilson, Peter Handke, Núria Espert, Dušan Makavejev, Jean-Paul Sartre, George Soros, Nevenka Urbanova and many others.
He wrote dictionaries: Rečnik novih reči (The Dictionary of New Words)(Narodna knjiga, Belgrade, 1982), Novi rečnik novih reči (A New Dictionary of New Words) (Bata, Beograd, 1991), Srpsko-hrvatski rečnik varijanata/inačica (Serbo-Croatian Dictionary of Variants) (Stilos, 1989; Bata Orbis, 1994).
Ćirilov translated many plays subsequnetly produced on stage.
Ćirilov also tried his hand as a theatre director. In 2004 he directed for the first time the drama entitled Nedozvani (The Unevoked) by poet Momčilo Nastasijević which premiered at the Centre for Cultural Decontamination during BELEF, Belgrade Summer Festival. On the basis of Miroslav Krleža’s text of 1926 in 2112 he directed Izlet u Rusiju, (A Trip to Russia) which had its premiere at the Centre for Cultural Decontamination (CZKD).
Ćirilov drew caricatures. During the 43rd BITEF in 2009 on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the demise of Mira Trailović with whom he started BITEF, he presented his exhibition Moji savremenici u karikaturi (My Contemporaries in Caricature). There was no Mira’s caricature. Ćirilov said that he never drew those the closest to him.
To future generations he bequathed a treasure trove of books, documents and his indelible mark in our theatre and culture.
Defying his severe illness Jovan Ćirilov proceeded to work as actively as ever, including the 48th BITEF.
He is buried in the Alley of Distinguished Citizens at the New Cemetery in Belgrade.
