“Actor of Europe” will unite Macedonia, Greece and Albania

“Art, unlike politics, knows no boundaries.” – this is what Jordan Plevnes, a writer, Balkanophile and founder of many festivals and cultural events, is deeply convinced of. One of these festivals, International Theatre Festival “Actor of Europe”, held in Prespa for ten years now, is tightly woven in the manifesto “Thousands of yesterdays, but only one tomorrow” by the French writer Jacques Lacarriere, who created it in honor of the festival. This motto justifies itself by the fact that the future edition of the festival will also be held in the other two countries that share Lake Prespa – Greece and Albania.

- Representatives of municipalities from Greece and Albania came to our festival this year and in 2014, declared a Year of Peace and Tolerance in Europe marking the 100th anniversary of the First World War, we will jointly organize the event with the famous Macedonian film and theater actor Meto Jovanovski in charge of its production. For “Actor of Europe” the impossible becomes possible – said Plevnes.

Jordan Plevnes

Over a hundred plays from 30 countries have been on the repertoire of “Actor of Europe” festival – legends of Balkan theatre, also European and world theatre legends, “Comedie Francaise” from Paris, Peter Brook Theatre and this year’s presentation of Anna Patterson from Strindberg Theatre in Stockholm .

Plevnes recalls how he came up with the idea of organizing the festival .

- In spring 2002 the European Parliament declared Lake Prespa a cross-border European park linking the three countries that share the lake. When I found out about this act, I and several other prominent French, European and Balkan authors and Prespa fans, near the Sorbonne, decided to form an international theatre festival that will be opened in the three languages ​​spoken around the lake.

Jordan Plevnes, a former Macedonian Ambassador to France is making great efforts in promoting the Balkans across Europe.

- The Balkans should transform itself from a place of historical crimes into an aesthetic field of mutual love, respect and tolerance. It happened at the beginning of the 21st century, when in many Balkan centers I promoted the slogan of the great Swiss writer Nicolas Bouvier (1929-1998) with whom I was walking along and athwart the Balkans, who in the book “The use of the world” wrote the immortal line: “The Balkans is the heart of Europe “. It is the only definition that Balkan nations can reach a consensus on. This is, it was and it will be our platform in the organization of the festival “SEE a Paris”, which annually features a literary evening dedicated to Balkan literature, a musical evening and a choice of many feature films, documentaries and animated films. It is proof that the echoes of the festival in all major Balkan centres, that write about “unconditional Balkanophilia” of Plevnes and his friends, also say that we, the Balkan Don Quixote, we are not alone and day by day in the Balkans and Southeastern Europe all destroyed bridges are rebuilt and strengthened, bridges that were destroyed by politics and rebuilt by art.

Srebra Gjeorgjijevska